“Bye-Bye Jason”
Several years ago, a sister of the mother (former spouse) of my daughters had to stay with us for a few weeks. Her husband was in the Navy and was overseas for a tour of duty. The sister-in-law (former) came, bringing her two young sons, to stay until her Navy husband returned from his tour and they relocated to a more permanent status on a base near San Diego, CA. The two little boys were two little boys! They were about 18 months apart in age. The oldest was Jeffery. The youngest was Jason. At the time, Jeffery was about 2-years and a few months old. Therefore, Jason was around 6-8 months, or so.
Needless to say, when someone moves in with you, even for a short period of time, everything is a bit chaotic. The mother was a bit frantic, trying to provide care for the boys without totally disrupting our lives. The boys were adventuresome little boys, to say the least. Things were hectic for the mother of my daughters and I as we were busy working and trying to be good hosts for our guests. There was a frenzy of activity. There were toys, clothes, personal belongings, food items, and STUFF everywhere. It was often loud, or else one was walking on tip-toes in order not to awaken a sleeping child, or two sleeping children. Well, anyway, we were doing the best we could, given the circumstances.
One afternoon I entered the house from the garage. When I stepped into the kitchen area I heard noises coming from the bathroom. Water was running constantly. Every few seconds I could hear the sound of someone flushing the commode. I heard water being splashed. The sound of the voice of a barely-able-to-speak little boy kept calling out. I had no idea as to what was going on, but I knew I had better find out, SOON! As I remember it, I had on some work clothes and boots, so I must have been in the garden prior to coming in the house. I hurriedly removed the boots and went to investigate the source of the commotion I was hearing. As soon as I passed through the kitchen and turned down the hall I stepped on wet carpet, thoroughly went carpet. Immediately, the socks I was wearing got soaked. The door to the bathroom was slightly ajar, so I pushed it open. When the door was opened, I discovered an interesting sight. Somehow to another Jeffery had been able to get Jason into the bowl of the commode, Pampers and all. Jason was sitting down. Jeffery was manning the handle of the commode, flushing it for all he was worth. Water was overflowing the commode, rising to 2-3 inches in the floor of the bathroom and proceeding to saturate the hallway outside of the room. Jason was neither laughing nor crying, he was just patiently sitting there. Jeffery, on the other hand, was tripping the handle on the side of the commode as fast and furiously as he possibly could. With each flush, Jeffery was saying as loudly as he was able, “Bye-Bye Jason”. With each flush, the water would swirl around and around, but, since Jason was sitting in the bowl, blocking the drain, the water had no place to go, so over the side and into the floor it came. By the time I discovered the festivities it had, no doubt, been going on for several minutes. Finally, when Jeffery recognized my presence he had this puzzled look on his face. He turned to me and said, “Jason, no go”.
It is funny some of the things we carry around in our memory bank. I have not thought of this in a long time. Even though I have not seen or heard from the boys in a long time I can both see and hear them today as I listen to the past. I hope they are doing well.