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“Mom we have a problem.” Daisy says from in behind Lucy. Lucy freezes from what she is doing and turns to face.
“What’s that?” She asks looking at her daughter and scanning her up and down. It was unusual for Daisy to come in and say there’s a problem. Usually Lucy heard yelling and screaming and now that she thinks about it.
It’s quiet.
Too quiet.
When it was quiet in their house, something was up and it was usually never good.
“Levi found handcuffs.” Daisy says simply and leave it to her to get straight to the point. Ava would be talking a million miles a minute, June probably wouldn’t say a word and Levi—
“I’m sorry?” Lucy says drying her hands off and putting the towel down. “Where did he find handcuffs?”
Daisy shrugs her shoulders and starts walking out of the kitchen. Lucy follows her and there are a thousand thoughts spinning around in her head.
Lucy did have handcuffs in her bedside drawer which she should really get a lock for. She has three nosy kids and Ava. The only way Levi would have gotten a hold of the handcuffs was Ava. Because her oldest daughter was the leader of the pack, and somehow got her younger siblings to do her biding without so much as a protest. Ava was meant to be the oldest, and she was meant to be a sister but sometimes Lucy wondered how she got four very different kids.
Lucy follows Daisy into the living room, where she sees Ava and June bent over Levi on the couch. June actually looks concerned and she’s frowning deeply as she stares at her twin brother. Ava in the other hand has what only Lucy can describe as a Ava grin.
“What’s going on?” Lucy asks loudly. June and Ava both jump back and Lucy steps forward to see Levi on the couch grinning with handcuffs on his feet.
“Levi handcuffed himself.” Ava says. “We were just playing and—” Lucy turns to her oldest daughter.
“Ava, what did I tell you about going through my drawers?” Lucy asks heading down to her son’s level. Her ten year old is silent as Lucy examines the handcuffs. “Where is the key?”
“What’s key?” Ava asks. “Levi just found the handcuffs. Lucy turns her eyes up to her son who gives her a bright smile.
“Buddy,” Lucy says gently. Levi is only six but he follows his sisters and does what they say. Especially with Ava.
“There was no key mama.” Levi says. Lucy closes her eyes and she really wishes Tim were here. He might be speechless but he would help her figure this out.
“There is a key.” Lucy insists. She knew there was a key because she just used them the other night. It was date night and the kids were out of the house and they hadn’t been alone in a long time.
Lucy had brought the handcuffs out and well— she swallows and then stands up straight. They key had to be around here somewhere.
“So you just grabbed the handcuffs and came downstairs?” Lucy asks Levi. Her son nods his head and moves his feet a little.
“If there was no key why did you do this?” Lucy asks gesturing to his feet.
“Ava said she could get them off with magic.” June pipes up. “Levi loves magic.” Lucy groans a little and heads to the kitchen to grab her phone. She doesn’t know what to do except look for the key and call Tim.
“Daisy.” She calls and her eight year old, her sweet and gentle daughter comes to stand in front of her right away.
“Yes?”
“Go upstairs and look in my bedside drawer for a key.” Lucy says. “It’s just straight and—” Daisy nods and runs over before she can say anything else. She sighs softly and then makes her way back over to Levi.
“Hello?” Tim says over the phone. She can hear voices in the background. “What’s wrong?”
“How do you know something is wrong?” Lucy asks and she jiggles the handcuffs a little and sticks her nail inside trying to get them off.
“You never call when I’m at work unless it’s an emergency.” He points out. “I’m not complaining.” Lucy sighs and rubs at her temple.
“Our kids did something.” She says. And she knows that’s all it takes for Tim to leave wherever he is and go to a quiet space.
“Who was it this time?” Tim asks. “And what did they do exactly?” Lucy glances at Ava who is trying to get the handcuffs out too.
“Levi.” She says. “Well technically he was just doing what—”
“Right.” Tim says and she doesn’t even have to finish the sentence. Tim knows who she was talking about. “And what did Ava tell him to do?”
“They found—” She pauses and stands up and looks at the ceiling.
“We found the handcuffs dad!” Ava says loudly. “I have a lot of questions.” There’s a stunned silence over the phone before Tim is coughing a little.
“What?” He asks.
“They found the handcuffs but the key is missing and Levi handcuffed his feet together.” She says quickly and she really hopes Tim has a solution for this.
“Oh my god.” Tim says. “The handcuffs we—”
“Yes.”
“And now there are on our son’s feet?” He asks. She can practically see him running his hand down his face.
“Correct.”
“And this was Ava’s idea?” He asks.
“I haven’t gotten the full story yet.” Lucy says. “I just want to get them off of Levi.”
“Right.” Tim says and he sounds a little hesitant.
“What?”
“The key is gone.” He says. “The other night when we were—ya know. The key dropped on the floor.”
“But you got me out of them.” Lucy whispers. “How?”
“I don’t—” Tim pauses and Lucy shifts on her feet a little waiting for him to continue. She’s either going to kiss him or kill him when he gets home. “I don’t always shut them all the way.”
“What?”
“Listen.” Tim says. “After the key dropped—I looked for it but I couldn’t find and then you vacuumed.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Lucy hisses. Kill him. She’s definitely going to kill him.
“I like using the handcuffs.” He says quickly. Lucy closes her eyes and she feels both dread and a sense of pride.
“Jesus Christ Tim.” Lucy says. “Now our son is handcuffed and we can’t get him out.”
“Try to pick it.” Tim says. “Wire cutters. Anything. I will be home soon.” Lucy sighs but say bye just as Daisy comes back into the room.
“Mom I can’t find it.” She says. Lucy shakes her head a little.
“It’s okay Dais.” She says. “Can you go get me a Bobby pin. Ava!” Her oldest daughter appears in front of her.
“Yes?” She asks blinking up at Lucy innocently.
“Go to the garage and get some wire cutters from your dad’s tool box.” She says before realizing her ten year old probably doesn’t know what she is talking about. “Never mind. Stay with your brother.”
Lucy hurries off and goes into the garage. She knows what wire cutters look like for whatever reason. She just hopes they work, or they would be making a very embarrassing drive to the fire station.
She hurries back inside where Daisy has the Bobby pin waiting. Lucy tries that first but it doesn’t quite fit. And then she tries using the wire cutters squeezing as hard as she can.
“Am I going to be cuffed forever?” Levi asks looking at Lucy the same way Ava did.
“No buddy.” Lucy says quickly. “But all of you will be getting a talk about going through our drawers.”
“Sorry mom.” Ava says. “I thought it would be fun.” Lucy sighs softly and motions her daughter forward.
“I know Aves. But you have to stop and think sometimes.” She says. “What if you had done this when we weren’t home?”
“I would call 911 because it’s an emergency.” Ava says. Lucy closes her eyes and then suddenly stands up and scoops Levi with her.
“That’s it!” She says. “Everyone get in the car.” She carries Levi out and sees Daisy grab her purse and keys. They load up just as Tim pulls up, and gets out looking confused.
“The fire station.” Lucy says. “They have to have something.” Tim nods and she tosses him the keys before she’s climbing in on the passenger side.
Tim drives to the fire station and looks back at the kids and then at Lucy. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” He asks. “What if—”
“Tim, our son handcuffed his feet. We don’t have the key. We have to do something.” She says. Tim takes a deep breath and nods.
“Right.”
Lucy climbs out and the three girls get out following behind Lucy while Tim carries Levi. A firefighter greets them with raised eyebrows.
“Our kids—” Lucy says closing our eyes. “Our son handcuffed himself and we lost the key.” The firefighter chuckles like he has seen this before and disappears for a minute before he comes back with something small in his hands. He unlocks the handcuffs and they fall off easily and Levi kicks his feet.
“Thank you!” He squeals. Lucy shakes her head and bends down in front of her son.
“Levi, have we learned our lesson to not do everything our sister says?” She asks him. Levi shrugs and grins at her.
“Or don’t lose the key.” He says. Lucy closes her eyes and stands up looking at Tim who looks dumbfounded.
“Or that.” She says. They thank the firefighter and he hands each of the kids a sucker. They thank him enthusiastically and then they are walking back to the car.
“It just took a god damn key.” Lucy mutters to Tim as the kids climb in. “A key that we had but lost and all of this could have been avoided.” Tim looks around and then looks back at Lucy. There’s a mischievous grin on his face, as he leans forward and gives her a soft kiss.
“It’s a universal key.” He mutters. “We can just get another one.” Lucy raises her eyebrows at him although she really loves how he thinks. She loves that their son being handcuffed, their kids messing around with their handcuffs didn’t deter him from never using them again. And even with four kids and after all these years they both still were wanting to do this.
“You are amazing Tim Bradford.” She mutters. “Even with crazy kids and after all these years.” Tim shrugs his shoulders looking over his shoulder where all four of their kids sit.
“You know I wouldn’t want to do this with anyone else.” He says. “Only our kids would do something like this.”
“True.” She says. “And it’s quite a story. A arresting story at that.”
“Funny.” Tim says. “Now let’s get these convicts home.” Lucy laughs and gives him another kiss before she’s climbing into the car.
It was just another day, another memory and story for their crazy life. And handcuffed or not, crazy kids and chaos aside she wouldn’t have it any other way.
It was always a cuff-situation.