Prologue
352 Words
Prologue
United States of America
New York, Manhattan
Saturday, October 27, 1984
9:00 p.m.
“No. I’m not going to sleep.” He huffed, and crossed his little arms over his chest. “Mom and Dad are arriving any minute now.”
The nanny’s eyes were full of pity as she looked at the five-year-old boy who had been wandering from room to room in the elegant apartment the whole day, hoping his parents would appear even if for a one minute hug.
She hadn’t the heart to tell him his parents were on the other side of the state right now on a last minute campaign stop for his father, the Senator. “Tell you what. Why don’t you put your pajamas on and get in bed? We can watch some TV while we wait for them.”
“Okay.”
She took the boy to his room decorated with The Super Friends theme, helped him into his blue and red Superman pajamas, and tucked him into bed. At the shelf beside the TV, she selected two VHS tapes and held them up for him to see. “Should we watch Daffy Duck’s Fantastic Island or Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore?”
He merely glanced at the movies and offered her a shrug.
“Okay. Then I get to choose,” she said, smiling. “Daffy Duck it will be.” She turned on the TV and VCR, got the movie started, then sat beside him on the bed.
As they watched the movie, she was glad to see that it had the desired effect, distracting him and making him laugh now and then, but as soon as it ended, the little boy looked up at her.
“They forgot again, didn’t they?”
The woman caressed his hair. She was tired of making excuses for his parents, but for the sweet boy’s sake she knew she must. “They were probably just held up by traffic. Tomorrow, they’ll be here with many presents, I’m sure. Why don’t you sleep now?”
His lips trembled but he swallowed his tears. His father had told him men didn’t cry and he wanted to make his father proud. “Okay. Goodnight, Elsie.”
“Goodnight.” Before the nanny turned off the bedside lamp, on an impulse she brought the boy to her ample chest and gave him a tight hug and a kiss. “Happy birthday, Markus.”
- Writer
