Oh, That Dumb Kid!

‘Twas the biggest party of the year,
Glamour, glitz, the whole sha-bang.
Hotties of both sexes, dressed to impress,
Beer would be served too, as the rumors softly sang.

‘Course the teenager wanted to go!
A chance to make the ‘IT’ list! The coolest of cliques!
Quick! A dress must be bought! Who could forget, heels AND a makeover!
And arm candy too, to make ‘em whisper for weeks.

Alas! Alack! The parents were to be considered.

A mean lot they were, too.
It hadn’t been her fault, good grades were hard to acquire,
After all, of what use in real life were Calculus and the knowledge of the Caribou?!

But the Fs glared at her, blindingly scarlet.

Crocodile tears, hollow promises would not cajole or soften,
She was grounded till Judgement Day,
Or, at least, until her grades were less rotten.

Pah! Of what use was that?
The party was that very night!
A plan, a conspiracy was to be made,
One that could put the Duke of Wellington’s to shame (see, she did study a mite).

A sullen, constant reply was recorded and played on a loop,
A dummy was placed under her cavernous sheets.
The door was locked, the key safely tucked into a discreet pocket.
She escaped from the window into a car, very proud of her exigent feat.

Ah, what exhilaration! She threw her arms up,
And danced into the dead of the night.
Wall-to-wall stood teenagers of every shape, smoking, kissing,
Laughing and screaming, the boys in loose pants and the girls in tight skirts.

But all good things must come to end,
In this case, a drunken brawl did it.
A massive brawl! A bloody brawl! Glass and noses
Were broken alike, everybody kicking and punching as they saw fit.

A police siren screamed. The alarm!
A hundred boys and girls created a stampede on their way out.
Some collapsed on the streets, others at their friends’ place,
Many instantly arrested, with nothing to do but drunkenly shout.

Scared and humbled,
Bruised and scratched,
She scrambled into a car headed home,
When she arrived-oh horrors! - the front door was open and unlatched.

Her dad did not shout, her mum did not scold.
Bundled into a blanket, with a hot drink and a soothing hug,
She could not, would not meet their eyes,
Conscience now raised its wise head and gave her heart a guilty tug.

Her apology was halting and feeble,
But Sincerity rang true in every syllable.
They did not punish her; she had been punished enough,
By an experience both traumatizing and terrible.

For now she knew how they had tried to protect her.
She had failed them now, but her mind fiercely resolved
She would work and please them immensely, she would, she would.
And she now realized how much, for the better, she had evolved.

We blaze through life with little thought for the consequences.
But only, when faced with the toughest and most terrifying
Do we realize, that our parents, strict and severe,
Unyielding and annoying as they may seem, are right.  About everything.