Mangino was sitting at the kitchen table eating a bagel with cream cheese, looking out the window. There were a couple of teenagers throwing a baseball around. Kate had tried to get Wesley to play with them many times. He did a couple of times, but he really didn’t like baseball, or the boys. As she was sitting there thinking about Wesley, he walked in from his room.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey, did you sleep?”
“Fine, I had a cool dream.”
“Really? What was it about?”
“I was an e-gamer. I was the best in the world and made tons of money.”
Kate didn’t mind that he had his dreams. It was part of being young. But she wanted him to be practical, too. She bought him a book on game programming. She thought there were probably a lot more opportunities programming rather than playing. But so far, he didn’t show much interest.
“Do you want some cereal for breakfast?”
“Yes. I’ll take some Frosted Flakes.”
Kate got up and poured the cereal and milk into a bowl. After she got out a spoon, she placed the bowl in front of him and sat back down to her breakfast.
“You know I have this co-worker named Chanello.”
“Are you guys going to start dating,” Wesley interrupted?
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Are you going to marry him? No one can replace Dad.”
“Honey. I’m not going to marry him and I’m not trying to replace your father. I…..I just wanted to invite him over to visit. We could have a barbeque in the backyard.”
“I don’t know. It kind of sounds lame.”
“I was thinking you guys could throw a baseball or football around.”
“I don’t really like sports.”
“He’s into playing games on the computer, too. We could end the day with a little tournament between you two.”
Wesley’s eyes lit up. The thought of playing with someone sounded exciting. And if he beat him, he might impress his mom, too. “Yeah, that sounds fun. Do you think he could come over Saturday?”
“It’s short notice, but I’ll ask him. We could start the day at the park playing tennis and baseball, and then come back home for a barbeque. As the food is cooking you guys could play catch with the new baseball glove I bought you.”
“It sounds like a lot of fun. Then after lunch, we could play some e-games!”
“Great! I’ll see if he can come?”