39:Slight Overreaction

Author Notes
Flashbacks are in black and white. I established that back on page 1, remember? Rudy’s wristband however transcends monochrome. ^_^

I realize this a tricky sort of scene and something that may hit home pretty hard for some of my readers. My goal going into this page was to come up with both an absurdly over-the-top reaction (the father) and a painfully real reaction (the mother) and use both in the same context. I hoped I could portray this without detracting from the tongue-in-cheek humor of the one comment and the shudder-inducing gravity of the other. Did I succeed?

And for those of you wondering where the explanation for Gavin and Maria is: keep your pants on, I’m getting to it. The actual reason is fairly simple, but it does require a little setup. You’ll know the answer next week. I promise. ^_^