A Man like Nate Hamilton
1541 Words
"Because of this incident, the board has made the decision to suspend Eric" Mrs Timbrook said to Grace and Lena who had made it to the school and were sitting in her office.
Lena sat quietly observing. They had gotten to the school and were told that Eric had punched a kid. Lena started to wonder if that day was for her at all. She looked at her cute baby boy who sat looking sad in his chair, he was very quiet. Eric was a good kid, what could have happened?
Eric being suspended meant that he would be at home, while she had to work. She couldn't afford that. She had just picked up extra hours at her remote job so she could keep up with the bills. Still in her thoughts, she heard her friend speak.
"Mrs Timbrook, excuse me" Grace said.
She turned to Eric "Baby, tell us what happened"
"Miss Grace, your Godson punched a kid" Mrs Timbrook tried to interject.
"No, you had your time..." She stopped the head teacher from speaking further.
"Umm, there's this boy in my class who was being mean," Eric said, his round eyes filled with tears as he looked at his mother and Godmother.
"Go on...it's okay baby bear" Lena encouraged.
"He called me a monkey"
"That's very dumb of him, because you are a perfect human," Grace echoed.
"No Grace" Eric said with his eyes trying to explain more.
"He said I was a monkey, just like my mother because of my color"
The room went silent, even Mrs. Timbrook's face went red and Grace let all hell loose.
She accused the school of allowing a racist child to have his way while the bullied victim was suspended, she threatened to sue and rain hell down on the school.
By the time they left the office, Mrs Timbrook was apologetic, revoked the suspension and was on the phone to call the other parents whose child bullied Eric.
Grace and Lena took him from the school regardless, so he could have the rest of the day off.
When they got to the parking lot, Lena buckled Eric in his seat and gave him a kiss.
"I am very proud of you Eric" she said, brushing her fingers lightly on his cheek
"You aren't mad?" Eric asked quietly.
"I will never get mad at you for defending yourself..."
"But you always said it is wrong to fight Mom..."
"Well, not if they deserve it.." Grace chipped in.
They all laughed. Eric looked relieved.
"Let's get you some ice-cream" Lena finally said after they stopped laughing.
They drove to the nearest store, it was the biggest in their area. Grace offered to sit and wait in the car while Lena and Eric went into the store to get the ice-cream.
Hand in hand the mother and son walked while chatting about morals and being good. Lena always tried to teach her son to be kind.
"Mommy, can we get some cookies?" Eric happily said while pointing to the aisle that held his favorite.
As soon as she nodded, Eric pulled away from her hand and began to run. She picked up two ice-cream bowls and her heart warmed up with love as she watched him go but unexpectedly Eric tripped and fell.
"Oh dear!" She muttered and quickly ran towards him.
Barely three steps forward she collided into a tall handsome man who had stepped out from another aisle.
The ice-cream she held squelched into their bodies and made a mess on her dress and the man's suit. She glanced at Eric who had gotten up and was already running back to her.
"Oh my God!" Lena said "I am so sorry"
She whipped out a tissue and attempted to wipe his shirt but her hand was shoved aside by someone else.
This person grabbed her hand rather roughly and shoved it away.
Shocked, she looked around to observe the scene. This rather handsome looking man was about 6ft 3, he had a lovely build like the body of a celebrity and the suit she had just ruined with ice-cream looked expensive.
She gasped when she saw a tiny logo on it and recognised that it was an Armani suit.
The person who had shoved her from him was a bodyguard, he stood menacingly and snared at her. She wondered what she did to deserve that treatment. She was only trying to make amends for colliding into his boss with ice-cream.
Before she knew it, one other bodyguard appeared from nowhere.
"Mr. Hamilton," he said. "Let me take your jacket sir"
Mr. Hamilton took off the suit jacket with the ice-cream mess and handed it to the bodyguard who requested it. She held onto Eric as she watched the drama before her.
"I am sorry, I didn't mean to" Lena apologized to him.
Mr. Hamilton turned to look at her, but without an expression turned to walk in another direction like she didn't matter and his bodyguards followed suit.
Lena was stunned at the snobbery. Then she heard Eric's soft voice.
"But mom, he bumped into you too, isn't he also wrong?"
Lena had to make a quick decision, she knew she panicked all her life but she had to set an example for her child. She always taught him about owning up to mistakes.
"Mr Hamilton" Lena spoke up, keeping her voice firm.
The man stopped and turned slowly and his bodyguards took different positions.
"I said I was sorry but you bumped into me as well" Lena continued
"And what do you need?" Mr. Hamilton spoke.
"I need an apology, I tried to make amends for the ice-cream mess but one of your guards treated me wrongly, anything you'd like to say about that?"
She saw his lips curl in the middle of his well groomed beard into a side smile. He turned to the guard who had shoved her.
"Tony, apologize"
"I'm sorry ma'am" Tony said immediately.
"And what about you?" Lena pressed, her voice quivered a little but she kept it firm.
"What about me?" Mr. Hamilton asked
"You bumped into me too, I was the only one who tried to apologize, look at my dress, it is ruined too."
“I see that,” Mr Hamilton replied.
“No, you don't! You rich folks walk round like life is for only you"
Lena started to speak fast, she had started and couldn't stop. At that point she was done, she was tired of the bad day was having, she was exhausted from being walked over, she let go of all her anger and channeled it towards Mr. Hamilton.
"You walk into a*****e with your Armani suit with two bodyguards. Who shops with bodyguards?!”
“Then you allow them to manhandle a lady In front of her child?"
"Miss, I …” Mr Hamilton started to say but Lena was not having it.
"No! You cannot always have your way, other people have lives too!”
"Well Miss…”
"ou may stand there looking handsome and incredibly sexy in your 30s and filthy rich..."
Nate Hamilton, the young billionaire chuckled at the scene before him, did this woman just compliment him while unleashing her anger?
"But I do not care ..."
She must be something! Nate thought. He stood wondering what may have gotten into this beautiful lady with an ice-cream patch on her sundress. This was the first time he was challenged by anyone in years and surprisingly he enjoyed it.
"... So you are going to apologize because my son needs to know that it is important to own up to mistakes and then we will buy the ice-cream that we came here for and leave because he had a bad day being bullied by a racist who called him a monkey!"
Lena finally finished, she was out of breath but it felt good to let everything out.
As soon as she felt the relief, it was immediately replaced by guilt. Now she felt like a crazy lady in the store.
Nate Hamilton smiled at her and nodded.
"I am sorry, and I will get your boy anything he wants"
He signaled to Tony. "Go with her and get her everything she wants, I will tell Marcel to add it to my tab"
"Please don't get ahead of yourself, all my son wants is ice cream and cookies".
Lena got down on one knee till she was the same height with Eric, she looked into his eyes and said to him.
"Eric, when you grow up and make your own money, don't be a man like him who thinks he can buy his way out of everything"
And with those words, Eric stood up to hold her son's hand and with the other hand took two new ice cream bowls and dropped it in the basket Eric was holding.
She walked to the counter to pay and left the store, leaving Nate Hamilton really amused.
Lena got to the car in the parking lot, all excited to tell Grace what had happened, but she found Grace holding her phone with tears in her eyes.
"Grace? What's wrong? Lena asked, her heart skipping a beat.
- Writer
