°°° The Con Artist °°°

      The cool evening breeze blew over their exposed faces. Sitting on the porch, Sean and his mother, Kate, were silent, watching kids play football across the street.

     Sean was happy that she was happy. He hadn’t realized when, but the argument with her boyfriend, Boris Romanoff, had ended, and he had left. She wasn’t as grumpy and frustrated as she usually was after arguments with Boris. Whatever it was, it probably ended the way she wanted it to. And the kids playing across the street helped to make her more susceptible to suggestions.

"You know," his mother, Kate, tilted towards him but kept her eyes on the kids kicking the ball around. "When you were about their age, you really sucked at football," she mocked with a laugh.

"Yeah," he chuckled softly, running his fingers through his black hair. "I never really was one for such sports," he defended, his joy growing as he hadn’t even been the one to initiate the conversation, and it was going in the direction he wanted it to.

"Yeah? "What do you call your Kung Fu?" Kate said with mocking emphasis on "Kung Fu."

"This isn’t a sport, Mom; we’ve been through this like a billion times," he groaned in frustration. "Martial arts is not a sport." "Like the name implies, it is..."

"Art!" She rolled her eyes and laughed.

     It wasn’t the first time they were having this sort of discussion, and she knew it wouldn’t be the last. Sean most of the time seemed to not care about anything, but when it came to martial arts, the only thing he defended more was his father, and coming in second place, his mother. No one could make martial arts look inferior or unnecessary in his presence without him attempting to defend it.

"Well... even though you never liked "sports," she laughed at the last word. "You gave it your all whenever he was around," she said with a solemn smile in retrospect.

"Yeah… wait… "Who are you talking about?" He started to speak but asked for confirmation.

"Your friend... Jason," she gave the confirmation.

"Heh… "We were quite young then," Sean smiled.

"Yeah... because you guys are now old and hunching," Kate was being sarcastic.

"What!" he exclaimed with a shrug. "It’s been what, five years now?" Sean interjected

"Whatever," Kate laughed heartily, a laughter that put a smile on Sean’s face.

"Well, old or young, we won’t be having such time together again." Sean skillfully chipped in the main purpose for which he wanted to speak with her.

"Well, yeah… As you grow older, your tastes in entertainment might change. but you can still be friends. You can still go to Jason’s for some martial arts sparring. Spars? I think it is Spars, right?" She stared blankly at nothing.

"Oh, you didn’t know?" He said this, faking a surprised look. "His mom probably forgot to tell you."

"Tell me? "Tell me what." She turned her attention to Sean.

‘Whoa… I think that’s enough faking Sean,’ he cautioned himself inwardly, seeing that his mother was getting genuinely worried. She probably thought something bad had happened.

"They’ll be leaving Kentucky for Canada," Sean said, picking two stones from the flower vase to his right and juggling them in his hands.

"Canada? Isn’t that too far? What happened? "Jay's Dad got transferred, didn’t he?" Kate asked multiple questions, giving Sean no chance to answer until she was done asking.

Unable to decide what question to answer first, Sean just let silence set in, the silent wind whistling in their ears.

     Kate turned her attention from him to the kids across the street, thinking about how the move would affect Sean.

      Sean was never one to play with the other kids. It always ended in brawls of some sort. Sean never really had friends; he couldn’t make or keep any, not until he met Jason. That was one major reason why Sean’s now-late dad made sure to have the Whites in contact.

      Sean’s dad wasn’t much of a friend guy either, but so his child could have one, he was willing to make friends with white-collar worker Mr. White. a friendship that grew until it was a family affair. The Whites and the Walkers had become a nearly inseparable team.

     The divorce, moves, and death had all shaken up the relationship in little ways, but this was a big move. Kate feared how it could negatively impact Sean.

"What if, in a bid to get friends, he falls in with the wrong crowd?" "I'm not sure I can handle him on my own, Kev," she cried inwardly to her late ex-husband. "Why did you leave me to shoulder this burden on my own?"

"Mom?" Sean called out, worried. The silence had lasted longer than it should have, and tears pooling in her eyes made him fear that he was stirring up the wrong reaction. "Are you alright?" He held her by her shoulder.

"Umm… huh… yeah… Yeah, I am... "Don’t worry about me, Sean; I’m fine," she smiled as she was woken up to reality.

The silence descended once more. Sean was about to speak when his mom turned to him.

"Oh... where are you going to say something?" she asked, seeing his mouth struggling to keep words from spewing out.

"Oh… no… "It’s nothing important."

"Alright," she nodded. She went silent for a moment and realized she was about to space out again. She cursed inwardly, then turned her gaze fully to her son. "Hey Sean… I was just thinking... "It’s only a suggestion though; you don’t have to feel obligated to do it if you don’t want to," she said, pausing to watch his facial expression before continuing. "Well… Since next is revision week or whatever at school, maybe, just maybe, you could... I don’t know... spend the week at the Whites. "It is a suggestion; you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to; it’s just a suggestion," she stammered, trying to calculate the words escaping her lips. Like her, Sean wasn’t one who could be easily cajoled into doing what he didn’t want to. She was scared of pushing too far.

Sean looked amazed. so amazed, he couldn’t help but stare at her.

"What?" she quizzed, feeling a bit self-conscious, trying to check herself for stains or anything that would make him stare like that.

Sean snapped out of it. "It’s nothing. I… I’m just shocked that I didn’t have to convince you to make any decision... "Like everything—literally everything I wanted to suggest to you—you just gave me an option," he laughed softly, her confused expression only serving to make him laugh a bit harder.

"What?" she exclaimed, shocked and confused. It took a moment for her to piece everything together. "You wanted to trick me?" she asked rhetorically, and she laughed at herself for falling into his trap before he even laid it out. "Well, I guess you really do deserve to spend time with your buddy before he leaves."

"Yeah... it will be nice," Sean smiled at Kate and turned to face the kids.

"So… What do you plan on doing with your life after he moves? I mean, Canada—you won’t be able to visit often. Your monthly sparring sessions...

"Don’t worry, Mom," Sean cut her off, a smile plastered across his face. "Time will tell."

      Kate nodded and turned her attention to the kids across the street. Sean had really become mature. It wasn’t just claims anymore. She could see that he was truly growing into a fine, independent man, just like Kevin, his father.

      The rest of the evening was quiet. Kate spent most of it playing video games with Sean, something his dad usually does. For the first time since his death, Kate saw her son genuinely happy. After dinner, they both went to bed happier than they usually would.