I put up a shot and it bounced off the rim. Simon, who was short but like a bulldog, grabbed the rebound and put it back up for a basket. That was game.
“Good game,” Devon said as he gave Simon a slap on the back.
We tapped hands with both Alexander and Devon. They were good losers, and we were good winners. No point in being jerks about it or trash talking. They were just as likely to win the next game as us. Besides, when you put down the people you play against, you’re just putting yourself down as well.
“Taylor!”
My mom was walking toward us, smiling and waving. I looked at my watch. I’d lost track of the time because I was so preoccupied with the game. I should have gone up and done a little bit more work around the apartment, but still, it was in pretty good shape.
“Hey, Taylor’s mom,” Simon said.
“Hello, Taylor’s friend, Simon,” she said. “And Taylor’s other friends, Devon and Alexander.”
I could tell she liked my new friends and was particularly fond of Simon. But why wouldn’t she like them? They were polite guys and worked hard at school.
I knew she’d been worried about the new friends I would make, and my grandparents had been worried even more. I guess when all you know about Toronto is what appears on the nightly news, you could get the impression a lot of bad things happen here. But none of that stuff happened at my school or in my building.
“I was just heading up to the apartment,” I said.
“Stay if you want, and I’ll get supper on the table.”
“The potatoes are peeled and sitting in water,” I said.
I had discovered I didn’t have to hide the fact that I helped my mom out, because the other guys all helped around their places too.
“You are such a sweetheart. And those will go very well with what I have right here.”
She held up one of the plastic bags she was carrying. Peeking out the top was a KFC box!
“I thought I smelled something special,” I said, but what I thought was, Do we have enough money for that?
“This is a special meal for a special celebration,” she said. “Or at least a potential celebration.”
“What are we celebrating?” I asked.
“Yeah, what are we celebrating?” Simon added. “And by the way, if you need somebody else to do the celebration eating, I could be persuaded to eat some KFC.”
“Count me in too!” Devon exclaimed.
“And me,” Alexander added.
“You are all most welcome to join us for a meal, another time. Tonight I only bought enough for two.”
“So what are we celebrating?” I asked.
“Technically, nothing yet. I have to discuss it with you first,” she said.
“With me?” Now I was equal parts curious and worried. “What is it?”
“Nothing bad, so don’t worry. Let’s talk about it over dinner.”
“In that case, we should go straight upstairs and eat. I’m hungry,” I said.
“Hungry or curious?” she asked.
“Can’t somebody be both?”
“Then let’s go,” she agreed.
I said my goodbyes to the guys and we started off.
“Sure you don’t want me along?” Simon yelled. “I don’t eat much!”
My mother laughed, and it made me smile. I took one of the bags from her.
“How was school today?” she asked.
“Not bad. Actually it was muy bien. At least, that’s what I’d say if I was talking to somebody who was Spanish,” I said.
“Très bien is what I’d say back to somebody who was French,” she said.
“Mr. Spence likes when we try different languages.”
My mother went to put her key in the lobby door of our apartment building, but I pulled it open.
“It’s busted again,” I said.
“So much for security. Would it be too much to ask that we could have that fixed? But enough complaining. So this Mr. Spence seems like a pretty good teacher,” she said.
“He’s pretty cool. Do you know any Gaelic?” I asked.
“Gaelic? Where is that coming from?”
“From our heritage. I’d like to add Gaelic to our heritage wall in the class.”
“I’ll see what I can do. Have you tried the Internet?” she asked.
“Not yet. I thought I’d try the Inter-mom first.”
We stopped at the elevator. Somebody had added more graffiti to the wall. My mother shook her head. I knew what she thought about that.
“Devon really doesn’t like the graffiti either,” I said. “He thinks they should kick people out of the building for doing things like that.”
“Devon is a smart boy.”
“He says it’s disrespectful to everybody in the building,” I said.
The elevator door opened to our floor, one inch too low. We stepped up to the corridor.
“That’s nice you’re getting to know new people, especially so many nice people,” she said.
She unlocked the door to our apartment, and we stepped inside.
“So what’s the news?” I asked.
“Let’s wait until dinner, when we can have a sit-down discussion.”
“Let’s not. You can’t start telling me something and then stop and make me wait. That’s not fair.”
She nodded her head. “You’re right. I’ll tell you. I was offered a promotion at work today.”
“That’s wonderful!” I gave her a big hug.
“It’s more responsibility and more money. Not a fortune, but a nice little raise.”
“That’s even better. To get a promotion after only being there three months is really something,” I said.
She laughed. “Sometimes you act as if you’re the parent. I told my boss I’d let him know my decision tomorrow.”
“What’s to decide? Don’t you want the job?”
“That’s what we have to discuss. The promotion means I’ll be working two evenings a week and every second Saturday morning.”
“So?”
“So, I’m not sure I should be leaving you alone more than I already do. It’s not fair to you.”
“Look, I’m not a baby. There’s nothing to discuss. Didn’t we move here so you could have a job with more chances of a promotion?”
“Well…”
“Then wouldn’t it be crazy for you not to take the job?” I asked.
She smiled.
“Take the job. We can use the money, and you deserve the promotion.”
She looked at me thoughtfully. “How old are you again?”
“Twenty-seven on my next birthday,” I said with a grin. “And that makes me old enough to know what the right thing to do is. Tell them tomorrow that you’ll take the job.”
“Okay, I’ll tell them and—” She stopped as she saw that the table was already set. “Thank you. That is very considerate.”
“Don’t I always set the table?” I asked.
“You do, but it’s still considerate, still appreciated and still worth thanking you for,” she said.
I followed her into the kitchen and pulled the KFC box out of one of the bags. There was another box underneath. I pulled it out as well.
I thought about what she’d said to the guys about only having enough chicken for the two of us.
“How much chicken did you get?” I asked.
“I bought enough for the two of us, and I got some more for your friends.”
“For my friends? But you said you didn’t have enough for them, and they couldn’t have dinner with us.”
“Not those friends.”
She opened up the bigger of the two boxes. It had bones and French fries and some buns. “For your cat friends.”
“Thanks so much!”
“That stuff was in their garbage. The guy behind the counter at KFC thought I was either a little crazy in the head or trying to get some free food.”
“The cats are going to love it.”
“I know those cats are important to you. You’ve spent a lot of time talking about them over the past couple of months,” she said.
“I guess I do talk about them a lot,” I said.
“I also know you still miss Blinky. I miss him too. Maybe someday we can get you another cat.”
“I already have about forty cats.” I paused. “But thanks, really. Someday that would be nice.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure,” I said. “Besides, isn’t this building a ‘no pets allowed’ place?”
“I’m sure there are a few cats in here, but you’re probably right. It would be better if we didn’t have a pet, at least for now.”