Playing the 'Son' Card (8 page)

He told me to just to my best. “Even
though you have no training, you’ve been seeing what we’ve been
doing this afternoon, and you probably have a pretty good idea how
to do a lot of this stuff already, so just do what you can, and
remember to talk to your two partners and work as a
team.”

So I did, and I guess I did pretty
well, too. I didn’t make any big mistakes, and I actually got to do
pretend CPR on Jesse. I’d been a victim for CPR three times by
then, and I managed to do it as the rescuer quite well, according
to what Jonathan told me afterwards.

The three of us sat with the group
of staff, and listened as Jonathan gave his crowd the wrap up talk,
and then asked us three to join him in the hot tub to warm
up.

I know we all needed it by then.
We’d been in and out of the water for almost five hours by then,
and I was really quite cold. I was thinner than Troy and Jesse, and
felt it more than them.

Jonathan praised me for my hard work
and my quick learning skills. He repeated his desire to have me
‘help out’ around the pool when I moved, and even made a concrete
offer.

He told me that he wanted me to take
a dive coaching course that would happen over two weekends in about
a month, down in Seattle. He said that I could get there fairly
easily from Spokane so it would be easier than coming all the way
up to Bellingham.

“Then, when you get here,” Jonathan
went on, “I’d like to bring you on as an official assistant dive
coach, and then you can also do some volunteer guarding and swim
instruction, if you want.”

I said right away that it sounded
good and I wanted to do it. Once again, this was the new me
talking, the soon-to-be high school freshman, not the lonely little
boy from Spokane.

After that great session at the
pool, we were feeling pretty happy, but we were also
tired.

I decided that we needed to stop at
a family restaurant and have a sit-down meal on the way home, to
get supper, instead of going home and me cooking. It felt a little
weird to be in a restaurant, with all of us being just kids. I felt
pretty confident, and it went okay.

Trevor and Jesse enjoyed the eating
out, we were a little happier when we got home. I suggested that we
watch a movie, but the younger boys both fell asleep within fifteen
minutes of the start.

I stopped the movie, and looked at
the two of them sleeping. They looked so peaceful that I didn’t
want to disturb them, but I figured I’d better get them upstairs
and into bed.

I tried to wake them, to get them
upstairs, but I couldn’t budge them. After looking at them some
more, and thinking the situation over, I decided to carry them
upstairs. I tried to remember if they’d been to the bathroom, and
seemed to recall that they’d both been before we left the
restaurant, so that helped.

I started with Jesse, because he was
lighter, although I knew he weighed about 80 pounds and he was not
a light kid. I managed to get him up the stairs and into his bed
without too much difficulty.

Next, it was Trevor’s turn. I tried
one more time to wake him, but I could only get a little muffled
noise from him. There was no way I was going to wake
him.

He was definitely not a lightweight.
In fact, he was about the same weight as myself at somewhere close
to a hundred pounds, but about six inches shorter.

I was going to have to do a
fireman’s carry on him, and I was sure I would wake him up as I
carried him, but he stayed asleep. I managed to pick him up, and
got him up and into his bed. I covered him up, and celebrated my
little victory as a caregiver.

Once they were all tucked in, I went
to bed myself. As I drifted off to sleep, I thought about now
wonderful the day had been. Another good day, and another step
towards the good life that I wanted for myself.

CHAPTER

10

Sunday morning started fairly
quietly. I got up around eight, showered and cleaned up myself and
the kitchen. I made scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, and toast
for the boys and myself.

We had just finished, around ten
o’clock when the phone rang. It was Melanie from the
office.

She apologized for phoning on Easter
Sunday, but she wanted to reach my mom. It turned out that someone
wanted to see the same house that I’d been to on Thursday. There
was no one else around, and she didn’t know what to do. The buyer’s
agent had told Melanie that his buyers were only in town for
Sunday, and if they were going to look at mom’s house, it had to be
Sunday morning, in about an hour.

I thought for a moment, and then
told her that I’d show it myself. “It’s the one I was at on
Thursday,” I said, “So I know all the features.”

Melanie sounded a little unsure.
“Well, okay, Troy, if you think so.”

“Sure,” I replied, sounding much
more in control than I felt. “No problem. There’s no way that my
Mom will make it back to town in an hour anyway, so anything I can
do is much better than nothing, right?”

She sounded a little more convinced.
“Sure, Troy, and thanks.”

“No problem,” I repeated.

I put down the phone, and paused to
consider what I should do. First off, I phoned the buyer’s agent,
and told him that I was Mr. Evanson, and that I’d meet him at the
house.

I mentioned to the other agent that
‘I had shown the house on Thursday so I knew it was in good shape
to show.’ That comment forestalled any questions about why Mr.
Evanson was showing the house instead of Mrs. Evanson.

I told the boys that I was going to
have to go out for a couple of hours, and got their promises that
they’d be okay on their own.

Now I just had to get dressed and
get over there. My suit was handy, so that issue was solved. I
could either get a taxi or... I looked outside to where Mom’s
office car was parked. It was a late model SUV with the Company
logo on the door.

I knew how to drive, or at least I
thought I did. I’d moved our car around a bit, when my mom was away
a few times, and especially in the last while since she’d left her
old car in Spokane. I knew I wasn’t supposed to, but I did it
anyway.

I also thought that if I drove over
and parked the car in front of the house, they’d think I was at
least 16, and would take me a little more seriously. After all,
what was really happening was that some kid was going to show them
a house.

With the assurance of the young who
know little limitation, I felt vastly more confident than perhaps I
should have felt. There was so much that I’d been through in the
last five days. Traveling on my own, finding that I had a real
office in Mom’s building, experiencing a few hours with my Mom on
the job, and looking after the boys. Maybe, however, that
confidence was just what I needed.

I got myself dressed in my jacket
and tie, and then called the boys into the room.

“Listen, you two, I know you’ve
promised to be okay on your own for a couple of hours, but I need
something else from you.”

Trevor answered for them. “What is
it, Troy?”

I paused. “I, uh, need you to
absolutely pretend that you don’t see anything after I leave the
house in a few minutes. I want you both to agree that you were both
involved in your video games, and all you know is that I left the
house, and that I returned about two hours later, okay?”

I was being very cryptic, and I
could tell that they were a little confused. “So all you have to
do, it play your games, and don’t pay attention to what I do after
I walk out the front door.”

Jesse was nodding very slowly as
Trevor spoke. “Okay, Troy, I think we’ve got it. We absolutely
won’t see anything at all, right Jesse?”

“Right,” he affirmed.

I stepped forward, and even gave
each of them a quick kiss on the forehead. “Thanks, guys. You’re
the greatest.”

I looked around the room to make
sure I hadn’t forgotten anything. “Okay, do I look alright,” I
asked.

“You sure do,” Jesse answered. “You
look really grown up, Troy.”

“Good,” I responded. “Okay, then,
I’ve got to go.”

I turned and left the room, and
headed downstairs. I pulled Mom’s keys off the hook and went out to
her car. I opened it up, and got it. Looking down, and behind the
console, I checked to make sure her computer and printer were
there. I didn’t imagine I would need them, but at least she’d left
them.

With only a short pause, I started
the car, and prepared myself mentally for a moment. Then, I put the
car in drive, and started off.

It was only a moment to the end of
the small street, and then out onto the next road. I was doing
okay, and I felt comfortable driving. It was a holiday Sunday, so
that meant the traffic was light, and that certainly
helped.

In only ten minutes, I was pulling
up outside the house we’d been at on Thursday. I had about fifteen
minutes in hand, so I parked, and went up to unlock the house and
prepare for the visit. I made sure there were some feature sheets
that I could give them, and stood in the front hallway to catch my
breath.

For a moment, I was a little
unbelieving at what I’d done, and what I was about to do, but I
couldn’t stop now.

I stepped outside just as they were
driving up, about five minutes early.

I managed to speak first, as they
approached. “Hello! I’m Troy Evanson. Welcome.”

“Hello, Troy,” spoke the leading
man, dressed in a jacket with no tie. “I’m Tony Marconi. We spoke
on the phone.” He paused. “And these are my clients, the
Johnstons.”

“Hello, Tony,” I said. “It’s nice to
meet you in person.” I produced my business cards, giving one to
him and holding out the other to the buyers to take.

I shook hands with him, and then
with the couple coming up behind him. “Very nice to meet you, Mr.
and Mrs. Johnston. I’m happy to show the house on behalf of Liz.
I’m sorry she can’t be here herself.”

“No problem, Mr. Evanson.” The wife
was very gracious. “We’re just thankful that you could meet us on a
holdiay Sunday morning.”

“Yes, we’re sorry about that,” her
husband explained, “But we have to get a flight back to Boston this
afternoon, and we had pretty much run out of places that worked for
us. Maybe this will be it.”

Tony cringed a bit at that comment,
and I had the feeling that he didn’t like his clients saying so
much.

I smiled, and carried on. “Well,
glad you got here,” I said in as friendly manner as I could. “I’ve
got some feature sheets that I’ll give you now, and you can ask me
any questions you like as we go through the house.”

I handed each of them a feature
sheet, and headed for the front door, expecting that they would
follow. This was just how my mother had done it three days
before.

Once inside, I did a little show and
tell, just as my mother had, starting on the ground floor, and then
going upstairs. With that done, I did a quick show of the
uncompleted basement, and then led them outside to show them the
back yard. I remembered most of what my mother had said, and passed
on that information as best I could.

After roughly three-quarters of an
hour, we’d pretty much done the house, and were back in the living
room.

“So, is there any questions that you
haven’t asked yet, that I can answer?” I put to them. “Maybe about
the schools here, or the neighborhood in general?”

This was the way my mother had
asked, although I thought that it didn’t make sense to tell them
about schools if they had no kids.

Mrs. Johnston answered for them.
“Well, thanks, Mr. Evanson, but we’ve already done our homework on
the schools and the areas of Bellingham, so I think we’re pretty
much up on all that.”

Tony spoke up. “This house is in the
catchment area for Maple Grove Elementary School and Windor Park
Middle School, right?”

I knew that answer. “Yes, it
certainly is.”

Mrs. Johnston looked happy. “Good,”
she said, softly.

“Okay, then, if there’s nothing else
for me, I’ll leave you here to talk, and I’ll step outside. But
I’ll be close by if you need anything.”

Tony was quick to acknowledge my
comment. “Thanks, Troy. That’s great.”

“Thank you for your excellent
showing, Mr. Evanson,” added Mr. Johnston. “We really appreciate
your thorough knowledge.”

“No problem,” I responded as I
stepped towards the front door. “My pleasure.”

On my way outside, I closed the door
behind me, wondering if I’d done right. I was worried that I might
get into trouble for what I’d just done over the last hour. I could
only hope that everything would work out, and that my mom would be
okay with what I had done.

CHAPTER

11

After only five minutes, the agent
and his clients came out the front door. I scanned their faces to
see what kind of response I was going to get. I was pleased to see
smiles, quite a different look than I had seen on Thursday with my
mom.