Merry Christmas everyone and I wish for 2011, an even more enjoyable and successful year! The story continues..
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“What’s for breakfast mom?” Tony asked as he bounded into the kitchen.
Her son was big for his eight years with a full head of hair and light colored eyes. “What would you prefer?” Ure asked, smiling at him.
“Pancakes?” He asked hopefully knowing his mom didn’t like making those on school mornings. That was why he just loved weekends. He got as much as he wanted.
“No pancakes today as I’m sure you already know,” Ure smiled as she moved to the cereal cupboard. “I bought your favorite rice crispies yesterday.”
“Yay,” Tony laughed, his head stuffed halfway down his man-sized backpack. “But mom, you didn’t tell me you went shopping; I would have gone with you.”
“I went to Grand Square from the bank yesterday since I also had to pick up some other stuff quickly, we’ll go properly on Saturday.” She poured some cereal in a bowl and placed it with the milk before him as she back before her breakfast.
“Good, I want to have a look at the Xbox again,” he looked at her with his puppy eyes as he began to eat, “Mom…”
“No, no, no! No momming me this time. We are not getting the Xbox till you’re ten young man, isn’t that what we agreed?”
“But mom that’s still two years away,” he grumbled.
“A year and one month,” Ure corrected. Your ninth birthday is next month…”
“Can I get it for this birthday then? Tony asked hopefully.
Ure looked at him in silence as she munched on her toast, till he looked away and focused on his crispies. “We’ll be leaving in fifteen minutes, have you got all your homework and stuff?”
“Yes mom, but can I take out these oranges from my lunch?”
Ure threw back the last of her tea and stood up, “Only if you will take a banana. You need fruits, Tone, not just biscuits.”
He made a face and went back to his breakfast.
Ure went into her room, still thinking of the Xbox. It wasn’t just that the game box was out of their budget, she also worried that if she got one, Tony would soon be demanding or bringing home some age-inappropriate games to play on it. Well, she’ll see how the year ended and may surprise him at Christmas. They both needed cheering up.
It was eight thirty on the dot when they left the apartment in Jabi enroute to Tony’s school and onwards to her office. Tony was dressed in the white short sleeves and black shorts of his school uniform and his shoes shone with polish in the morning sun. He was logging along the heavy bag and Ure frowned.
“What’s in that bag?”
“Books and stuff,” he muttered getting into the passenger seat after dumping the backpack in the back seat. “We have music lessons today and I want to show Taiye how the new Lego set works.”
“Be sure not to lose any of the pieces OK?”
“Sure mom,” he replied beaming.
Ure smiled back and drove out of the gated compound made up of four apartments. Musa held open the gates and one of her neighbors was right behind her with his two children in the back seat. She waved to them as she turned the corner. When they got to his school, Tony bounded in like a large puppy calling out to one of his numerous friends. Then he turned with a grin to wave at his mom, as she remained parked for a minute. She blew him a kiss, waved but waited till he had gone inside before she drove away.
The smile on her face masked the swirling emotion within her. Looking on her son everyday stirred deep feelings, he reminded her so much of his father. This was usually not a wholly bad thing but today it was like a knife to her heart. God why? She allowed the painful memories fill her mind as she drove into her office complex.
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To be continued...
