Playing the 'Son' Card (10 page)

I came clean. “Well, I showed the
house, and they liked it, and they want to buy it. We just have to
see if we can get a deal with the sellers. That will be my mom’s
problem... as soon as I tell her what I’ve done.”

Trevor picked up on my concern.
“You’re not worried about having done it, are you?”

“Well, a little,” I admitted, “But
like I said to our receptionist, my mom could not have made it back
in time, and so at least someone went out there to show
it.”

“Lunch is ready,” Trevor announced.
Then, as he was putting on the sandwiches on the plates, he added,
“I don’t think you should worry at all, Troy. You went out there
and did your best, and I think you should be happy with what you
did.”

“Yeah,” agreed Jesse, “He’s
right.”

I smiled, at last. “Thanks, guys,
you’re the greatest.”

We ate our meal, and then we all
worked together to do a clean up of the kitchen. That progressed to
doing a clean up of the house, including vacuuming, and I even put
on a load of laundry.

Afterwards, we got ourselves cleaned
up, and then played games for a while waiting for our parents to
come home.

Our three parents arrived late in
the afternoon, looking a little tired, but happy. I was pleased
that my mom seemed to have enjoyed her weekend.

We greeted them in the front
entryway with hugs all around, and I let the boys do the talking.
They responded positively to the questions about how we were and
how things had gone on the weekend.

The brothers had told them about
what we’d done Friday and Saturday, and about playing and cleaning
up on Sunday.

As I hugged my mom, I asked her if
she’d had a good weekend.

“Thanks to Sally and Jack,” she
responded, “I had a great time, Troy. They really made sure of
it.”

My mom paused. “And thanks to you,
too, Troy, for looking after things around here.”

That was when Jack asked if there’d
been any problems.

I knew it was time to come
clean.

“Just one little thing,” I said,
with as much assurance as I could. “But it will take a few minutes
to tell you about it. Can I suggest that you all join me in the
living room in, say, fifteen minutes, and then I’ll give you a bit
of an explanation about the problem that came up and how I resolved
it.”

Jack and my mom looked a little
surprised at my assertive behavior.

“Okay, then, Troy,” my mom said,
“We’ll see you in a few minutes.”

“Ah, Uncle Jack,” I said, stepping
up to him and pulling him aside. “This doesn’t really involve your
boys, but if you want them to hear it, I don’t mind.”

“Well, thanks, Troy,” he replied.
“We normally let them hear what’s going on around here, so it’ll be
okay.”

My mom gave me a strange look, and
then left the room.

Trevor shot me a look of admiration,
and then turned to help his dad carry their bags
upstairs.

The rest of the group disappeared to
use the bathroom, or wash up, or in Sally’s case, put the kettle on
for tea and coffee.

I wondered into the kitchen, not
able to wait patiently in the living room.

Sally looked at me. “This place is
spotless, Troy. I haven’t seen it this picked up and clean for a
long time. Did you do this?”

That was an easy question for me to
answer. “All three of us did it, Aunt Sally.”

Jesse had walked into the kitchen
behind me. “We vacuumed and everything, Mom, and Troy even did our
laundry.”

Sally had placed the kettle on the
stove, and now turned to face me again, a look of incredulity on
her face.

“Troy Evanson! What did you do to my
boys? They’re good, and all, but they’ve never done this kind of
clean up before. What’s your secret?”

I smiled, glad to have a little
praise before the punishment sure to come. I just shrugged my
shoulders.

“Well, I just suggested things that
needed to be done, and the boys helped me.”

I hung around the kitchen for a few
minutes, watching the family group in action, as Trevor and Jack
returned from upstairs. There was a bit of banter about the games
that we’d played, the time at the pool, and about the clean up of
the house.

I really enjoyed seeing this family
in action. It was so long since I’d seen anything like it. Once
again, for a few moments, I felt a pang of jealousy, observing
Trevor and Jesse with two caring parents. I tried not to dwell on
it though, and thought to myself about how well I’d gotten along
with the boys myself, and how wonderful a weekend it had
been.

CHAPTER

13

I was still in the kitchen when I
heard the voice that signalled that it was time to deal with my
‘problem.’

From Jack’s study, I heard my mom
calling. “Troy, could you come here for a minute, please?” Her
voice didn’t sound bad or anything, so I wasn’t worried as I left
the kitchen.

I entered the study, to see that she
was looking at a laptop computer screen. “What’s up,
Mom?”

She looked up at me, her face
showing confusion. “I have an email from Jack Marconi.” She
pronounced his name as if it was someone she barely
knew.

“Oh,” I breathed softly. “About
that...”

“Listen to what he says,” Mom went
on, barely taking in my response.

“Liz; just a quick note to tell you
that I am really looking forward to working with you to hopefully
complete the sale on the Anderson Road property. I look forward to
hearing of your seller’s acceptance or other action as soon as
possible, and I will say that you can call me at any time of day or
night, on my cell number. Please also thank Evan for me, and tell
him again how much I appreciated his extra effort this morning. He
really knew the house and the neighborhood, and I am sure that made
the difference. He is certainly a real credit to your office. Best
regards, Tony.”

Mom looked at me with an amazed
expression. “Oh my God! Troy! What have you done?”

She didn’t seem overly mad, or
anything, but her words made me quite fearful. I was about to break
down and cry, but something inside kept me standing
tall.

I was about to apologize, but
instead I simply stepped over to the table. I picked up the large
envelope and stepped towards her, preparing to give it to
her.

“Here, Mom,” I said. “We’ve got just
over 44 hours.”

She took is from my hand, and looked
at it, taking in the printed title on the outside of the
envelope.

“Please check it over carefully,
Mom, to make sure it’s okay. Tony dictated the terms, and I just
entered them on the form,” I added.

She gave me a look like I’d just
arrived from another planet, and then took the forms out of the
envelope.

She studied it carefully for what
seemed like an hour, even if it was really only a few minutes.
Without turning to look, I was conscious of an audience, and I knew
that most or all of the rest of the household had gathered at the
doorway of the study to watch what was going on.

Her professionalism was at work now,
as she studied the paperwork. “No unusual terms, and certainly
nothing we can’t live with,” she said aloud in a neutral
tone.

Now she looked up at me. “But the
price, Troy. How did you get that kind of an offer? My sellers will
be ecstatic.”

She looked like she was going to say
something else, but stopped. “I’ve got to tell them,” she said,
excitement creeping into her voice. “They will be so
pleased.”

Without another word, she picked up
her cell phone and started punching in numbers. Oblivious to me and
the rest of her audience, she had a five minute conversation with
her clients. They must have been as happy as she was, and Mom’s
smile grew wider by the minute. I heard her say that her son had
been the one to show the property that morning, and they’d made a
super offer. As she mentioned my name, she looked up at me, still
smiling.

They must have told her right away
they’d accept, because as soon as she hung up from them, she said,
“I’ve got to phone Tony, and tell him.”

She was ready to dial him when I
interrupted. “Mom, wait. I have to tell you what things I said
about the house, and the neighborhood, because that forms part of
the subject clauses.”

I’d given her a reality check, and
her look acknowledged that. “Oh, right, Troy. Of
course.”

I immediately launched into what I’d
said. I told her that I had simply repeated everything that she had
said when she showed the house on Thursday, and had only added some
comments about the school district when asked a question. “They
asked about the catchment district for the Elementary and Middle
Schools, and I was able to confirm what they already knew,” I
finished.

Once again, she was looking at me
like a fellow professional. “Okay, Troy. Good. Very
good.”

She picked up the phone again, and
made the call to Tony. I heard some words about me, and they talked
about some details of the process. I also heard something about Mr.
Johnston being the incoming superintendent of the School
District.

That part about Mr. Johnston got me
worried. Here I was, masquerading as a young real estate agent, and
I was going to be a freshman in one of his high schools. My
generally positive and hopeful feeling was replaced by one of
dread.

However, the call must have gone
well, because mom was really cheerful and smiling when she hung
up.

Behind me, the audience was
breathing, but staying absolutely quiet. I wondered what they were
thinking of all this.

Then she her expression became much
less pleasant, and she looked at me long and hard, before breaking
into a smile again.

“Well, Mr. Evanson,” she said
finally. “It would appear that you have made a very, very good
impression, on the Johnstons and, on Tony Marconi. You knew the
house, you knew the necessary information about the neighborhood,
you were on time, you were prepared and able to do the paperwork,
and you ...”

Her voice trailed off, and she lost
her smile.

I knew what it was, too. It was the
comment about the paperwork. She’d suddenly realized that I could
not have done the paperwork without her SUV.

Her look into my eyes gave her the
answer to the unasked question.

I was ready to fall on my knees and
apologize, but I had one more thing to say in my defense, first.
“It was already parked in front of the house on Anderson when they
drove up, and it was still there when they drove away. We all sat
in it to do the paperwork.”

She resumed breathing, but just
barely. I saw in her face that she was thinking about all of the
ramifications.

I wondered if there was something
more I should say. After all, I was now supposed to be the mature
teenager.

I found my voice before she found
hers. “Yes, I did it. I’m sorry that I did, and I should not have
done it. It was really scary, and I do not want to repeat that
anytime soon... or at least not for three years.”

Her mouth opened and closed, as if
she was about to say something, but didn’t quite know what to
say.

The only sound was breathing, from
me, from my mom, and from Sally, Jack and the boys gathered at the
doorway.

Finally, mom broke the silence. “I
really don’t know what to say,” she admitted. “On one hand, I’m
amazed and delighted. You had the outright audacity and courage to
go and do what needed to be done, and the phenomenal result speaks
for itself.”

She paused. “On the other hand, you
clearly did something major that was...” She glanced up at the
doorway for the first time, taking in the sight of the boys. “That
was... illegal... something that cannot be condoned, no matter what
the result that came out of it.”

I looked at her, nodding slowly. I
realized I had one other apology to make. I turned to look at the
doorway where all of four of the family were standing, still
quiet.

“I’m sorry I left Trevor and Jesse
alone this morning, for the two hours I was gone. You trusted me to
look after them, and I let you down.”

“If you will allow me, I will
explain my thinking,” I went on. “I know that they normally look
after themselves for up to two hours after school each day, and
since it was daytime, I thought it might be okay if they were on
their own for that time today. The alternative, of taking them with
me, would have put them into a very bad situation that I didn’t
think I could risk.”

I paused. “Again, I’m
sorry.”

Sally nodded slowly as Jack spoke.
“Okay, Troy, we understand your thinking, and you were right in
that. We do leave our boys alone, as you say, and you did no more
than that. On that score, your apology is not
necessary.”

I started to relax every so
slightly, but Jack had a little more to say. “However, your example
of... illegal... activity, which I presume the boys are aware of,
is not something that we want our boys exposed to in the future.
So, the next time we let you look after things, nothing illegal,
understand?”