The Smiths and Joneses (15 page)

              A very embarrassed Wolf realizes he’s been caught. In order to save the program, he turns to face Bob, “Bob, I apologize to you and your family. I realize I may have gotten carried away with my thoughts and comments. You’re correct about the goal of this program. I’ll try to withhold my somewhat more emotional comments. I do want to contrast the differences between you and the Smiths and as such I have to do a little interaction with you and question your lives as it compares to theirs. Do you understand?”

              “Oh yes, we understand, we hope that you understand we’re going to push back whenever we feel you're trying to drive your agenda over the goal of the program. By the way, is this discussion going to be on air?”

              “Yes, almost everything is going to be shown, it has to in order to make it real.”

              Bob asks, “Can my family take a short break before we continue? We’d like to check on Beth and Leon.” 

              Wolf says, “No problem, is five minutes enough?”

              “Yes.”

              Bob smiles saying, “Thanks.”

              Wolf joins Sean in the kitchen where he’s getting a glass of water. “Wolf, did you learn anything? I didn’t push my agenda when we were at the Smiths. We’re hosts; we’re not supposed to be the show, just help guide the questions and help the two families if they get nervous on camera. I really hope you didn’t push Bob and Carol over the edge so they decide to leave the show. Our two networks have spent months jointly reviewing and selecting the right two families.”

              “Sean, no worries, everything is going to be OK; I’ve apologized to them. I’ll keep my remarks as neutral as I can. I promise to be a good host.”

              “Great, nice home they have here isn’t it?”

              Before Wolf can respond, Bob and Carol return, Bob says, “We’re ready, by the way, has either of you seen Elizabeth?”

              Sean, looking very concerned says, “We thought she was with you, isn’t she in the house?”

              Carol replies, “We thought so, but we haven’t been able to find her. Leon is in his room playing video games, he said the last he saw her, she was getting another cookie and said smoothing about going outside to play, we checked the play set; she wasn’t on it.”

              The four-start calling, “Elizabeth, Elizabeth where are you?” Sean and Wolf dash outside calling for Elizabeth, their director asks them what’s going on. “Have you seen Elizabeth come out of the house?”

              “I’ll have to check the various camera feeds in the truck; we had most of our assets on Bob and Carol.”

              Bob asks, “Please check ASAP.”

              Returning to the control truck, Sean starts reviewing the various camera feeds, one of the producers says, “Sean, camera twenty-one caught her leaving the back door holding a plastic bag full of cookies, we lost track of her when she moved out of that camera’s range.”

              “Thanks.” Sean calls out, “Carol, I think she’s next door.”

              Sean walks across the lawn to the neighbor’s house calling, “Elizabeth, Elizabeth where are you?”

              The neighbor opens the front door. “Hello Sean, it’s a pleasure to meet you, I assume you’re looking for a very playful six year old?”

              “Yes, did you happen to see her?”

              Opening the front door all of the way, Sean sees Elizabeth sitting on the floor sharing the cookies with her friend.

              “Elizabeth, why didn’t you answer when we called?”

              “I told you to call me Beth, I don’t like Elizabeth. If you’d called my name I would have answered, I was just going to share the cookies with Susie.”

              “Beth, will you come home with me now?”

              She takes her mom’s hand below

              Carol runs next door saying, “Elizabeth are you OK?”

              “Mommy, course I was, I went to share the cookies with Susie. I told you to call me Beth. You can leave the cookies with Susie; we have more at home.”

              Carol reaches her hand out to Beth, “Beth, take my hand and come home with me. You know better than to leave the house without telling me.”

              Beth says, “Susie, save me a couple, see you later.”

              A few minutes later the group is resettled in the living room. Wolf says, “Well, so far we’ve had an interesting introduction. Bob, Carol, let me ask you, weren’t you very scared Beth could have run off or been taken by someone?”

              Carol responds, “No, we have a community watch group, we all know each other, someone would have seen her and called or stopped her and brought her home. Our kids all play outside with each other
. 
Kids sometimes try to run away; none makes it. An advantage of living in a small town and on a street like we do, is everyone protects each other. We had one robbery attempt a year ago; the watch group noticed a strange truck parked at a driveway and checked it out, knowing the homeowners were at work. The police were called, who quickly arrived to arrest the robbers. The only little issue was two of the watch group beat the police here by four minutes, one of the robbers tried to shoot it out with the watch group, one robber was killed before the police arrived.”  Wolf looks shocked, “Are you saying one of your neighbors had guns and killed an un-convicted person with the police already on the way?”

              “Wolf, our laws allow for the armed protection of our homes, neighborhoods and our families, if we wanted to, we could openly carry a weapon all the time. We live under the original American Constitution, which gives us the right to own guns. The robbers were caught in the act; it was all legal, the police took the watch group’s statements; they took pictures and in the end they released the watch group. The lone robber was arrested, given a trial within five days, his court-appointed lawyer pleaded him guilty, he was caught in the act. He was sentenced to five years of hard labor.”

              “The trial was held within five days? How were his lawyers able to prepare a defense? Do you know where he was sent to serve hard labor? I think I’d like to interview him.”

              Carol smiles responding, “Wolf, we’re promised a speedy trial; five days are more than enough time; he was caught inside the home with stolen property in his truck, how much time does it take to build a defense for someone caught red-handed? As to where he is, he’s serving his time where all hard labor cases serve, Minot, North Dakota helping to clear the ruins of the city after the nuclear explosion.”

              Wolf screams, “No! That’s totally unacceptable. Minot is still radioactive he might develop cancer, or he could die if he went into the wrong area.”

              “Yes, bet he thinks twice about committing a crime again.”

              “Has everyone in the USA turned cold hearted? What happened to mercy, what happened to mitigating circumstances? What about the perpetrator’s rights?”

              “Wolf, perpetrator’s rights, have changed a lot in the past twelve years. We’ve decided lowering our crime rate was one of the most important things to us. We realized we had to return to simpler times. Trials had to be held closer to the time of the crime; sentences had to be carried out quickly, not years after the fact, they should be public, and they should give criminals pause.” 

              The color drains from Wolf’s face; he decides to change the subject, “Leon, what subject do you like the most in school?”

              “Other than lunch or gym?”

              “Yes, how about science or math, history?”

              “History. I like learning how things changed and how things happened. Like when we went to the forest looking for Indian arrowheads and civil war bullets.”

              “Leon, do you study war in history?”

              “Wolf, of course, war is a major part of man’s history. We’ve been at war longer than anything else. We’ve fought over everything.”

              “Do you think we should fight with each other? Aren’t we all equal? Aren’t we all the same?”

              “No, someone always wants what others have, it might be money, or land, or food.”

              Wolf uses this to ask, “Leon, if school children like you are taught that everyone is equal and everyone is similar or equal as everyone else, wouldn’t that limit the amount of war in our future?”

              “Mr. Wolf that all sounds good, but it’s not human nature. People always want more. Unless someone figures out how to change people, people are people, like do you know what I mean?”

              Sean responds, “Yes we do. You answered very well.”

              Wolf interjects, “Leon, you are very smart, we in the LSA believe it’s an education issue. If we teach equality and people being happy with what they have, we’re hoping the risk of war and violence decreases.”

              Leon replies, “Sir, I may be a teenager, but your education only applies to your students correct?”

              “Of course, why?”

              “Then what will you do if, no, when, you’re invaded? We’re taught that we won’t come to your aid if we’re not at risk. You have no way to protect yourselves from outsiders.”

              “We do have a national police force which has been trained to use heavy weapons if required.”

              There is a long silence when Carol, says, trying to change the subject, “My turn. The kids return from school around 3:30; Leon has a key; he opens the house for Beth. He makes Beth a snack and watches her until Bob returns at 5:30, I usually get home around 6:30.”

              Wolf asks, “Carol, do you think it’s safe for Leon to parent Beth?”

              “He’s not her parent; he’s her brother. He can watch her for a couple of hours until Bob returns. I don’t see anything wrong with it. I used to do the same for my little sister.”

              “What happens to poor little Beth if Leon is late or held up, or if Leon wants to play at one of his friend’s homes?”

              “Don’t call me little or poor, I’m not!”

              “Excuse me Beth, that’s not what I meant.”

              Carol replies, “If Leon is late, Beth, what do you do?”

              “I go across the street to play with Sally. She’s home schooled, so her mommy is always there.”

              Wolf asks, “Carol, your neighbor home schools her children?”

              “Yes, I would like to, however I have a job outside the house.”

              “Don’t you think home school isn’t fair for the children?”

              “Sorry, I don’t understand your question.”

              “Well, home schooled children don’t have the same interpersonal skills others do.”

              “Who says so?”

              “Everyone knows this. They can’t because they don’t interact with other children.”

              “I think if you really studied the question, you’d find your statement isn’t true.”

              Bob interrupts, “If Carol is going to be late, I grill something for dinner. I make the salads and usually side dishes.”

              Carol adds, “After dinner, we review the kid’s homework. The kids are free to watch TV until their bed times. Beth goes to bed at 8:30; Leon goes upstairs at 10:00.”

              Wolf asks, “Isn’t that a little late for a fifteen year old?”

              “We don’t think so. If he wakes up tired then he’ll learn to put his video game, or tablet away earlier.”

              Leon looks at his mother, “You know I don’t go directly to bed?”

              “Honey, we’re not that old.”

              “Carol, the kids can watch whatever program they want?” Wolf asks skeptically.

              “Of course, why wouldn’t they be able to?”

              “Do you have the parent censor chip in your TV sets?”

              “No, nor do we have the violence chip. We understand sets built in the LSA have software that allows parents to review and program the content their children view.”

              “Carol, that’s correct. Our parents can program the sets to switch or pause in mid-word so our children aren’t exposed too much violence or other bad issues.”

              “Wolf, we believe life isn’t all roses for children, children should be allowed to be children. Both of our kids have fallen, they’ve had broken bones, cuts and scrapes, it’s all part of being a child. We’ve taught our children to get up and try to overcome their failures and try again. Not all of their misses are failures. We believe they’ll grow up better balanced to deal with the real world if they’re allowed to fail once in a while.”

              At the studio, President Brownstone interrupts the program saying, “I think this is a good place to pause and discuss some of the differences between our two families.”

Chapter 8

              Two hundred forty million have tuned in watching or recording the second episode of the program. Beth stole everyone’s heart. She had her own fan club startup before the end of the evening’s episode. People on both sides of the divide held their breath when Beth went missing. Children always evoke strong emotional outpourings. People cheered when she was found next door. People started posting on FB asking for Carol’s cookie recipe. Carol received over 30,000 new friend requests in a few minutes, breaking Sharon’s record of 28,000 requests within twenty minutes.