A Story, 3

Daddy was watching the TV again. The chubby man with the silly tie was standing in front of the colorful map and talking about someone named Ivan who was coming from some islands in the ocean. Daddy told Mommy to check the batteries in the flashlights. He got up and walked to the telephone.

“Hey Mike, it’s Phil. Listen, Trace and I are cooking meatballs tonight and would love if you came by for dinner and some drinks. Timmy’s been asking about you. How does four thirty sound, catch the Pat’s game? Great, I’ll pick you up at the bus then. See you soon Mike.”

“Uncle Mike’s coming?!”

Daddy looked at me with a smile. “That’s right Timmy; Uncle Mike’s coming for football and dinner tonight. Now, go clean your room and get your new dinosaurs, you know how much Mike likes to play dinosaurs vs. lions with you.”

“Okay Daddy!” I yelled as I ran to my room. Uncle Mike was coming! I cleaned up my toys and was playing with my new T-Rex when Mommy came in and had me help her take out the bed that was under mine. When I looked at Mommy’s face she looked sad but she was smiling at the same time.

“Is Uncle Mike sleeping over tonight Mommy?”

“Well honey, it’s supposed to rain very hard and I want to make sure that we have his bed ready for him in case he can’t go back to the city tonight. Is that okay with you if he shares your room with you?”

I smiled as big as I could. “I love it when Uncle Mike sleeps over! He snores like a bear!”

Mommy laughed softly but she still had her sad face. She got that face a lot when Mike came for dinner. It’s probably because it was usually raining when he came.

Just then Daddy came through the door, and right behind him was Uncle Mike. I ran as fast as I could and jumped at him, but he caught me and spun me around before I could tackle him to the ground.

“Hey little guy, how you been? I missed you buddy!”

“Hi Uncle Mike! Come play with my new toys!”

Uncle Mike and I played dinosaurs and lions for a while then he and Daddy and I sat down and watched the Patriot’s football game and I felt big like them and got them a lot of their special sodas. After dinner Mommy brought me to bed while Daddy and Uncle Mike sat in the family room talking about grown up things like “Democrats” and “economy”. It rained really hard that night, and when I woke up in the morning the rain had stopped and Uncle Mike had gone back to the city. I had never been to Uncle Mike’s home before. I hoped it would rain again soon.