Meeting Again - 32 Fred Scare

I watched the entire sports event till the awarding ceremony. The kids were very talented and so enthusiastic. Twen was naturally good at racing too. No wonder he was getting tanned and lean recently practing under sun.

During the awards, they prepared gold, silver and bronze medals and certificates. Twen received one gold and two bronze medals. I madly clicked pictures of him receiving awards. My chest was puffing up with pride. I was glad that I got to attend the sports day and see how talented my son was. After the ending band parade, I went to the gates to get Twen.

The sports day was to continue another day as neither the badminton nor the soccer game could end. They still had their finals to perform. The racing, long jump and floor gymnastics was over along with the award distribution.

Twen came out hopping with a huge smile on his face.

“Mommy you saw me? I got three medals!!” he chirped happily

“Congratulations!! I saw you and got you here” I said showing him my camera

Twen’s eyes sparkled, “Really? I wanna see. Mommy show me” he said jumping and trying to get hold of my hand

“Calm down! Clam down! We will go back home and see okay?” I said laughing, as he was jumping to catch hold of my camera

“Did that boy just called that guy mommy? It can’t be, right?” I heard a female voice behind me say suspiciously

“Disgusting! How are they even allowed in school premises?” a male voice snorted

“All this shit about equality! What equality! Those digusting things are born to breed. How are they any different from animals? How do they even compare to us normal people?” another mocking male voice said, and I heard the clicking of tongue and ‘hmmm’ of others agreeing

“I can’t say for sure but I feel like I have seen a face very similar to that boy” a female voice said wonderingly.

Twen too heard them. His face turned angry as he held my trouser protectively. I immediately got alert. This was not good. How can I let Twen be embarassed during his big day. On top of that his resemblance with Robbie is already getting so apparant. I picked Twen on my arms and speed walked towards my car.

Once we were in the car, I saw that Twen’s face was gloomy and sad. I felt guilty. He was so happy just a little while back and I destroyed it for him. I looked across the parking lot and saw an ice cream parlour. I quickly trotted past the car and got a butterscotch cup ice-cream for him. It was his favourite flavour. I opened the door to back seat where Twen was still sitting with an upset look, bend down to his height and said in cheerful voice

“Look what Mommy got you! Butterscotch ice cream for the winner” I smiled placing the ice-cream in front of him.

But to my shock, he instead looked at me with red puffy eyes and put his hands round my neck, hugging me. He spoke in a broken voice,

“Why do everyone says bad things about mommy? Mommy hasn’t even done anything to them. Others have got mommy too, but no one says bad things about them”

I was not expecting him to say this. I didn’t know how to reply, “I am so sorry”, I apologised patting his head

He moved back and looked me in the eyes, “They said bad things. They are bad people. Didn’t you always say, never to say bad things about people as that make you a bad person! A boy in my class said that mommy is dirty because my mommy is a man”

My eyes widen and heart sank. I didn’t think that such little kids would be talking all this. I opened my mouth to apologise when he said,

“I hate him. Why does he have to say such mean things? So what, if my mommy is a man? Aren’t all Mommys same?”

I was dumbstruck. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know he had to go through all this. But I can’t help feeling emotional. My son had really matured up. I was always worried that he would come to despise me as he realizes that I am able to give birth even though I am a man. Turns out he doesn’t care. To him, am just his mommy. I hugged him and said in a shaky voice,

“Yes all Mommys are same. You are right. I am proud of you Twen”

He cried for sometimes over me, then took the half melted ice cream and quietly ate it. He was very quiet on his way back home. I wanted to cheer him but didn’t know what to do. As I parked my car and made my way to house with Twen, I heard a familiar deep voice,

“Tonyyyy! Whats up?”

This was followed by a bear hug which took all my breath away. It was none other than Fred. I can recognise his big wide chest and jolly voice anywhere.

“Leave my mommy!” I heard Twen scolding him

“Oooppss sorry Champ!! I was not trying to hurt your mommy” Fred said putting me down

I coughed. Why can’t he hug me normally? I looked at his tanned smiley face. I saw Twen hugged me by the waist possessively, glaring at Fred who looked massively unaffected by it. Seems like Twen is still not over his insecurities. I chuckled lightly and patted Twen’s head, then looked at Fred asking

“What are you doing here?”

“Business works” he winked, “do remember the Italian restaurant, my dad had here?”

I stared. I actually forgot about it completely. His dad owned few resturants across the city. Most of them were Italian but he had multi cuisine ones too. ‘Pastaz’ was the one Fred was talking about. It was not a very popular one here and didn’t hit it off with the client base. So, his dad was planning to close it. So, I asked uncertainly,

“Yesss…but I thought your dad closed it”

“Naah. He was planning to but dropped it after the new business centres and high school opened here. He changed his target market to jobber and teenagers. It had been running quite well since. But now he wants to expand his menu so he asked me to come check it out for him” Fred said

“Great” I said, happy about his new endeavours. Then, I suddenly noticed we were still standing in the parking area, “Oh..what are we doing conversing in the parking area. Come to my house” I invited.

“Aye aye boss” Fred said jokingly.

I rolled my eyes and all three of us started walking towards my quarte