I was in a cigar shop, writing, when this little eight year old Tasmanian devil of a boy tornadoes into the smoke infested lair and starts fraternizing with the, easily annoyed, customers. I quickly realize that the boy is a serial nuisance, in that his candidates are mostly young men but what is more intriguing is the fact that the boy is asking them if they would make a good father.
Slowly, but surely, the puzzle pieces start aligning as I find myself in a conversation with his mother. Jeffrey, yes the tornado had a name, had never met his father. The only father figures he’s had were right there in that cigar shop. His mother, Heather, was the young niece of the owner. You could see her hopeless eyes and the frustration that comes from single parenting. Her pain for Jeffrey’s yearning for a father was as obvious as the tears she couldn’t hold back, and that’s when I found out it was Jeffrey’s birthday.
My father and I have had an on again off again relationship, however I have never questioned his love for me but Jeffrey doesn’t have any concept of a relationship so many of us take for granted. That thought became the driving force for me to make sure that Jeffrey was going to have a positive male role model.
So I begged Heather to stay right where she was for ten minutes and I hopped in my car, drove over to Best Buy and picked up the widescreen (gotta train the kid right) edition of E.T.
I got back to the smoke shop, with a newfound joy on my face, only to discover they had left. I admit I was away much longer than planned.
I sauntered back to my car, saddened by the “loss” when out of nowhere comes the Tornado running up to me. I hand him his present, crude wrapping and all, telling him “Jeffrey this is one of my favorite movies. It’s a story about a boy who grows up without a father and meets a special friend from far away.” Jeffrey thanked me and actually opened the card that I included with the gift (mature boy) and Heather gave me a quick hug.
I have to admit I felt pretty good about life in general. I had done something positive for someone in a town where “you scratch my back I’ll tell ya’ to turn around so I can take off running sucker” is the mentality but Jeffrey had an ego check in store for me that I wasn’t expecting.
He beckoned for me to lower myself to his eye level and with a smile produced a gift for me
A bubble gum cigar.
Jeffrey had no idea that my dad and I used to chew on bubble gum cigars when I was his age, it was one of the few things we could do together that didn’t involve arguing and even now I’m really choking up remembering that special day. It was a “pay-it-forward” moment.
P.S. I later became Jeffrey’s “big brother.” He’s 12 now and is talking about girls… scary.
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