Some mazes are meant to be solved. Some are meant to keep you tangled up and distracted. And some are meant to make you happy.
Tim didn't say anything besides hello. Michelle knew something was wrong, but she had to take Olivia to her Young Thespians Summer Drama Club meeting and Ella was a little fussy about having to go along, so there wasn't really time to talk. Tim didn't seem to want to talk anyway. He just grabbed a drink and went to sit in the living room where Jake was playing in the Playhut Ultimate Safari Maze.
"Hi, Dad!" Jake popped out of the center circle. "I'm in a cube!"
Tim smiled. "I just left one."
"Wow!" Jake ducked down and wiggled through the tunnel port. "Is it like mine?"
"Not as nice." Tim took a swig and closed his eyes. "And I can't run through the maze as fast as you."
"Yeah, I can go super fast." said Jake. "Watch this!"
Jake jumped out of the cube and ran to the very first tunnel port and made a big show about struggling through quickly. "Look, Dad!" he said. "Look how fast I'm going!"
"That's fast, Jake," said Tim. "You're pretty good at that maze."
"It's fun!" Jake reached the last of the three cubes and three tunnel ports and looked at his father with a smile... then noticed something was wrong.
"Are you okay, Dad?"
Tim nodded and took another swig. "Just a long day. Running through mazes isn't as much fun when you get older."
"That happened to me last year."
Jake seemed very serious and it made Tim smile.
"Oh, yeah? What did you do?"
"I did this!"
Jake ran to the back of the Playhut Ultimate Safari Maze and started undoing the Twist 'N Fold connectors. In a few seconds, the entire maze was rearranged. Jake slid through the new front tunnel port and sat cross-legged in the first cube.
"See, Dad? Now it's a space ship! That's a lot more fun, right?"
Tim wasn't sure how to answer, so he did the only thing he could. He put down his drink and walked to get a chair.
"I'll be the gunner," Tim said as he sat down beside his son's Playhut Ultimate Safari Maze. "Let's blast off."
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