A beaming Susan set the lovely bouquet of flowers in the center of the beige Formica top on her kitchen table. With hands clasped and pushing against her chin, she smiled and stepped back for a second to admire them. Susan’s fortunes had improved immensely in recent days. As the result of their very successful first date, she and the doctor had been seeing each other on a regular basis. She was now a part of his life and involved with two of his couple’s golf groups. Susan hadn’t played golf for years, but she was a very good player as a young girl growing up in Indiana. Her father had enrolled her in golfing lessons when she was thirteen. Tall and athletic, it wasn’t long before she was scoring lower than some of the better boy players in town.
When Joe first asked her to join him and play in a couples’ golf group, she was petrified, but after a few refresher lessons with a local pro at the Palmer Complex, she decided to give it a try. To her surprise, she was soon one of the better female golfers in the group. Joe scheduled the outings on her days off from her golf course job. She loved playing on the well-manicured courses in The Villages with Joe and the others. She particularly enjoyed the fun dinner gatherings that always seemed to materialize after the round.
Dr. Joe had brought her into the groups without hesitation and with little fanfare. He had simply introduced her to his friends as his lady friend from Pine Lakes. Much to Susan’s surprise, the others in the group welcomed her, asking her very few personal questions. She assumed it was because of the respect Joe carried in the group. Her new life with Dr. Joe was fun and exciting and she was enjoying every minute of it. He wasn’t the dashing Charles who charmed her in her recurring dream of The Villages, but she found him to be kind and lots of fun.
Shortly before their first couples’ outing, Joe had surprised her with several golf outfits and a nice set of clubs. He said they were early birthday gifts. With her birthday more than a month away, Susan was hesitant to take the gifts, but the persistent doctor finally convinced her. With Joe paying for their social life and the income from both of her jobs, Susan was almost able to make ends meet.
Suddenly the back door swung open and banged against the wall. She knew who it was--only her wayward son, Willie, would enter her home in such an inconsiderate manner.
“Anybody home?”
Susan walked to the kitchen to greet her impertinent son. “Of course I’m here. Didn’t you see my car in the drive?”
Her son stepped inside and snatched the lid off the cookie jar that was sitting at the end of the kitchen counter and looked inside. Seeing that it was empty, he dropped the lid carelessly back on the jar and turned toward his approaching mother. He was clad in stain-covered white Bermuda shorts, a t-shirt sporting a picture of his favorite heavy metal band, Guns N’ Roses, and a soiled gray baseball cap pulled down low to cover his usually bloodshot eyes. His arms and neck were covered with tattoos featuring Axel Rose and other heavy metal stars. Willie’s eyes widened in surprise at the sight of his nicely dressed mother. He walked over, opened the refrigerator door and began to rummage around inside the somewhat barren refrigerator. “Goin’ out with the rich guy today?” he said without taking his head out of the refrigerator.
“His name is Joe and he’s a very nice man. By the way, help yourself to anything in the refrigerator.” She shook her head in disgust. Susan was very disappointed in her only son. Smart, good looking, and athletic, he showed great promise as a youngster, but somewhere along the line, his life got off track. She tried to be a good mother to him, but without a strong father figure in his life, and with all of Susan’s boyfriends coming and going, it became difficult for a little boy to sort things out. He was suspended from school several times--usually for fighting. Always in some sort of trouble, he finally began to dabble in drugs and was a cocaine addict by his mid-twenties. Desperate for cash to fuel his addiction, he robbed a Seven/Eleven when he was in his late thirties and was sentenced to five years in prison. He was paroled after two years for good behavior. Unable to find sustainable work, he fell even more heavily into drugs and alcohol.
Willie grabbed a bottle of V-8 off the shelf and slammed the door shut. The contents of the aging appliance rattled at the force of the closing. “You didn’t use to complain when I came over and got in your frig, I guess you’re more sophisticated now that you’re hanging out with all those rich Villagers.” He smirked, opened the bottle of V-8 and took a swig. Remnants of the red juice dribbled down the sides of his mouth.
Susan bristled at the comments, once again hurt and appalled by the behavior of her son. Not wanting an ugly confrontation just before going out with Joe, she paused and tried to calm herself. “He wants to meet you, Willie. He wants us all to go to dinner this Friday night so he can get to know you.”
Her son’s eyes locked on his mother, “He what?” Willie seemed genuinely astounded by the invitation.
Susan stepped over and gently nestled into one of the chairs at the kitchen table. She sat erect with her hands folded in her lap. “He said it was high time he met my only son.”
Willie looked his mother up and down. “My, aren’t we the lady anymore? You used to be slouched down in the recliner watching the tube when I came over. Now, you’re sitting all erect in your pretty outfit. Maybe I should meet this guy, maybe he can change me.” He laughed sarcastically.
Wouldn’t that be wonderful! Susan thought. “You’ll like Joe. I think he could be a good….,”
Willie quickly interrupted, “A good role model. Is that what you are trying to say, Mother dear?” Willie laughed a guttural sort of laugh. “So you think your poor old loser of a son needs a good role model? Is that what I’m hearing?”
Susan’s face flooded over with pink, “Well no, not exactly. It’s just that’s he’s done a lot of things in his life. I think you would enjoy talking with him.” She knew that Willie wanted to explode, but he stopped short for selfish reasons. Susan felt that he saw some advantage in meeting Joe, so he was trying desperately to control his emotions. She was glad he didn’t blow up; but as usual, she was suspect of his motives.
Willie took another swig of V-8 and swiped his mouth clean with his forearm. His eyes narrowed, “Does he know about me? I mean, about all my troubles and so forth?”
“I told him that you have had some bumps along the road like everybody does, but I didn’t go into a lot of detail.”
Willie grinned, “I’ll bet you didn’t go into any fuckin’ detail. It wouldn’t look too good to all your new golfing friends if your son was an ex-con and druggie, would it?” He laughed out loud.
“You’re not a druggie and please don’t use that language around me. I’ve asked you before not to use that word around me.”
Willie sat the V-8 on the counter without acknowledging her comment about his language. “What time Friday?”
“He wants to take us to Lopez; it’s one of the finest restaurants in The Villages. He said that he would like to meet us there at 6:30.”
Willie glanced at his watch. “I’m running late, I’ve got to get going. What should I wear Friday?”
Susan smiled at her mercurial son, “Oh, nothing too fancy. Just slacks and a golf shirt would be nice.”
“What about my tattoos, have you told him about my tattoos?”
“Yes son, I’ve told him all about your tattoos,” Susan spoke in a mildly scolding voice. “He knows that a lot of young people have tattoos.”
Willie nodded, then his mood suddenly changed, his face brightened and lost its scowl. He cracked an uneasy smile, “Uh…hey mom, I’ve been a little short of cash lately. Do you think I could…uh borrow a hundred bucks.”
Not at all surprised by the request, Susan stood and walked into the living room, got her purse and returned to the kitchen. She opened the purse and pulled out her billfold. “I’m running short also, I can give you fifty and that’s all.” It was a little game they played every time Willie came over to ask for money. He always asked for a hundred and she always give him fifty. She wondered if he realized what a huge sacrifice it was for her to give him $50. If so, he never told her so. She counted out the $50 and handed it to him.
Always, slightly embarrassed by his need to beg, Willie snatched the money quickly from her hand and without thanking her, stuck it in the front pocket on his shorts. “See you Friday,” he said briskly.
Discouraged again by her son’s inconsiderate behavior, she replied, “Okay, and be at the restaurant at 6:30. Joe is very punctual.”
“I’ll bet he is.” Willie grunted as he hurried out the door.
Susan walked over to the back window and watched her troubled son fall into the front seat of his beat-up car and pull away. “I love you, Willie, I really do,’ she mumbled.