Ch 128 The tired little man

“Mommy, can we go home now?”

May Lyn scooped up her tired little man and gave him a hug. “Not just yet, Honey. The game’s only half over and don’t you want to find Mr. Sebastian first? Stevie said he was going to be here with Cindy and…”

“Der he is!” Tristan suddenly shouted, squirming out of his mother’s arm. “Mr. Bashan!” He hit the ground running, sprinted forward and got instantly swallowed by the milling crowd.

“Tristan!” May shouted. In panic mode she ran after him, but the crowd closed around her and she couldn’t see him anywhere. She was trapped in a sea of people all pushing her further away from her baby.

“Oh, dear God! Tristan!” she shouted breaking free at last.

Ten terrifying minutes later—might as well have been three hours to a scared-to-death-of-losing-her-child mother—she spotted Cindy with Stevie in a small group of friends standing underneath the grandstand, but no Tristan nor Donny were in sight.

She ran forward and grabbed Stevie’s arm. “What the heck? Aunt May, what’s wrong?” he said.

“Tristan, I lost him in the crowd. Help me find him, please!” she said.

“He’s right over there by the port-a-potties, Ms. London. My dad took him there and they went looking for you,” Cindy said.

“Oh…oh…” May Lyn said, clutching at her frantically beating heart. “Thank God.”

“You can thank my dad,” Cindy giggled, and went back to talking to her friends.

May Lyn went to the row of potties set behind the concession stand, but didn’t see her boy nor Donny. “Where would they go to look for me?” she mumbled to herself, scanning over the crowd. Her eyes fell on a familiar yet unwelcome face, that of Steven, her brother-in-law, and not surprising—at least not to her—he was with a, shall we say, young woman clearly half his age and dressed particularly inappropriately. May Lyn swiftly turned away, lest he were to spot her and ruin her night. That’s when she heard the shout she’d hoped for.

“Mommy!” Tristan said coming forward, hand in hand with Donny, “I found Mr. Bashan.”

“Oh, you little monster!” she said, grabbing him up and half hugging, half strangling him. “You scared me near to death, Tristan. Don’t you ever run off into a crowd like that ever again! I thought I lost you forever.”

“Mr. Bashan just tol me da same ting,” he said, struggling to get loose. “He said it was bery bad, so I won’t do it no more. I pwomise!”

She released him and stared at Donny. “Seems I’m forever thanking you for something having to do with this little menace, Donny. I was ready to call in the National Guard in order to find him.”

“I’ve been known to call in the Marines for such a task,” Donny laughed. “My wife used to lose a kid in the crowd at least once a year. Swore it took a year off her life each time…least that’s what she said. Must have been right, cuz I lost her way too soon.”

She nodded and smiled somewhat sadly. She understood perfectly. They stared at each other with nothing much to say, or perhaps too much which they didn’t know how to say.

“Can we get da ice cream now, Mr. Bashan?” Tristan said, tugging on his hand and effectively breaking the awkward silence.

“Only if it’s okay with Mommy. That’s why we were looking for her first, you know. She’s the food police. She can nix the whole idea,” Donny said, a mischievous grin on his face.

“Oh sure, and be the bad guy forever? I don’t think so!” she retorted. “I want a yogurt pop.”

Donny laughed. Grabbed her arm and took them both to the end of the long line at the concession stand.

“So, how do you like being back in high school?” Donny asked, as they waited behind some teenagers who were scrounging for enough money to get some fries and a drink to split.

“Brings back memories all right, not all bad though,” she said, tentatively looking over his shoulder, wondering if Steven and his trampy girlfriend were still around and hoping not to see him again.

“Looking for someone?” Donny asked.

“Me? No,” she lied. “Did you go to school around here?”

He shook his head and told her far more than he imagined she’d ever want to know about him, but as she kept asking questions and laughing at his stupid jokes, he kept going until they were ready to order.

“You are so smart to get it in a cup for him. He doesn’t do well with cones,” May Lyn said in a whisper. “But you can’t tell him that or he’ll get all miffed.”

“Yes, I learned that the hard way with my car upholstery,” he replied.

“Oh, Donny! I’m sorry,” she grimaced.

“Lucky it didn’t stain, so no worries,” he said. “Want to go sit down with us and watch the rest of the game? Although…” He paused to scan the crowd of teenagers. “Not likely I’ll find Cindy and Stevie now, is it?”

“I saw them with some friends so…no!” she said laughing. “Think we’re on our own now.”

“I worry about Cindy though,” he said, still looking for her in vain. “She’s had some trouble with so-called friends.”

“High school can be brutal, but she’s with Stevie. She’ll be fine if she stays with him. I’m pretty sure he’d protect her with his life if need be. He won’t let her out of his sight.”

“You giving that kid too much credit just because he’s your nephew or…”

“He likes her, a lot,” she said, without thinking.

“Just as friends, right?” Donny asked frowning slightly as they climbed the bleachers, he holding Tristan’s ice cream for him, while he climbed up. When May Lyn didn’t answer, he stopped her from going further. “Right, May?”

She smiled and said, “This is good here. We can see the slaughter great from here. Our school is being killed, which is really weird for me. Our school almost always won against…”

“Are you telling me Stevie has a thing for my daughter and he’s got her here alone where I can’t even watch out for her?” Donny said, sounding about as panicked as May Lyn had been when she lost Tristan.

“Donny, sit and chill. It’s just puppy love, I’m sure,” she said, putting Tristan on the bench between them with his ice cream.

“I have to go find her,” Donny said, turning around, jumping off the bleachers and leaving them far behind.

“Donny!” she shouted but he was gone.

“Where’s Mr. Bashan going, Mommy?” Tristan asked. “He said he was gonna sit wiff us.”

May Lyn sighed. “Come on, then. We better go after him or we’ll never find him again…least not before he kills Stevie.”

When she finally found him—took a few minutes as the game was about to start again and everybody headed back to their seats—he was not with Cindy nor was he yelling at Stevie. Donny, however, was having a heated discussion with Steven London, his little tramp right beside him—making crackling sounds with her bubble gum and looking, if at all possible, even more trampy than before.

May Lyn groaned. “What’s this now?” she mumbled, stuffing the rest of her frozen yogurt pop into her mouth and tugged Tristan along.

“There you are, May! Been looking for you. I saw you walk off with this guy, but he wouldn’t tell me where you were,” Steven said. “This bozo seems to think he owns you!”

“Does he now? Sounds good to me,” she said, winking at Donny. The stunned look on his face was precious. Not so much so the sneer on Steven’s, however. “And what is it you wanted with me, Steven? Were you going to introduce me to your little sister?”

“Now, don’t be that way, May,” Steven said.

The tramp giggled and said, “That rhymes…way…may…”

May Lyn could barely suppress her laughter. “Wow, you’re pretty sharp, Missy. Most people would have missed that.”

“My name’s not Missy. It’s Cherry…rhymes with berry.”

“Oh, you just get better and better, don’t you?” May Lyn said, and turning to Donny she added, “Don’t you think so, Donny honey? Oh, my, I think that rhymes too, doesn’t it? We’re practically all poets here today.”

Donny suppressed a laugh and might have replied, but just then Tristan tugged on his hand and said, “I’m tired, Mr. Bashan. Can we go home?”

“Oh, sure, Buddy, real soon,” Donny said and he crouched down to Tristan level wiping his mouth with a napkin and tossing away the empty ice cream cup into a nearby garbage can, he picked him up. “May, you stay and chat with your friends and I’ll take Tristan with me and go look for my kid, okay?” Donny said.

“No, Donny, I’ll go with you,” May Lyn said. “It was nice meeting you Cherry-berry. See ya sometime, Steven.”

“Tomorrow, May. The gala is tomorrow. I’ll pick you up at…”

“Oh, sorry. Didn’t I tell you I can’t find a babysitter for Tristan?” she said, not even trying to look sorry.

“Who?”

“Tristan, your brother’s son,” May Lyn said, rolling her eyes at Donny giving him a what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-this-dude look.

“Right, sorry. What about him?” Steven said, pointing at Donny.

“He’ll be going to the gala,” May replied.

Steven glared at him. “Then…” He turned to look at his girlfriend and said, “Cherry will stay with him. You’ll do me the favor, won’t you, Cherry?”

She blinked at him then looked at Donny. “Why does he need a babysitter? He’s older than I am.”

This was too much. May Lyn and Donny burst out laughing.

“The kid, Cherry. Babysit the kid!” Steven said through clenched teeth.

“I don’t wanna babysit. I wanna go to the party,” Cheery whined. “You promised you’d take me somewhere we can dance. Remember you said you would when we were in the office and I did that thing you like so much?”

May Lyn rolled her eyes and turned to go.  “Bye, guys,” she said, but she didn’t get very far.

Steven grabbed her arm. “May, where you going? Hey, don’t be that way. Come on, let’s talk alone for a minute.”

“But you see, I don’t wanna!” May Lyn said, doing a rather good imitation of Cherry-berry while pulling her arm free.

“May, it’s not what it sounds like. She just works in the office. She means nothing.”

“You really are a bastard, Steven,” May Lyn snapped. “She’s got feelings regardless how little she may mean to you.”

“I…I didn’t mean it that way. I mean compared to you,” he said, in his always winning charming voice.

“We’ve played this scene before, but you got it all wrong. I don’t care this time around. You see, you mean nothing to me, and you haven’t ever since you disowned Chad as your brother and although Chad isn’t here this time to save me from you, I’m all grown up now and can take care of myself,” she said smiling. “Do yourself and me and even Cherry-berry a huge favor and take her to the gala instead, or the movies or her prom. I don’t care. I’m staying home tomorrow with Tristan, my son, Chad’s son and your would-be nephew who you can’t for your life remember he exists. Goodbye, Steven. Have a great life. I know I will.”

When she turned she didn’t at first see Donny, but when she did she was thrilled to see him holding a now sleeping Tristan against his shoulder, and he was still waiting for her. She laughed, ran to him, grabbed a handful of his shirt and kissing him full on the lips.

When she pulled away, she smiled still clutching his shirt. “Always wanted to do that,” she mumbled.

“Me too,” he said and he grabbed her around the waist, pulled her close and kissed her again.

Tristan, though sound asleep, squirmed against the two adults. In truth he was being squashed a little between them, but no one seemed too concerned and he slept on.

“We should get this little guy home,” Donny said, gently rubbing Tristan’s back.

“I guess,” she said sadly. She held out her hands as if to take the boy from him, but he shook his head. “Are you stealing my child?”

“Maybe,” he said, smirking. “Possession is nine tenths of the law, you know.”                              

“Which means what?” she asked. 

“I’ll tell you after you answer me this. Will you go to the prom with me?”

She giggled. “The prom?”

He grimaced. “Smooth, Donny,” he muttered to himself. “I mean the gala. All these kids, football, cheerleaders, old boyfriends, petty backstabbing… guess I went a couple of decades back in time. Feels too much like high school.”

She laughed. “Yes, it does and I’d love to go to the prom or gala or whatever with you, Donny.”

“Even if we can’t get a babysitter for Tristan?”

She leaned closer and whispered, “I have a confession to make. I lied to Steven about not getting a sitter.”

“I see,” he said, staring into her lovely blue eyes. “Then I guess it’s a date.”

They were practically nose to nose and he wanted nothing more than to kiss her again even though they were in the middle of a noisy crowd. “Have I ever told you I like it when you wear heels? You’re just the right height for kissing.”

She smiled, leaned forward and just touched his lips with hers. “You mean like that?”

“Yeah, just like that,” he whispered against her lips before kissing her again.

“I may never wear sneakers again,” May Lyn said.

“Good!” Donny said.