I took my kayak across the road to the lake for some fishing. There was a guy on the dam already with a big white SUV and two boys. I complimented him on taking his kids fishing, but he said the kids weren't fishing. They were playing with toys in the tall grass on the bank. Ah, well, at least he was getting them outside. He caught a nice bass and returned it. I took the kayak into the middle of the lake, but over the water I could hear everything said on shore. The youngest boy began saying, "This is stupid!" "Fishing is stupid!" The Dad told him to stop saying that word. It was downhill from there. The boy went into a complete meltdown. They hadn't been out 10 minutes yet. The Dad put the boy in the SUV with the engine running. I don't know what was in there to entertain him (DVD player?), but it seemed to work. The older boy even fished for a while.
I had a good time, catching a number of nice crappie. A friend of the Dad showed up, fished for a while and left. The Dad starts picking his gear up and heading back to the SUV. That's when I heard him say clearly:
Jonathan, unlock the door.
I avoided laughing out loud, and turned the other way to hide my smile. Jonathan, unlock the door. Come to the front and unlock it. Negotiations continued in this vein for some time. Meanwhile, the truck was running. I find this power struggle fascinating, and keep listening for the outcome. Dad is noticeably trying to suppress the anger in in his voice. Clearly, he knows that blowing up at the kid is not going to work in his favor. He changes tactics. Jonathan, we're hungry. Unlock the door so we can go eat. Appeal to sympathy. Variations of this approach go on for some time. Finally, I hear a car door open. Dad loads all the gear in and they leave. I haven't seen them come back. I wonder if Jonathan didn't get a stern lecture at some point afterward.
