"Is he coming? Is he coming?" He asked his mom as she tied his tie underneath his chin.
"Hold still boy unless you want a crooked tie." She said stalling for time.
"Mom did he call yet? Huh? Huh?" He asked again refusing to be distracted. Marla released a small sigh as she swiped at some imaginary dust on his small shoulders.
"Not yet, honey… But remember he may be working or something…" She said attempting to prepare him for the disappointment that she knew was inevitable. She wanted to kick herself for not putting that ticket away in a safer place. Better yet, why hadn't she thought to say she was sending the ticket to Aunt Shirley or Granny; anybody but to his father. Now he had raised hopes of meeting his father and Marla just couldn't bring herself to break his heart and tell him straight forward not to expect anything. She closed her eyes and swallowed her pain. She surmised it was good for him to learn now what kind of man his father really was.
"C'mon Jayden, we've got to get you to school." She said taking his hand and leaving the house heading for his graduation.
* * * * * * *
Sunday 8:01 a.m. May, 1988
"Let's go Markus…" Jacob's heavy voice broke through the sleeping child's mind waking him up. Jacob had his jogging suit on with his gym shoes laced and tied and he wore the catcher's mitt on his left hand as he tossed the baseball into it from his right hand.
"Ah dad… It's Saturday morning…" Nine year-old Markus groaned with his head under the pillow. Jacob gave a curt grin as he walked over to the boy's bed and grabbed his pillow.
"Ugh…" He moaned at the sudden bright sunlight that filled his sleepy eyes making him cringe. Whack-whack Jacob playfully went with the pillow smacking him a few times on his lower extremities.
"Ow…Ow… Mom, dad's in here pestering me" the boy playfully yelped at his father's antics as he pretended to be reporting dad.
"Good, this was your bright idea to join baseball camp, remember?" Louise poked her head into his room reminding and surprising him by agreeing with Jacob.
"No fair… Summer vacation and a Saturday too…" Markus whined as he reluctantly got up leaving his warm bed behind.
"And I expect you to be down stairs in ten minutes. We've got to get over to the park and get an hour worth of practice in.