It was just before 11 am Sunday morning when Matt arrived at the park where he had arranged to meet Maggie and Jimmy. He was early, but the other two had been even earlier. They were practicing soccer, one on one, and as he watched for a moment he noticed that his son was not only fast and nimble, but that he also had a good head for the game, anticipating his mother's moves. Maggie wasn't bad either, he had to admit, but then one of the things he had always liked about her was her athletic ability.
Suddenly shy, he approached slowly, and it was several minutes before the players noticed him. When he finally caught Maggie's eye she froze, just as she was about to dribble the ball away from her son. Seeing this, Jimmy turned around and looked at his father.
The boy paused for a moment, then scooping up the ball and tucking it under his arm, he sauntered over to Matt. Looking his father firmly in the eye, he held out his hand for a shake. "Hello, sir. I'm Jimmy."
Matt returned the level gaze, trying not to smile at the boy's adult manner. "Yes, I know. I'm Matt."
The boy looked him up and down. "Is that what I should call you? Matt?
"That's up to you buddy." Jimmy
looked startled, and glanced over op shoulder at his mother questioningly. "That's what mom calls me. Did she tell you?"
"No, I don't think so. I guess it just seems to suit you."
Jimmy stared solemnly at his father for another long moment, "I've never called anyone Dad before. How about I just call you Matt for now? "Matt nodded gravely. Their gaze held for a moment longer, then Jimmy's face split into a huge grin. "Hey, Matt, want to play soccer with us?" Jimmy held out the ball.
Maggie started forward, ready to intervene, but she had reckoned without Matt's cool response. "Well, I'd like to, Jimmy, but I wore the wrong feet for soccer."
Jimmy looked confused. He looked down at the two sneakers his father was wearing. "Those shoes are okay for soccer. I mean, we're not wearing cleats either."
"Not shoes, feet." Casually reaching down Matt pulled up the leg of his jeans, exposing his artificial limb, a column of metal with a prosthetic foot sized to fit into a shoe. Tears stung Maggie's eyes; after what he had told her about his discomfort at exposing his wounds this seemed an unbearably brave and loving gesture.
"See, this is my walking around leg. I have another one for running. It's got a blade at the end."
"Cool!" Jimmy's eyes were round. "You're a bionic man! Can I touch it?"
Again Maggie started to step forward. "Jimmy, I don't think.."
"Sure. Go ahead." Matt's response cut her off. "I won't feel anything anyway." Father and son laughed together as if this was a great joke; Maggie contented herself with rolling her eyes.
"Did it get blown away?" Jimmy was down on his knees now, eagerly running his hands over the steel contraption.
"Yup."
"Did it hurt?"
"Don't know, it knocked me out."
"Did you have to go to the hospital?"
"Yup."
"How long were you there?"
"A year."
"Did you get hurt anywhere else?"
Matt cooly lifted his shirt to expose the shrapnel wounds that pitted his chest and abdomen, and the long scar from surgery. Jimmy's eyes grew even wider as he noticed the deep crater where the left nipple had been. He stood, putting his hand on his father's chest, then looked up at him again. "It's like you got your boob blown off."
Matt smiled. "Well, yeah, I guess so. Good thing I'm not a girl."
Another round of uproarious boyish laughter tumbled out of them as, grinning, Matt picked up the ball and threw it at his son. "Your mom told me you were going to ride your bikes over here, and it just so happens I brought mine too. What do you say we go for a ride - all three of us? He glanced over at Maggie, who nodded her approval. "I was thinking we could stop for lunch somewhere on the way."
"Can we go to McDonald's?" Jimmy asked hopefully, casting a look at his mother, afraid that she would object.
Matt spoke first. "Well, I was thinking about this place that has better chairs than McDonald's, but they have really great hamburgers. Would that be okay?" In an aside to his son he added, "I think McDonald's is more of a just guys place." Jimmy grinned, and headed happily in the direction of his bicycle.
They rode through the autumn sunshine for over an hour, father and son in the lead and Maggie tactfully hanging back, within earshot if needed but giving the two space to get acquainted. They seemed to have no difficulty in finding things to talk about, jumping quickly from one topic to another - soccer, football, school, prosthetic legs, girls and food were just a few. Jimmy peppered Matt with questions about the Army, and was particularly eager to hear about the demands of airborne training and Ranger School. Somehow he seemed to know not to ask about his father's deployments; it seemed to Maggie that Matt and his son were deeply in tune with each other from the moment they first met.
It was almost one o'clock before they were seated at a booth in the small pub restaurant Matt had selected. As she picked up the menu, Maggie looked around her with approval. She had driven by this place many times, even thought that it looked nice, but somehow had never come in. She saw now that the prices were reasonable and the menu featured healthier versions of the fast food favorites - just the place for a mother to take her son when they had the inclination and finances for a dinner out. She wondered now why it was that she had taken Jimmy so few places. His world had mostly consisted of family and school; their yearly vacation was the annual trip to the beach with her family. She could see from the eagerness with which he engaged Matt in conversation that he was not only interested in his father, but curious about the larger world and eager to explore more of it.'
They ordered lunch, and while they were waiting for their food Jimmy asked to use the restroom. It was only recently, and with reluctance, that Maggie had allowed him to graduate from the lady's room, where she was able to accompany him, and then only when she was standing just outside while he went in. Matt casually indicated that he would go with the boy, acting as if this was what he had been intending all along. Watching them leave, Maggie heaved a sigh. Sometimes raising a boy as a single mother had been difficult, and she was beginning to see how having a man around might make it easier.
"Maggie! Oh my gosh, I can't believe that's you!" A shrill voice demanded her attention, and she saw Nan Tyler crossing the room, walking as quickly as her four-inch heels would let her. Maggie summoned up a smile, but inwardly she groaned. Nan had been a classmate of Maggie's and, as Maggie had done until recently, lived with her parents in her childhood home. She had lived away - San Francisco, Maggie thought - but had moved back into the neighborhood with her two daughters after a nasty divorce left her broke and humiliated.
Nan reached the table and leaned down to brush cheeks. "I can't believe you're here. I haven't seen you since you moved away! You've been such a stranger." Maggie muttered a reply, hoping to get rid of Nan as soon as possible. The other woman was the worst gossip she had ever known, and since she practically ran the PTA at the neighborhood school she had a large audience for her "news".
"So what have you been up to?" Without waiting for an answer, she rattled on. "Joanie got accepted to the advanced class at the ballet academy, that's why I'm all the way over on this side of town. But I'm sure your mom told you about that." No, Maggie thought, the Tyler family was not the main topic of conversation in her mother's house, but she contented herself with nodding as she took another sip of her water. Nan had already raced on to other topics, and for the next few minutes Maggie was forced to lean her head back awkwardly as she looked up at the other woman, and although she couldn't follow half of what Nan had to say she dutifully tried to smile, frown, and nod where it seemed indicated. Like most of the people Maggie had grown up with, Nan was shocked and titillated when she became pregnant during her first year of college, and frustrated by her refusal to disclose the identity of Jimmy's father.
