Jazz Man

Out of the kindness of her heart she gave him a chance to get dressed and...get out.

As to the job, a friend of a friend owned a skilled nursing facility, the more politically correct name for a nursing home, and had offered her a job at the time when she'd needed one the most. She'd waited tables when she was 17, and while she remembered being tired after working all day, she had no idea how exhausting it was to work a 8-hour shift dumping bed pans, changing sheets, and doing all manner of things for those who lived there and could no longer do them for themselves. Her legs were constantly sore, her feet hurt, and and the only thing she wanted to do was get home, lay down in her soft, comfortable chair, and fall asleep.

But Shawn, who had just turned 11, had boundless amounts of energy, and after not seeing her all day, he needed to tell his mom about everything he'd done. Even more importantly, he needed her to do things with him; things she was too tired to do but did anyway because he was the most important thing in her life. A life that was now one exhausting, vicious cycle of working and sleeping and trying to fit her son in where she could rather than him being the center of her life the way he always had been in the past.

Kim was so exhausted she never heard a single note from Shawn's sax after he went back to his room. He always made sure to close the door and tried to be as quiet as he could with an instrument designed to make noise. He'd lost interest in sports when his father left, and while he wasn't a mama's boy, he was now completely reliant on his mother for everything to include emotional support.

The divorce had hurt Shawn the most, and yet he never rebelled or acted out. Instead he became ultra conscientious and thought of his mom before doing (or not doing) anything. She, in turn, was very aware of the change in their relationship and did everything she could to support him, love him, but most of all to never baby him.

As a woman, that was hard for her. It broke her heart to know her son had been so deeply hurt, and even more so that his father rarely spent any time with him. But as a mother, she knew that her son was growing up, and that meant he would be a man in just a few short years.

She didn't need him, nor did she want him, to become some kind of loud, swaggering, macho caricature of a man. But she also didn't want him to be a dishrag, unable to make decisions or do difficult things. The problem was that Kim had always been a girly girl. She wasn't frilly or overly effeminate. She just preferred doing things that were typically female and her son needed a male role model.

When she wasn't too exhausted to think about it, she thought about the importance of finding another man; hopefully a good, decent, honest, loving, faithful man. She didn't have a long list of requirements like some women did, something she found unrealistic. Wanting one who thought she was the only woman he would ever need seemed pretty reasonable to her. Beyond that he would have to love Shawn like his own son, and while it wasn't essential, it would be very nice if were easy to look at.

But there were times now that when she looked at herself in the mirror, she wondered just how attractive men found her. The truth was she was still quite attractive, but after having been cheated on, she couldn't help but wonder if she might not be pretty enough to ever attract a man she found attractive who wasn't a 'player' or worse. She did her best to stay healthy and fit, but after going back to work, she had precious little time and no energy to do much of anything.

Three months later.

"You ready for school?" his mom asked.

"Almost!" Shawn called back as he grabbed his book bag and saxophone case.

It was the 4th day of 6th grade, and it was also the first day that middle school students taking band would be playing their instruments. Shawn had continued taking lessons, watching videos, and spent as much time as he could practicing.

Knowing very little about music, his mom had no way of assessing her son's progress beyond what she heard, and over the months since he'd started playing, the noise coming from his room had gone from making her cringe to making her smile. Until he hit a wrong note which sometimes still made her laugh.

"You need to hustle! I've gotta drop you off and get to work on time!" Kim hollered back.

"Coming, Mom!" she heard before her son walked in looking like he was going to war with a huge pack strapped to his back and an even larger 'weapon' in his right hand.

As she looked at him, Kim saw his father's eyes, but other than that, he had all of her best features, and was grateful that her son at least didn't get teased for something physical over which he had no control. Being called a 'band geek' was something she could live with, but it hurt her to think of other kids who were mocked or taunted for physical attributes they'd been born with. But for now, they needed to get moving, and there was no time to for her to spend feeling sorry for anyone.

Kim pulled into parent pickup, said goodbye to her 11-year old son, and made it to work with just two minutes to spare before beginning another insanely busy and exhausting day. But this job paid the bills and put food on the table, so Kim did her best at it no matter how she felt about doing it.

By Friday she was so worn out, all she wanted to do was spend the weekend in bed recovering, but she knew Shawn would be dying to get out and do things, so she forced herself to get up at 8am Saturday morning. After a cup of coffee and a hot shower, she got dressed while Shawn ate then came back downstairs and asked what he wanted to do.

"Can we go to the NASCAR hall of fame?" her son asked, surprising his mother greatly.

"Seriously? Since when do you like NASCAR?"

"I just do!" Shawn told her in a way that she understood meant he didn't want to tell her.

"Oh. Okay."

She smiled once then said, "Is there by chance someone you met at school who also likes NASCAR?"

"Maybe," her son said, a goofy smile on his face.

"Ah. Okay. Would this 'someone' maybe be...a girl?"

"Mom!"

Now that she knew, she wanted to make sure he understood there was no reason to be embarrassed.

"Shawn, it's okay to like girls. You're too young to go on dates with them, but it's perfectly normal for boys your age to like them."

"Her name is Kelsey."

"That's a pretty name."

"Mom. She is SO pretty!"

"I see."

"And her dad works in a pit crew."

Kim had to think for a moment but understood.

"Oh, okay. I know what that is."

"She said their whole family is totally into NASCAR."

"Well, in that case, maybe we should go check out the museum," his mom replied as supportively as she could even though she had no interest whatsoever in loud cars that raced around tracks.

Kim knew the tickets wouldn't be cheap, but the $25 she paid for for hers and $18 for Shawn's was a lot of money to her. Even so, she paid for them with a smile, because her son didn't need her to pass on her financial stress to him.

And the way Shawn's face lit up once they got inside made the steep price seem trivial. To his mother, everything looked pretty much the same, but Shawn quickly became obsessed by the cars which she had to admit were pretty impressive. His interest soon expanded to drivers and the protective gear they wore and then came the pit crew.

By the time they left three hours later, he was rattling off names, dates, and the kinds of things members of pit crews did and how fast they could do it.

"So you had a good time?" his mom asked on the way to their car.

"This was the best time ever!" he told her.

She never lied to her son, so when he asked her how she liked it, she only smiled and said, "I had a fantastic time watching you enjoy it."

That seemed to satisfy him, so she asked what he wanted to do next. Even though his mom tried not to stress over money, Shawn knew they didn't have a lot.

"Maybe a hotdog?" he asked hopefully.

"We can do better than a hotdog," she told him. "How about Burger King?"

That was her son's favorite place to eat, and again, just watching his eyes light up made her happy.

Somehow, he put away a quarter pounder, fries, and a milkshake, while she ate most of a chicken sandwich with a cup of water, and both of them were full when they left.

"Do we have to go home now?" Shawn asked as they walked outside.

"Well, I suppose we could go over to Freedom Park while we're here."

When Shawn said, "Yes!" she knew that would be okay.

It wasn't overly exciting, but it was a very pleasant place to walk around, and the reasonably warm August weather was a very pleasant surprise. It was often brutally hot that time of year, but it was around 85, the humidity was down, and it was a perfect day to stroll around, her aching feet aside.

She hadn't been there in months but always loved going there, and the only thing she could think of that would make it even more enjoyable was holding hands with Shawn. But he'd recently pulled his hand away when she tried to take it while in public, so she took that as another sign her little boy was growing up.

Even though she knew he had to, it mad her sad. Being a realist, Kim told herself she needed to at least try and find someone who wasn't 11 to hold hands with, and that made her laugh as she wondered just how old he would need to be when Shawn stopped walking and touched her arm.

"Mom! Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" she asked as she stopped, too, and paid attention.

"That's a saxophone!"

She heard it, too, and tried to figure out the direction it was coming from.

Shawn figured it out first and said, "Mom! This way!"

She was so surprised when he took her hand that she nearly lost her balance when he pulled her toward the sound of the music. As they walked, the sound got louder and the music got clearer. By the time they located the sound's source, Kim was smiling.

"Wow. Whoever that is, he's really good!" she said as Shawn continued pulling her toward it as the sweet sounds of jazz coming from the sax did the same thing.

As they got even closer, Kim saw a small crowd gathered around whoever was playing, and once they got to the group of people, she noticed many of them were women. Younger women. Attractive younger women.

She didn't think too much about it until she got her first look at the person playing the instrument. Just as she did, a girl who looked to be maybe 19 or so said to her friend, "He is SO hot!"

Kim heard her, and after maybe two seconds she looked at the guy playing and thought, "Oh, my goodness! He's gorgeous!"

"Mom, I can't see!" Shawn said as he stood beside her at the rear of the crowd. "Can I move up?"

She took a quick look around, saw nothing of concern, then told her son that was okay. Shawn wasn't tall for his age, and he was also very thin, so he wouldn't be blocking anyone's view, he'd be able to see, and more importantly, Kim would be able to see him.

She recognized the tune that was playing as Songbird by Kenny G from 1986. Kim had seen the instrument he was playing, a soprano saxophone before, but didn't know it was a saxophone because it didn't have the part at the bottom that turned up like a 'J'. But she did know beautiful music when she heard it, and this sounded wonderful to her.

A man about her age was nearby, and noticed her. He took a side step toward her, then without taking his eyes off the musician leaned her way a little then said, "I've heard this guy play here before. He's good. Really good!"

He paused before also telling her he'd played the sax for years and still couldn't play anywhere that well.

"He seems very talented," Kim agreed.

"He was out here last weekend, too. Someone said he's a college student who plays for tips."

She glanced over at the man who glanced back, and when he did, Kim kind of smiled once she noticed he was rather good looking.

But what he said next deflated her 'hope balloon' in an instant.

"I'll tell you what. If he was gay, I'd be all over that guy!" the man said.

Kim replied with a nervous, "Oh," before looking away so fast it made the other man laugh.

She thought to herself, "Way to go, Kim. You sure can pick 'em," just as Shawn called her name loud enough for her to feel a bit embarrassed.

"Come here!" she said just loudly enough for Shawn to hear, and he twisted and turned his way back to her.

Before his mom could remind him not to be so loud, he said, "Mom! That's him!"

"That's...who?" she asked as she stepped back a few feet and pulled Shawn with her.

"The guy in the video!"

"What video?"

"Mom! The Saxophone Standard video. With the Army guys. Remember?"

Kim was kind of bent over to talk to her son but stood back up to look. She was about 30 feet away, but even so, she realized he did resemble one of the soldiers she saw in the video.

"Are you sure?" she asked, not sure herself.

"Yes. I'm positive!"

She looked again and still wasn't sure. The man was sporting about three days worth of stubble, but the face was handsome enough to be his. And while the hair was slightly longer, he really did look an awful lot like the soldier she vaguely remembered.

"Can we go say hello?" Shawn nearly pleaded.

"Honey, he's busy. He's playing right now."

"I know. But if we wait, we can go say 'hi'. Can we?"

"I...I don't know, Shawn. I have no idea how long he'll be playing."

"But we don't have anything else to do, and we just ate. So...can we?"

Kim looked down at her son and once again, her heart broke. Maybe it wasn't as bad as she was imagining, but she felt like the reason Shawn was so enthralled with this saxophone player because there was no man in his life. That wasn't her fault, but she still felt terrible and blamed herself even though she wasn't the one who broke her marriage vows.

"I guess we can stay a little longer," she said without actually committing to staying until he quit playing.

"Thanks, Mom!" Shawn said.

She was very surprised when Shawn threw his arms around her in public, but even that short hug was enough to make her glad she'd agreed to stay. He still hugged her and even kissed her goodnight at home, but public displays of affection were all but over.

The next song the guy she nicknamed 'jazz man' played was every bit as beautiful, but this was one she didn't know.

While she stood there listening, more people gathered around, and quite a few had gone up and dropped money in some kind of green metal container; a container that was actually an ammo can. Kim didn't know that, but neither did anyone else who put money it. It was something Kyle had kept as a reminder of his tour with the infantry and now used as a collection plate.

When he left active duty, one of his friends took it to have Kyle's name, rank, and dates of service stenciled on the side in yellow as a farewell gift. Anyone who got close enough would see: SGT Kyle Roberts, US Army, 2016-2020 on the side.

He played three more songs, and when they were over, Kim realized her aching feet weren't bothering her. She'd gotten so caught up in the beautiful melodies that she paid no attention to anything else. To include her son, and for the briefest of moments, she had the sickest feeling she'd ever experienced—with one very important exception.

A quick scan located Shawn just a few feet from where she'd last seen him, and a wave of relief washed over her. Less than a minute later, the sax player Kim's jazz man finished the number he was playing then sat the sax down. When he did, the crowd applauded enthusiastically, and the attractive young man waved then spoke.

"Thank you all so much. I appreciate that as well as the tips. I'm going to take a 15-minute break then play one more set. So if you'll excuse me..."

He stood up, stretched, then waited, knowing people would come up to talk to him. Shawn shot toward him and ended up third in line. His mom stayed back to let her son have some time alone with the jazz man while she was able to keep an eye on him.

As Shawn moved up to number two in the line, Kim realized she'd been subconsciously inching her way forward and had closed half the gap. When it was Shawn's turn to speak with the sax player, she was just a step or two away.

"Hey, there. What's your name?" the jazz man asked.

"Shawn. And I know you!"

"Oh. I believe I'm at a disadvantage then," the older man said with a smile.

"I don't know your name. I just know who you are."

"I see," Kyle said with a smile before noticing the attractive woman who was now standing next to her son and asked who the beautiful woman was.

"Oh, hi. I'm Kim. Shawn's mother. He thinks he saw you on a video, but I told him you might not be the same person."

"He is, Mom! He's the Army guy."

Kyle laughed politely then said, "Well, I was in the Army, and I did play the sax for them. I also made a video, so maybe that was me."

"The Saxophone Standard!" Shawn said. "I can do everything you showed in the video!"

"Wow. Okay. Well, I guess that was me," Kyle told him before telling the boy his name.

He grabbed a spare reed, replaced the one in the sax, then said, "Show me what you can do."

Kim could tell her son, who was very shy, was a little embarrassed, but it was obvious he wanted to do this.

"I've never played a soprano sax," the boy told him.

"Oh. Okay. No problem."

Kyle produced a tenor sax he also had with him, then asked if that was better.

Shawn nodded then took the horn and after making a couple of loud squeals played several bars of something he'd memorized.

"Nice work, Shawn!" Kyle told him. "You're really good. Do you like playing?"

"Uh-huh."

"Do you take lessons?"

"Yes," Shawn told him.

"Oh, okay. I was gonna offer to tutor you—for free. But if you have a teacher..."

"Mom! Can Kyle be my teacher?" Shawn asked, again nearly begging.

"Honey, I'm sure he's very busy, and..."

"I have time," Kyle told her in a quiet, baritone voice, a smile on his handsome face.

"You...you don't have to do that," Kim said, a flutter in her tummy as he smiled at her.

"Your son is the first person I've met since leaving the Army who recognized me. He has some real potential, and I'd be more than happy to help out."

"We couldn't ask you to..."

"Mom. Please???"

She looked at Kyle who smiled and shrugged as if to say, "How are you gonna say 'no' to that?"

"Are you sure?" she asked the jazz man she now knew was named Kyle, a look of uncertainty on her face.

"Absolutely. Well, if you live nearby. I can't drive to New York or Texas, but if you're anywhere near Charlotte, then...yes."

"We live in Pineville!" Shawn offered without thinking.

There were other people waiting to talk to Kyle, so he asked if he could get her name and number.

Suddenly aware that they were holding up the line she stepped aside then apologized to the people behind her. Kyle grabbed his phone then said, "Okay. Let 'er rip."

Kim moved a little closer then quietly said, "Kim Cook. With a 'C'," as though it might not be. "My number is 704-567..."

"Got it. I'll give you a call and see what we can work out," the jazz man replied before looking at Shawn and saying, "and you keep practicing, okay?"

Shawn promised he would, and one of the people behind Kim who'd been listening said, "Looks like your son is good hands."

Kim smiled politely then said, "Um...yes. I...I agree," before apologizing to Kyle for taking up so much of his time.

"Nonsense! I'm really glad Shawn said 'hello', and it's never an inconvenience to meet a beautiful woman like yourself."

Kim's tummy flip flopped again as he also smiled at her, and she nervously thanked him for the compliment.

As the next person said 'hello', Kyle promised Kim he'd call her later that same day.