A Few Genuflects
“Just say a few genuflects and you’ll be fine.” Todd tries to restore normality to his new household. What better way than to be irreverent, especially toward his Reverend? Wednesday, Todd and Summer try to play happy families, make everything right again.
Billy, sitting nearby, doesn’t even hear their chatter. He is immersed in mental and spiritual conflict. A vicar, and now a dad. But a dad whose child can be taken away from him at any time. He and Todd have custody of Summer but social workers and the legal system can still deem what is best for her. That might mean her going to foster parents or to her grandparents.
And Vicar Billy has just punched the lights out of Peter Barlow. Simon blabbed that to the social worker. Fortunately, Simon told Peter what he had done and Peter did his best to be proactive. He told the social worker that it was nothing, that he’d asked for it, that it was just two fathers steamed up about what their kids had done. No problem, no official complaint, let’s forget it, eh?
That was enough for the social worker, for the time being at least. She made that clear. We’ll be watching you. It was not enough for Billy himself, though. He also has to answer to his God. Set an example, live by his principles. Letting a rage come over him to the extent that he batters another person nearly to a pulp before he regains control of himself? He can’t reconcile those two parts of himself so easily.
Smoothing the waters
Todd tries to jolly Billy into getting over it. He knows how important it is for Billy to forgive himself, for Summer to feel secure in their love for her and for each other. He also knows the tenuousness of their situation as her guardians.
Summer also wants Billy and Todd to be happy with each other and with themselves, as well as with her. She knows she jeopardized all of that. Her sorrow about her late dad Drew was brought up afresh on his birthday, and that coincided with Simon’s stupid dare about the “spice” drug. And Billy and Todd being at odds with each other. She knows she risks losing her new happy home.
So Summer and Todd team up to show Billy all is well with their world. That he should not rock the boat by not accepting Peter’s smoothing over the waters. Peter understands, God understands, it’s only social services that you can’t count on. Take the support you’ve been given and hope that’s the end of it. Keeping their family together is now the most important thing to Todd, and genuflects won’t work with social services. Unfortunately, it won’t work for Billy either.
