Bend It Like Beckham

Two weeks ago, Jeep Boy was out with his friends. He called here, at about 10:00, and asked Perfect Man if he could get his ear pierced.

As I said, it was ten (pm), so Perfect Man had been asleep for well over two hours. (He falls over like a redwood at 7:30, give or take five minutes.) And being awakened from a deep sleep by his son with such an unexpected request made him a little cranky.

"NO!" he yelled into the phone, and then "hung it back up" by putting the receiver upside down on his stomach. Then he fell back asleep.

The next morning, when Jeep Boy demanded an explanation for the denial, Perfect Man told him that he was against piercings of ears and other bodily mutilations, and besides that, such a move would require the approval of both parents, and would not be something he could just do on a whim like that.

So two nights ago, (the boys were at her house at the time) Blood Runs Cold called Perfect Man and complained that Jeep Boy had gone out and gotten his ear pierced without her permission, and that when she confronted him, he said that his father had said he could. Perfect Man explained the gaps in truth and accuracy. Now not only was she angry with Jeep Boy, Perfect Man was also angry with Jeep Boy.

I don't think an ear piercing is a big deal, myself. I also think the attitude about it from both parents is a little sexist: if Jeep Boy were a girl, I think he'd have both ears pierced by now, and what's the difference? However, I DO think lying is a big deal, and deceitful manipulation is a big deal, and when shit like this goes down, there's this weird thing that Blood Runs Cold does that I don't understand at all: she gets behind the action. She has an "Oh well. It's done. Let's forget all the trouble and have a little party!" attitude that I honestly don't understand.

Jeep Boy did something he didn't have permission to do. When confronted by his mother, he lied and said his father gave him permission. That's not okay. Shouldn't there be a consequence when a young man who has just started driving, who will be traveling down a long road with many possible wrong turns ahead, defies and lies? Yes, there should. And apparently, Blood Runs Cold thinks so, too, and she handed him one: When Jeep Boy came back to our house yesterday, there was a 1/2 carat diamond flashing in his swollen, punctured lobe. "Is that real?" I asked him. "Yeah," he said, smiling. "My mom gave it to me."