Conversations

Chapter 2

I'm at work Saturday night / Sunday morning when my phone rings. I pick up the receiver, and before I can even get out my salutation, I hear my son's voice, "Hey guys, I'm drunk dialing my mother."

"Hello, Son. How are you?" I look at the clock and see that it is two forty five. He and his friends are obviously just leaving the bar.

"I'm trashed," he giggles into the phone.

"That, I can tell. Who are you with?" I ask.

"Pong and his boyfriend." I have yet to meet my son's friend, Pong. I know he's called Pong because no one can pronounce his Asian name, though he and my son have been friends for close to a year. "You want to talk to him?" he continues as I hear him talking to his friends. "Here, talk to my mom." Lord, why do I always get to talk to his drunken friends? As you may have guessed, this isn't the first time something like this has happened.

"Hello?" It is a different voice, not my son.

"Pong?" I ask.

"Yes, hello. I am taking your son home."

"That's good, and make sure he gets up and goes to work tomorrow too."

"Okay, I'll try."

The next evening I receive another call from my son. This time I'm relieved to realize he is sober.

"How did you like that call last night?" he asks.

"Yeah, how about that? Did you make it to work today?"

"Yep, I didn't drink that much last night."

I could argue that point, but decide not to. "I had a nice chat with Pong, he asked if I knew of your supposed boyfriend."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, he said he was cute, but old," I tease. James is twenty-eight, hardly old.

"He's older, not old. I'm gonna have to talk to Pong," he chuckles.

"That what you get for letting your friends talk to me when they are inebriated," I laugh, "So you had a good time? Who was out with you?" I know the supposed boyfriend is out of town.

"Yeah, we had fun. It was just Pong, his boyfriend, and me. We call them Rice and Beans."

"Rice and Beans? Please don't tell me his boyfriend is Mexican."

"Yeah, he is." He is laughing again.

"Son, that is just wrong."

Children. What can we do? He's too old to spank.

Return to Conversations