Page 30 of Now and Forever

The music couldn’t be louder. Eric lets go of my hand, goes to the couch, and, without a word, leans down, grabs the remote, and turns down the volume.

“Uncle Eric!” exclaims a little voice.

Suddenly a slight boy jumps up and hugs my Iceman. Eric smiles and hugs him back, closing his eyes.

Oh God, what a wonderful moment!

I get goose bumps from seeing the love my German feels for his nephew. For a few seconds, I watch the two of them sharing secrets, and I hear the boy laugh. Before he introduces me, Eric has his full attention on the boy, who’s so happy to see him and is telling him something about the game. After a few minutes during which the boy still hasn’t realized I’m here, Eric comes over to me.

“Flyn, I want to introduce you to Miss Judith.”

I can see the boy’s back tense up. That’s such an Iceman thing to do that I’m not at all surprised he does it too. I know the boy hasn’t looked at me. I walk over and say hello to him in German.

“Hi, Flyn!”

He quickly turns his face and looks me over with dark almond eyes as Eric takes the cap off his head.

“Hello, Miss Judith!”

Wow, what a surprise! Flyn is Eurasian?

“Flyn, you can call me ‘Judith,’ OK?”

The boy scans me and nods. His wary gaze is as penetrating as his uncle’s, and that gives me goose bumps too. Before I can say anything else, Sonia comes back.

“Oh God, how wonderful to be able to talk without screaming. I’m going to go deaf! Flyn, my dear, can’t you play with the volume a little softer?”

“No, Sonia,” the boy says, still looking at me.

Sonia?

How impersonal. Why doesn’t he call her “Grandma” or “Nana”? She talks to him for a minute until her cell rings. When Sonia answers, the boy sits down again.

“Uncle, do you want to play?” he asks.

Eric looks over at his mother, but she quickly leaves the room. He sits next to his nephew. As they start to set up to play, I join them.

“Can I play too?”

“Girls don’t know how to play this,” says Flyn, not looking happy. Eric is trying to contain a smile.

“Why do you think girls don’t know how to play this?”

“It’s a game for men,” says the boy, now looking right at me.

“Well, I don’t know about that,” I say very calmly.

“No, I’m sure,” the boy insists. “Girls are really dumb when it comes to war games. You like games about princes and fashion.”

“You really believe that?”

“Yes.”

“What if I showed you girls also know how to playMortal Kombat?”

The boy shakes his head.

“I don’t play with girls.”

---