Page 55 of Play of Love
It shouldn’t have come to this. This boy had been coming by for a long time, standing outside with the hope to see me.
“What’s your name?”
“Riley, sir. I want to be just like you one day. You’re the best.” Riley made my day. People told me that a lot but it was good to hear it from someone who looked at me with such aspiration.
“Thank you. I appreciate that. Do you live close by?”
“I live in Mount Ridge.” The boy beamed. That was about a thirty-minute walk from here. I felt even worse. “My mom’s friend, Hilda, lives on the same block as me.”
The boy knew Hilda. There was another person I had treated badly. Unlike the other maids I’d had, I just treated her as if she was non-existent.
“Let me walk you home, son.”
His mouth dropped. “Really, you’d do that?”
“Sure, then we can talk about football. You can tell me about your training.”
His little face fell. “Oh…I don’t train at the moment. I had to stop because my mom couldn’t afford it.”
“Well we’ll have to do something about that, then, won’t we. How about we start tomorrow?” I could make time.
Riley gasped and his eyes grew wide. “You’d train me!” He shrieked.
“Sure.” I nodded and smiled. “Come on, kid. Don’t want your mom and Hilda to get mad at me for having you out so late.”
As we started talking I felt good about myself.
Today was just the first day, the first step in the direction I wanted to go, but I felt good about myself.
When I got back home I prepared myself for night two without a drink. Tonight would be the real test as there was no Amy to keep me distracted with her words and her beauty.
On instinct I went straight into the living room, turned on the CD player, and popped in one of Clarissa’s relaxation collections. The first piece to come up was the “Thais Meditation”.I then grabbed one of her old poetry books and started reading.
If any of my friends saw me now they would laugh me to scorn, but this was what helped in the past when I needed to relax, clear my mind, and think.
So maybe it would help again.
