You turn your head to your dad, curls like flames against the backdrop of the sliding glass door. Your eyes pivot between him and the videogame console. You prepare to reach behind the bookshelf-slash-TV-stand in a blatant act of disobedience. You want to touch the videogame console's power button.
Your dad is staring at you and waiting for your next move. This will be risky, but he is feeling feverish and -- today at least -- cannot move quickly. The lit green power button is at your eye level. You can make this quick. A quick finger press before he launches off the couch and pulls you away by the wrist. He is still staring. He will move too slow.
"Estelle, daddy said no."
Your dad talks in third person, as if the act of appealing to a higher authority, appealing to himself in third person, somehow lends the "Dad" title greater credence. It does not this time. You turn toward the gaming console despite your dad's eyes being on you and you press the button. The green power button powers down and your dad is now walking over to you with a small nightstand gripped in his hands.
"Daddy said no," and he pulls you slowly but firmly to the side and sets the small nightstand in the way of the gaming console. That is it. You cannot reach it anymore. You tilt your head back and let out a small wail. Fitting punishment for your dad, you feel, to let him hear you cry.
Your dad returns to the couch and puts a hand on his warm forehead. You return to the scene of the crime. Your dad will never expect that, you think. You pound the meaty part of your palm down on the nightstand once or twice for good measure. It is here, dad, and I can see it. I can touch it. This night stand, this roadblock, is only a temporary roadblock. I have learned more about this house in fourteen months than you have learned in four years. It is thoroughly mapped in my head. From the kitchen to the master bedroom, I know about the copper wiring behind the fridge, I know about the extra foot of unused TV cable next to the master bathroom. Every moment I spend in this house provides another way for me to test my boundaries. Your boundaries.
And my boundaries are not yours. You can stop me. But my boundaries are not yours.
