“When you’ve had time to think about what I said, and why your actions were not okay. You think a week is long enough for you to do that?”

Justin squirmed in his seat. “I already thought about it!” he whined.

“And what is your thought?”

“That I shouldn’t have looked at the pictures.”

“Because?”

“Because you think it’s nasty.”

“Not because I think, Justin; because it is.” Dominique’s next thought made her clench the steering wheel. “Justin, have you and Michael done more than look at pictures?”

“No,” Justin quickly replied.

“You’ve never looked at videos?”

“Uh-uh.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

“What?”

“Yes.”

“Because if I ever find out that you’ve watched those types of movies, you’ll have graduated high school before you get your games back.”

After deciding that in addition to his video games, television and the computer would also be off-limits for a week, Dominique stopped by the mall so that Justin could find a book to read to fill the downtime after homework was completed. They then drove the short distance to a gourmet store where she picked up veggies and a roasted chicken. Once home, Justin went straight to his room and after a dinner in which Dominique had never seen her child so quiet, he retired for the night.

Although hardly sleepy, Dominique decided to call it an early night as well. She showered, put on one of her favorite gowns, grabbed her work, and climbed into her haven—her four-poster canopied bed. She tried to bury herself in editing, but her thoughts simply were not on it. Instead she was questioning her decisions regarding her son. Did I do the right thing by taking away his privileges? Is a week too long? Not enough time? Should I have just taken the games and left the TV? The only choice she was absolutely certain about was the computer that she was taking to work tomorrow so that Reggie could set the controls. Dominique could type eighty words a minute and Google from here to eternity but when it came to setups and functions she was totally inept. Hopefully Reggie would help ensure that at least on his home computer, Justin would have absolutely no access to pornographic sites. He won’t stop doing whatever he’s doing. He’ll just learn how to effectively hide it from you. Jake’s sober warning drifted into Dominique’s mind, and not for the first time. But how could she have let this slide without some type of reprimand? As if to answer the question, her cell phone rang.

“Hey, you,” Jake murmured after Dominique had answered. “How’d it go today?”

Dominique released a sigh, glad to turn her mental monologue into a dialogue. “Honestly, Jake, I don’t know.”

“What happened?”

She relayed her conversation with Justin. “I’ve never seen him so quiet and as soon as dinner was over he went to his room.”