Page 28 of Family Bonds- Kelsey & Van

Four hours later they were sitting on a bench with Frankie sleeping in the bag in front of her. Her puppy was zonked out and they were in the shade relaxing before they made their next move.

“He’s out cold,” he said.

“He is,” she said.

“So are you going to tell me about his name?” he asked.

“Oh, I forgot,” she said. “So...I’ve got a bit of a potty mouth.”

“You don’t say,” he said.

She giggled. “Bad habit. Something I developed in college. I’m really competitive.”

“Doesn’t surprise me,” he said.

“I was a good swimmer and couldn’t stand to be beat. Being smaller than the rest of them, I was underestimated. It made me work harder. Swearing pumped me up.”

He laughed and she was shocked to hear the sound. She realized he only cracked a few grins or smiled. He was more about snorting, grunting and an occasional smirk.

“Did you swear at your competitors?” he asked.

“Not always. It’s more like I was hard on myself. But I’m getting off track. In the past few years I’d be sitting in my office and if something was giving me a hard time, I’d mumble to myself or swear.”

“Not uncommon,” he said.

“My swear word of choice was motherfucker.”

He turned and smirked at her. “I can see where that might offend someone. Possibly your mother.”

She waved her hand. “My mother wasn’t offended. But she didn’t like hearing it all the time. Who do you think I learned it from?”

“That’s funny,” he said.

“My mother taught me my first swear word. I’ve heard the story. I was two years old and she was trying to buckle me in the car seat. I was squirming around and she was in a hurry. She started to mumble for me to cut the shit. I guess I thought it was funny and when she got behind the wheel I shouted cut the shit, cut the shit! She was mortified and told me to stop. I just kept doing it and giggling.”

Her mother loved to tell that story to everyone. She blamed her bad habit right there in her mother’s lap as a child.

“I could see that being a good memory,” he said.

“One of many in my life. But I’m getting off track. My mother lectured me more than once not to say that particular swear word so much. I had to find an alternative. I was trying to think of something with the same letters.”

She was staring at him with a massive grin on her face. “Mr. Franklin?” he asked. “You named your dog after your altered swear word?”

It was the appalled look on his face. “It’s funny,” she said. “But you have to understand. It’s not always a curse word in a bad light.”

“How is that?”

“Well, when I went to pick out Frankie from the breeder, there were five pups and he came running over to me almost knocking over two other ones. I had one of those awwww, motherfucker, I’m in love moments. Your inflection makes the word. Shout it, you’re ticked. Say it softly and it’s an endearment.”

He shook his head at her. “You’re one of a kind, aren’t you?”

“Nothing wrong with that, is there?” she asked. As she’d thought with her wardrobe for the day, might as well put it all out there.

“No,” he said. “Not in my eyes.”

“Good,” she said.

She looked down to see Frankie stirring and cuddling more in the bag in front of her. In a few months she wouldn’t be able to do this, but he was small yet.

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