The McCormicks
Past Palm Street, an already isolated road, the McCormick house stood alone. It was a huge abode, built with the highest quality materials and led to by a gargantuan driveway with iron gates. The McCormicks lived in Stowe, a small town in Vermont. Palm Street was a road originally used to get around Mount Mansfield, but about a century ago, a grand house was commissioned to be built alone in the forest. Inside the house, the walls were lined with booming trophies and glistening gold medals. Along the great banister were draped pennants – and all of the decorations, some of them even a bit gaudy, did not match the formal austerity of the home; in fact, one could imagine that this was one of the grandest frat houses in New England. But no, the McCormicks were a family of four: mom and dad and two sons. On this late November afternoon, with the sun almost gone, a regal quiet spread throughout the home. Clocks ticked, the house creaked and popped occasionally, but it wasn’t until about a quarter to five that in the distance one could make out the sound of an approaching car.
Luke and his mom entered through the garage door of the house. Luke immediately took off his puffy winter jacket and hung it on a hook, next to where his brother would. He slipped off each of his black sneakers and walked past the spotless mudroom with his bag slumped over his shoulder. Luke passed by the glossy marble kitchen top, passed the fancy cocobolo table they dined at, and sauntered into the living room. He saw a big cardboard box. His mom pursued him after he turned the corner, taking off her puffy coat as well and placing her purse on the marble countertop.
“You are going to be delighted to see what’s inside of there! Go ahead, open it!” Luke proceeded to carefully take off the tape and unfolded the cardboard box. Inside was a huge trophy, that read: “Luke McCormick, winner of the annual winter Stowe Middle School Math competition”
“That was from last week!” she exclaimed.
Luke made his way up to the second floor. The stairs were glossy with a beautiful runner carpet and were protected by an extravagant railing. Made of a rich dark brown, the banister wound its way past the second floor up to the attic.
“Hey mom!” Luke shouted, laying on his bed, “When’s that new math thingy I have tomorrow?” His mom called back from downstairs. “It’s from five to five thirty, just after your Pre-SAT prep session you have!” Luke groaned and laid his head back, “Alrighty,” he mumbled. After five minutes, Luke meandered his way back downstairs, past all the shining awards that glistered with his name, and sat down on the couch with a despondent look. He shouted, “Hey mom, do you think we could chill on the prep things, maybe remove the Pre SAT one?” A silence was heard, then, “Absolutely not!” Luke sighed and opened his backpack.
When Luke was just about to finish his first worksheet, he heard the mudroom door flung open with a bang. Luke’s older brother Jack had come home from school. “Alright babe, see you later, I just got home and gotta do work now,” Jack said into his phone, “Love you!” Jack quickly flung off winter clothes and sped into his room. Their dad followed behind Jack, hanging up his coat and sitting down to rest on the family couch, and he let out a very audible sigh, from even a room over. Luke walked over and sat down next to him, “You all right?” he asked.
“Yeah, I guess, Jack’s been a handful these days, always wanting to go out with his girlfriend and making me drive him back and forth. He seems happier than ever though, so I’m also happy!”
”I guess so…” Luke responded. “But you’re still more excited for my new badminton thing that I’m going to, right?” The dad sat still for a second.
“Sure, sure, sure, of course!”
Luke went back to whittle away at his gargantuan pile of work. He had his work cut out: for geometry he had to solve a lot of homework problems, for science, study up for a presentation on Newton’s laws; English, an analytical essay, and for social studies, he had to study the Civil War. Luke heard some commotion from his brother’s room, which was just across the hall. Inside, Jack was sitting down on his desk, playing a video game that he had just died in. Jack banged and slammed his table with his hand even though it stung, until he heard his door open.
“Are you okay?” Luke peeped.
“Yeah sure, now get away.”
“Alright man.”
Luke stepped back into his room: he had to get through eleven pages of his PSAT workbook, ten pages of a math competition preparation book, and needed to practice his violin before dinner. For the rest of the afternoon, Luke completely zoned in on getting these things done, but he was interrupted many times by his brother’s grunts and bangs. Jack played the violin too, but Luke heard no practicing. Once dinner was ready his mom called, and Luke stopped his reading of The Great Gatsby to make his way out of the room. Jack left his room at the same time. With dreary eyes and a slouch, Jack looked like he was in terrible shape as they both made their way down the stairs to the dinner table. The two brothers entered the dining room, which was sectioned off from the rest of the house by a cased opening with a pearly white arch. Inside was a marvelous glass table that was held up by intricate curves and beams of smooth iron.
On top of the table were four platters that were all covered by bright silver cloches. “I hope you boys are ready for what your dad and I whipped up!” They all took their seats on the rich wooden chairs engraved with tangled designs, and with dark velvet cushions.
“Alright, now for the big reveal!” their mom chirped. The cloches were lifted and on the table were four masterful dishes of food. Roasted racks of lamb covered in garlic and a crust of herbs, a creamy mouthwatering plate of alfredo, a rich chicken piccata,
and to top it all off, a plate of broiled lobster tails.
“Alright, Alright, before anyone can dig in, your father has an announcement! Dick?”
“Well sons, it is very exciting news I have for you! We have just received a letter in the mail – Jack’s gotten into the Vermont All-State orchestra! It was really hard, but he got the audition off splendidly. Can we have some applause for Jack?”
As Luke was clapping, he couldn’t help but wonder how Jack had gotten into such a renowned orchestra. Jack hadn’t practiced at all when Luke was home, and he was also out with his girlfriend a lot or playing games. As they dug into the delicious food, Luke shared about his afternoon, saying “I got all of my work done, and read some of The Great Gatsby.” Hoping to get some sort of response, Luke looked up at both of his parents, but they harbored zero reactions. They just kept on eating their food and grinning at Jack. Luke kept his dinner table manners. His elbows didn’t touch the table – but he couldn’t help glancing at Jack who was resting his arms on the table, using only one fork and knife, and eating directly off the plates with the food on them… and to top it off, Jack was scrolling on his phone while chewing! He wasn’t even looking back at their parents who were praising him. For the rest of the dinner, Luke ate his food in silence, and when done, left the table. He turned back and saw Jack still scrolling on his phone while slowly eating, with his parents talking at and about him. Luke turned away and headed up back to his room.
For the rest of the night, Luke read more of his book, and completed more of his assignments, but kept on hearing his brother watch videos loudly, bang on his table, and talk to his girlfriend. Yet, he still heard no practicing at all. He put down The Great Gatsby on his bedside countertop and walked over to Jack’s room.
Luke slowly opened Jack’s door and saw Jack blasting music into his headphones while playing videogames on his computer. He knocked on the door to grab his attention.
“Hey, shouldn’t you practice your violin?”
Jack turned around and took off his headphones.
“Honh? Could you repeat that.”
“I said you should practice your violin.”
“Why the hell would I do that? I just got in! Now’s the time for celebration!”
“You really should stop doing useless things and do something productive, you know.”
Jack got up out of his chair.
“What did you just say? Who do you think you are? Mom?”
Jack towered over Luke and started walking towards him.
“Get the hell out of my room.”
Luke made his way out of the room, but before he closed the door shut, he said, “What’s gotten into you? You’ve never been like this; I was just trying to help you.”
But there was only silence.
In the master bedroom, Mister and Missus McCormick were getting ready for bed. Dick took off his tie, unbuttoned his shirt, and changed into pajamas.
“Hey Janet, how was your day?”
Janet, already dressed in casual clothing for the night, was taking off her jewelry.
“God it was the worst, I couldn’t stand looking at Jack at dinner tonight.”
They kept talking as Dick changed into his nightwear.
“Hey, today was some stressful stuff for me too. I mean, I was with him all day, and he didn’t even seem happy when I announced it, Janet.”
“You’re right, but how is Luke going to take it? You know how jealous he can get.”
“I do.”
“What do we do? Jack barely wants to do anything anymore, and even with that announcement of his success, he didn’t even lift a finger!”
“Janet, this can’t be all for nothing, I risked so much getting Jack into that orchestra, 3rd chair too! Do you know what could have happened? Picture the news, ‘Wealthy CFO bribes his son into prestigious orchestra!’”
“You do have a point Dick, but what can we do? What do you think? I’ve been busy with Luke, and he seems to orbit towards you more.”
“I think he just likes doing what he enjoys the best, so maybe we could try to find something he enjoys and highlight that.”
“Maybe, we’ll try and find something about that tomorrow, it’s getting a bit late.”
They walked out of their separate changing rooms and climbed into bed.
“Good night, Dick.”
“G’night.”
The next morning, after shooing the boys off to school, the parents visited an academic advisor in Stowe. His name was Mr. Hart. As they were exiting their car, Janet expressed her concerns.
“Are you sure this will work, Dick?”
“Kinda, I mean what else can we do? They are professionals, plus this one was quite expensive, must be worth it.”
“I suppose so.”
They entered Mr. Hart’s office, checked themselves in, and then sat in the conference room. After a few minutes, Mr. Hart walked into the room.
“Alrighty, you guys have already sent me the information on your sons, but what are you concerned about?”
Janet was the first one to speak.
“Okay, so you know how one of our sons Jack has been despondent recently?”
“Mhm.”
“We just don’t know what to do with him, he used to have so much excitement to do things just a year ago, but now that he’s in high school, he barely wants to do anything outside of school besides play games and talk to his girlfriend.”
Mr. Hart rubbed his chin.
“I see, so he’s showing major signs of being burnt out. What do you have to say, Mr. McCormick?”
“Well, since he’s been sticking around with me more, I think he just wants to do what he enjoys doing instead of doing all the things that we forced on him.”
“That does make sense I suppose, but what is your goal here?”
Janet responded first.
“I mean we just ultimately want him to be happy in the end – it’s just he needs to do something outside of school, or else he won’t be able to go anywhere in life.”
“Ok, so you guys want him to get interested in something and be excited about that?”
Both of the parents responded in unison.
“Of course.”
“So, why don’t you try and get him hooked on something to do with games then? He seems to really enjoy playing games, so maybe learning about how games are made will inspire him to learn about coding and computer science!”
Dick responded. “Alright, that seems like a good idea.”
“Ok, are you folks satisfied with this session?”
“It seems so.”
“Well, good luck on the games, and I am interested to see how Jack will react. Good day.”
Mr. Hart walked out of the room.
The parents left the conference room and went back towards the main entrance. They stopped by the secretary to pay for the session on the way out.
“You are the McCormicks?”
Dick responded. “Yep.”
“Okay then, your session was a recorded 15 minutes, and with the hourly rate being six hundred dollars, that will be one hundred and fifty dollars.”
Janet whispered to Dick.
“Holy crap, that’s almost ten dollars every minute.”
“It’s worth it if we can help Jack out.”
“You’re right.”
Dick quickly wrote a one hundred and fifty dollar check, signed it, and handed it to the secretary.
“Thank you, have a nice day!”
“You too,” Dick responded.
The couple then walked back into the car and started their journey back up the mountains to their home.
After a long day, while Luke was in a trance finishing his work, the parents took a visit to Jack’s room. They opened the door to find him, once again, playing more video games. They knocked on the wall to signal their presence, and Jack turned around.
“Hey Jack, can we have a talk?” said Janet.
“What for?”
“It’s just something for moving forward,” chimed in Dick. “Jack, I know you love playing those video games, but we were just wondering why you never want to do anything anymore. I know you’ve told us you don’t want us to force things upon you anymore, so I’m asking you here, what do you want to do?”
Jack stared at his parents, with his eyes wide open and his mouth dropped a tiny bit.
“Hey Dick, are you sure this was a good idea?” whispered Janet.
Jack got up out of his chair and walked towards his parents, with a surprised face. Are they serious right now? thought Jack. There’s no way I actually got into the orchestra, I literally didn’t practice, so Dad must have done something again, and now they are pulling this out?
“Come on son, no need to be so surprised, it never should have been that way in the first place, we just wanted to look out for you.”
Jack snapped out of his surprised gaze.
“Since you love playing games so much, maybe you could learn how to make one of your own! How’s that sound?”
“Umm, s-s-sure, I would love that! But how would I ever be able to do that?”
“We already found a good class online for Java programming and game design, all we need is your approval!”
“Alright, sure, let’s do that now then!”
On the other side of the hallway, Luke stood behind his closed door, with his fists clenched tightly. Why does he get all the good treatment? They never pay attention to me anymore. WHY? I put in so much more effort into everything, and they never treat me like they treat him. Luke slammed his door open. He saw Jack giving his parents a hug.
“Thank you guys so much for this,” Jack said.
“No problem boyo… after all, you are our son.”
Luke stood in his doorway, staring at the happy family.
“Why do you treat him so nicely but never me? What did I do to deserve that?”
Janet turned around instantly.
“Honey…”
“Why do you guys always force so much on me and not him? WHY?”
Jack stepped out of his room and stared at Luke.
“Can you shut the hell up?”
“EXCUSE me young man. That is no way to talk to your – .” Janet was interrupted.
“Mom, please just don’t. Just go back into my room for one second, let me deal with this.”
The parents stepped back into the room, but carefully listened from inside.
“What the hell do you even want?”
“Why the hell do you get all the attention?”
“Are you even looking at yourself? Look around you, dumbass, see all those trophies, have you ever even seen them fawn over me before today?”
Luke opened his mouth. But was immediately interrupted.
“When have I ever got any damn recognition before you have? It’s always, oh my gosh Luke you did so good on this! Oh my gosh Luke, terrific job! Our parents are always, always, ALWAYS, checking on YOU! I didn’t even know they cared about me, so this has been wonderful. I’ve never been this happy in a while and you are RUINING IT, so stop CRYING!”
Luke stared at his brother.
“Fine, enjoy it while it lasts.”
Luke walked back into his room. He threw all his books that were on his desk onto the floor and got his laptop free from all the papers and pens and study materials, laid on his bed, and started playing browser games.