It looks like it could be a damp day for a while. It is raining in Portland so doing things outside is a little limited. I expect he will want to swim anyway. I am pretty much set to go. I may change my mind and go to Comfort Inn if the bad weather continues. I can always cancel the Motel 6 reservation. I need to keep a check on my eating and make sure that I do not gain back any if possible.
I hit the road at about nine o’clock. It rained most of the way and the traffic was fairly heavy. I gave Mikey a call at the 30 minute stop and he said something about “frog boy” going with us and I said no problem. I was a little confused as to whether “frog boy” was an imaginary friend or a human. When I got there he was more than ready. Bernie disappeared like scared rabbit. Annie gave some suggestions as to how to spend our time, which was good. She told me that she had not seen Katie since the last time I was there. She said they were cleaning out the back room that Katie had left a terrible mess in it. She said their landlord had given them a de-humidifier and they were going to give the room to Mikey so he could have some friends over. Right now he just comes home and sits around – not good. It looked to me like he had built himself a nest or sorts under the dining table with a sleeping bag, his DVD player and various toys and books. That might have been his room. He showed it to me but did not say a lot. We left for lunch and Mikey started singing this song that absolutely does me in. It is all about his dad. They don’t talk about him any more because he is gone. And the only way he stays in his heart is cause grandpa comes and sees Mikey. Wow. It goes on and on – almost like wailing. I can feel the tears rolling down my cheeks. I calm down and we get to McDonald’s. After eating we realize we do not have a towel so we go to WalMart and get a bath towel. Then to the community center where he swims for about and hour and a half. He plays with two sets of kids. One group of Orientals who are a family and sort of go off to themselves after a while and he takes up with a shorthaired blond kid about his age. They pal around a while and have a pretty good time. I lose track of them for a while maybe five minutes. I cannot find them anywhere. Then Mikey shows up right in front of me. The other kid is not around he gets up and stands on the bank and the kid shows up and says something apparently friendly to him and Mikey shakes his head. I ask him what is wrong and he just shakes his head. He gets in the water for a few minutes and then gets out and wants to know if I am ready to leave. I say sure. He gets dressed - no dry shorts – what the hell- and loses a sock that we find. Then we head to the arcade - theater with many games etc. on the way he sees a friend playing basketball on a court so we stop and park. He has his scooter so we take that over to the basketball court and he goes over and talks to the kids for a while – maybe ten - twenty minutes. The kids leave and we go put the scooter in the car and go to the arcade. We get a bunch of nickels and he starts having ball. He has his dad’s white cap on and he walks with that bouncy swagger. He sees some girls he knows and he is everywhere they are. Quite a Casanova. His mom calls in that hubbub and I give the phone to Mikey. He talks to her for a while and hangs up. I ask what she wanted so he says she wants us to call her when we leave. An hour or so later we leave and go to the car. He calls his mom and gets the voice mail. He does not leave a message. He does not want to call her anymore. He says it wont do any good. We go eat at the Sizzler and on the way he remembers he has a birthday party tomorrow morning – he is supposed to go with his mom. I had already asked him about staying all night and he said heck yes we can play again tomorrow he had nothing planned. He tries to think of ways I can go but I am resisting. He says they will need a ride. I say okay. I am going to make sure that Annie gets the money for Mikey, however. We end up at Annie’s after nine and she is okay and says he will call early tomorrow morning. I check into the motel. |