Who broke it.

It's 6:30. Now my daddy been home since about 5:00. The television is broken and I'm lucky that he hasn't noticed yet. He's had his shower. He's talked to mom and now he's going to eat dinner. After that I may be dead meat. See I broke the television.

Wrestling comes on at 8:00. I can at least stall until then. Once 8:00 hits there will be no way around it. Daddy is going to sit on that couch and attempt to turn that T.V. on.

I know he's wondering why it isn't on now. Usually, I'm watching T.V. by the time he gets home from work. Tyler was outside playing and thank God for that because he's a snitch. Well dad is finished eating. It's not 8:00 yet but I gotta say something now.

"Daddy, you know that teacher of mine gave me so much homework today. It was so much that I didn't even have time to turn the T.V. on at all. I mean what was she thinking?"

"Well did you finish it all?"

"Of course, daddy you know me."

"I sure do, that's why I'm asking. Did mommy help you?"

Did mommy help me do all of the homework that I didn't have? I got this.

"Now daddy you know I ain't never did homework by myself."

Never said mommy helped me now did I?

"Well, you have a little bit of time you can watch some now. Wrestling doesn't start until 8."

"Oh no that's ok my favorite show already went off.'

"Ok well maybe Tyler wants to watch something. Tyler."

I have to cut Tyler off at the hallway. I can't let him get to the living room.

"I'll be back. I have to go to the bathroom. Hey Tyler daddy called you because he wanted to see if you wanted to watch T.V."

"All right, I'll watch something."

"No, I've been doing homework all night. I didn't get to watch anything at all."

"Ok well then go watch it!"

"Daddy Tyler said he doesn't want to watch T.V. so maybe we can play a game or something?"

"Did you wash your hands? I didn't hear the water running."

"Oh yeah I forgot. I'll be right back."

I'll just wash my hands. They're probably dirty anyway.

" Ok dad now about that game."

"Girl you know that I don't have time for that. Wrestling will be on soon. Now hand me the remote if you don't mind."

I do mind! I do not want to give you the remote. I know that T.V. isn't coming on. Well at least not in the way that my daddy wants to.

I give my daddy the remote while at the same time kissing him on the cheek.

"Well goodnight daddy I'm going to bed. That homework drained me."

"You just asked to play a game."

"That was twenty minutes ago. I'm tired now."

"That wasn't no twenty minutes but ok, goodnight sweetheart."

Well, that's it. I'm going to bed and by the time he realizes the T.V. is broke I'll be sleep.

"Brooooke! Brooke, I know that you hear me. Get down here now."

No I will not! I do not hear you. I'm sleeping.

"Brooke!"

Yawn, I have to yawn. "Huh daddy."

"I know you're not sleep. So get up right now and tell me what happened to the T.V."

"What's wrong with the T.V.?"

"That's what I'm asking you!"

"I don't know."

"Oh really. Maybe I'll ask your mom then."

Oh no he cannot. She didn't help me with any homework. She also gave me permission to watch T.V. earlier. I gotta say something. So here goes nothing.

"So, what had happened was I had a ton of homework. Now usually you know that I wait for you to do it. Now daddy I know this is a T.V. night for you and so I didn't want to bother you. I also knew that mom had to make dinner, so I didn't bother her either.

In trying to do my homework on my own I became overwhelmed. That really messed up my concentration. So, I asked mom if I could watch some T.V. She said yes.

Before I went to watch T.V. I realized I was very thirsty. So I got me some juice. Then I was walking out of the kitchen to go watch the T.V. That's when I heard the dog barking. I was like what's wrong Sparks. That's when I noticed that he was over there by the T.V."

"So the dog broke the T.V.?"

"I don't know. All I know is that I said Sparks be quiet and get away from that T.V.! When he ran away the T.V. was shaking a little bit."

"So shaking broke the T.V?"

"Dad sometimes if I shake too much, I get a headache. Like last time I rode my bike down Willow Street it was so bumpy. I was shaking so much that I got sick. I felt better later. So maybe the T.V. will be all right later on."

"Oh so maybe I can give the T.V. some medicine huh?"

"They have medicine for T.V.s, dang I never knew that."

"Girl stop playing with me and tell me what happened to the T.V.!"

"Ok so after I got rid of Sparks the T.V. was shaking so I grabbed it to stop it from shaking. I didn't even have the juice in my hand because I had put it down already.

I was going back over to the table to get my juice and I tripped over the cord and it came out. I reached down and plugged it back up."

"Oh ok, so the cord is just loose. No problem I'll just tighten it up."

I'm so confused right now. I know that T.V. comes on. It's not the power cord. My dad knows that it's not the power cord. He has to. The only way that he would know that it was broken was to turn it on. I hope my dad isn't that stupid I mean he's the one that helps me with all of my homework. I know this is wrong but I'm going to go with it. What have I got to lose?

"Yeah maybe that might be it."

"Brooke do you think I'm stupid?"

Well I ain't going to lie I was thinking that for a quick minute. I'm actually kind of relieved that he isn't. I really would hate to have to ask my mom to do homework or even worse have to do it by myself.

"Brooke do you hear me talking to you?"

Aww man I'm zoning out. This is getting out of control.

"No dad of course I don't think you're stupid."

"Well I'm going to ask you one last time. What happened to the T.V.?"

This is it then. This is the last time that he's going to ask me. Now I've been dealing with this man for twelve years. In my experiences with him the last time means that last time. It definitely means that he's done messing around with me. After this time if my explanation doesn't make sense then the consequences are coming.

Now the decision comes down to the punishment. On the one hand I broke the T.V. that's for sure. On the other hand, telling the truth now won't help me very much. Maybe I will get credit for trying not to lie. Yeah I said I didn't know when I clearly do. He doesn't know that I do though.

Right now it's all assumption. He's assuming that I know because Tyler is usually outside, and mom doesn't watch T.V. Now the original set up was that I didn't watch T.V. at all today. That was going to be it. That was the truth I didn't watch T.V. today. I even had the reason. Swamped with homework. Being considerate of my dad's evening I decided to do it alone. No T.V. time. I was the good kid.

Then that damn mommy monkey wrench comes into play. She knows that she told me that I could watch T.V. That takes all of the assumption away. My dad knows that with permission there isn't a chance that I didn't attempt to turn that T.V. on.

So at this point punishment is coming either way. I tried to avoid it but I failed miserably. Now I have to analyze what kind of punishment I want. My dad is a very understanding man. He would've been understanding had I just fessed up in the beginning but I thought I could get away with saying I never touched it. Im past the point.

So coming clean is going to assure that I'll be on punishment for lying. My dad hates that. So my only option is to keep going and hope for the best.

"Well, when the T.V. was shaking from that dog I noticed that it was sticky when I grabbed it. I thought to myself maybe I should wipe it off. I got a rag out of the kitchen. I put a little bit of water on it and wiped the sticky stuff off."

"So you dripped water into the back off the T.V.?"

Something like that. I hope he doesn't ask me how it got sticky. I should just gracefully bow out now. I can just say yes. I could just say I didn't know that happened. Is that going to help.

At this point I'm at the end of my rope. There was a point where I had a chance. That I could have told my understanding dad that I accidentally broke the T.V. He would have been mad but he would have appreciated my honesty. Instead, I tried to lie. It was set up perfectly I thought. Too much homework to watch T.V. I never touched it, and I was being responsible and studious. Implying that mom helped me was my downfall.

What to do now? You know what! I'm in trouble either way. He knows that I lied and the only reason to lie is because I did it! So I'm going down with the ship. I going to double and triple down on this lie. I'm not getting in trouble for both and I'm definitely not going to tell him what really happened. So I'll be on punishment for lying and that will be that!

"Absolutely not! I rung that rag all the way out. There's no way that I dripped water into that T.V. "

"And that's it. That's all you have to say?"

"That's all that I can say."

"Brooke I know you broke that T.V. I can't prove it but I know you did it. What I can prove is that you lied."

"Lied?"

"Yes lied! You implied that your mom helped you with your homework knowing damn well that she didn't. You also acted like you never even touched the T.V. even though all of this shit happened with the dog and the plug. So yes, you lied! So guess what going to happen. I'm not getting a new T.V. until I'm ready to which means you won't watch T.V until I'm ready for you to. Also, you are to stay in the house until further notice. Do you understand me!"

"Yes I do."

"Now you can go to bed!"

Well actually no I cannot go to bed. I still have to finish my homework!