Tim Green: The Big Time

"The doctor said the finger isn't broken," Troy's mom said, blowing on her coffee and looking from Troy to Gramps over the rim of the mug. "It's his heart I'm worried about, Dad."

Gramps shoveled some food onto his plate and said, "Sounds serious. Girl trouble? That Tate McGreer turned him down?"

"Gramps," Troy said, nearly choking on his juice, "Tate's my friend. I don't have a girlfriend."

"She's a cutie, though," Gramps said, a twinkle in his eye as he mixed the eggs and grits together with some sausage before taking a big bite.

"Drew showed up, Dad," Troy's mom said, her voice cold enough to wipe the smile off Gramps's face.

"Oh?" Gramps said, swallowing. "Showed up? Where do you mean? After the game?"

"He saw us on Larry King , Gramps," Troy said. "He said he didn't know I even existed, and Mom said that was possible."

Gramps tilted his head down and looked at Troy's mom over the top of his glasses. "She did?"

"I said 'possible,' Dad," Troy's mom said, "but lots of things are possible. I figured if anyone could explain to Troy why you can't just show up twelve years into a boy's life and expect to be some kind of inflatable father figure, it would be you. You've been more of a father to him than the fathers a lot of kids have."

Gramps sipped his mug of coffee and rubbed the bristles on his chin. "I've enjoyed spending time with Troy. Not much at cleaning fish, but he sure catches 'em well enough."

Gramps winked at Troy.

"I'm serious, Dad," Troy's mom said. "I told Drew to leave us alone. I don't want him treating Troy like a yo-yo."

"Well," Gramps said softly. "It's a tough thing Troy's been through. Oh, I know you've done everything a mom could do, Tessa; and I guess I have, too. But it's different, a boy and his dad."

"See, Mom?" Troy said, excited at the direction in which things were headed.

"Still," Gramps said, turning his blazing eyes on Troy, "your mom has a point. You're at that in-between time of life, Troy. You're not a kid anymore, but you're not quite a man. It's a hard time, and I think maybe, if your dad really means what he says, well, when you're a man he'll still be there, and the two of you can get acquainted and see where it goes. Jumping in on the parent wagon at this point doesn't do anyone much good."

"Gramps," Troy said, standing so fast that his chair fell over, "I can't believe you're taking her side. I took off last night, and I should have stayed gone."

"HEY, MISTER," HIS MOMsaid, raising her voice and banging her mug so that coffee splashed out onto the tabletop. "I thought we were over that. I let it slide; now you're tossing it in my face?"

"What am I tossing?" Troy said, bending to flip the chair upright before backing away toward his bedroom. "I've always dreamed I had a dad. I knew he was out there, somewhere. Now he found me. Do you know how good that feels?"

"For now," she said, standing up. "For the moment."

"Why? Why just for the moment?" Troy asked.

"Because I know him, Troy," she said, her hands clasped and her voice almost pleading. "You don't. You saw him pull up in a hundred-thousand-dollar car with a fancy pair of cowboy boots. I know who he is, and I know what he did-to both of us."

"You always say 'forgive and forget,'" Troy said. "What about that? That's only for when it's good for you? What about now? Why can't you forgive?"

"Okay, I forgive him," she said, "fine. That's not what this is about. I do forgive him, but I don't want to let him hurt us again-hurt you ."

"I don't care if I get hurt," Troy said, trying not to shout. "I'm hurt already. You don't know what it's like to have people look at you, the kid without a dad. The football player without a dad."

"Don't tell me I don't know," she said, shaking her head so that her hair lay in a crazed web on her shoulders. "I know. I'm the woman with no husband, the woman with a broken family and a troubled son."

"I'm not troubled!" Troy yelled.

"You just said you were!"

"STOP!"

Troy and his mom froze. Gramps was on his feet now, too, and it was the first time Troy had ever heard him shout.

"Now," Gramps said in his normal voice, his hands motioning for them both to sit and settle down. "Both of you. Sit down. We're all on the same side here. We are. And, if you'll listen, I think I've got a solution."

"THERE ARE LAWS," GRAMPSsaid, "that give your father some rights."

"Dad!" Troy's mom said, her lips curling back in disgust.

"You need to listen, young lady," Gramps said, his voice and look stern. "It's true. Drew has rights. If he can show he didn't know about Troy and he's his father, the court will give him some kind of visitation rights, especially if Troy wants it."

Troy's mom bit her lip and winced.

"And," Gramps said, turning his eyes on Troy, "your mom can fight it. She can get a good lawyer and drag this thing out so that it'd be years before Drew could ever see you.

"That wouldn't be good," Gramps said. "But, Troy, you have to know this. Your father is a smart man. If he really wants to see you, to be a part of your life, then he'll find the laws if he doesn't know them already. And, if he's willing to use his time and money and initiate a suit, then I say it proves he's not just showing up on a whim because he saw you two on Larry King . That's what I say."

Gramps picked up his fork and rammed home a mouthful of food, chewing so that his leathery neck danced up and down and side to side.

"He has to sue to get to see me?" Troy asked in disbelief.

"No," his mom said softly, "that's not what Gramps is saying. He's saying that if it's that important to Drew to see you, then he'll begin a lawsuit, and if he does, we'll just settle it right out of the gate."

"Why do we have to make it hard on him?" Troy asked.

Gramps held up his hand so Troy's mom would let him speak. He swallowed and washed down the mouthful with a gulp of juice before he said, "Because he made it hard on you, Troy. And on your mom. There's a saying that anything worth having is worth fighting for, and it's true. If he really wants a relationship, let him fight for it. Then when he does get it, he's a lot less apt to walk away from it."

"Again," Troy's mom said.

Gramps glared at her.

"Well?" she said to Gramps before dropping her shoulders and turning to Troy. "Okay, I'm sorry. I'll behave."

His mom extended her hand across the table and let it hang there between them.

"Is it a deal, Troy?" she asked.

"SO," TROY SAID, EYEINGher hand, "we don't do anything, but if my dad says he's going to start a lawsuit to try to get visitation rights, then you let me see him?"

"That's right," his mom said. "Let him make the first move. Gramps is right. If he really wants to be your dad. If he's really sorry and he's going to be in it for the long haul, then he's not just going to go away, Troy."

"Okay," Troy said, nodding his head and clasping her hand. "Deal."

Gramps smacked his hands together and rubbed them as if he were trying to get warm. "Nice, now let's get serious about this breakfast. These eggs remind me of Waffle House back in Avondale, before it was a chain."

Troy smiled and dug in. They ate for a bit, recounting the highlights of the championship game, Troy's touchdown passes, especially the final, ugly lob to Nathan, who had been wide open in the end zone on a trick play.

"Gramps," Troy said, "how come you didn't stick around?"

Gramps wiped his mouth and swished his hand through the air. "I saw you surrounded by all those cameras and all; I'm too old for a mess like that. I knew I'd see you this morning and congratulate you proper. You, my friend, played like a champion, and you are a champion. To the bone."