The Missing Son

Written by Tom Fowler, Published on 8/3/2009

As Amanda fixed breakfast for her four sons, she thought this Wednesday morning in May was truly a gift from God. It was already warm with bright sunshine and no clouds in the sky. But Amanda knew the boys were tired.

She felt sorry for her husband Warren this morning. He had left early to spend the day with his father, as last night his mother had passed away. The family had been notified of her heart attack just after dinner, and they spent the rest of the evening at the hospital. Amanda was grateful they all had the opportunity to say goodbye to her before she slipped into quiet sleep. They arrived home late. “No wonder the boys look fatigued”, she thought. “It’s been a trying time for us all.”

Amanda looked affectionately at her four boys as they hurriedly ate breakfast. Connor, at eighteen, was the oldest. He was what she called her feisty one. Until Coach Hastings at Upstate College had offered him a full athletic scholarship for next year, Connor had been lackadaisical in study habits and class attendance. Hastings was known as a no-nonsense coach who demanded the same effort in the classroom as he did on the football field. He also expected good citizenship from his players and those who could not stay out of trouble off the field needn’t worry about spending any time on it. Amanda had been pleased with the dramatic turnaround in her oldest son this year; Connor was doing everything he could to please both Coach Hastings and the faculty at Lee School. Caleb, sixteen years old, was her studious son. He was just finishing his sophomore year at Lee School and had maintained a perfect 4.0 grade average since commencing middle school. Caleb hoped to be a research scientist someday and possessed the analytical and perfectionist attitude that persons in that field must have to succeed. Amanda often worried about his over-developed sense of perfection as there had been times Caleb had overworked himself to his own detriment. Caleb would literally do anything to succeed. Caleb looked worried this morning, but, didn’t he always? Amanda hoped that his first hour gym class would perk him up—Wednesday tended to be a pop quiz day.

Amanda considered Jordan, age fourteen. Jordan did not enjoy the robust health her other sons did. Jordan suffered from Hypoglycemia and it was no minor ailment with him, as he had been known to pass out at unexpected times. Amanda prayed that he would one day grow out of this. However, she took comfort in the fact that Jordan usually took pretty good care of himself. He watched carefully what he ate and drank, and monitored his exercise closely. Still, he could get dizzy and lightheaded at the oddest of times, especially when he overdid it. There had been several occasions in which the school nurse called, saying he arrived at school feeling weak and faint.

The youngest was Kyle. Kyle was twelve and in his first year at Lee. Kyle was her current “problem” child. He was experiencing attention span problems and not doing too well in school. However, while Kyle was currently getting poor grades, he wasn’t a troublemaker—he had a healthy desire to get along with his teachers and the vice principal. Amanda wryly wished he had the same desire to get along with his report card. Her husband, Warren, had been like that when Kyle’s age, so she hoped it would not be a long term problem.

Amanda continued to think of Kyle. Lee School was a place where an uninterested student could fail quickly. Pop quizzes, which were given frequently—usually either on Monday or Wednesday and often, both—carried as much weight as Friday tests and semester exams. This was of many reasons that Lee was the top school in the state, academically speaking.

Amanda considered it fortunate that Lee was both a middle and high school. It was even better that the school was scarcely half a mile down the block from their home. Unless the weather was severely wet or cold, the boys walked together the short distance to school. She liked the fact that the path was well traveled, as many neighborhood children walked to school past their house. It was also well patrolled, as there were crossing guards at two key intersections, plus a police squad car that sat in the parking lot of the Elizabeth Toland Branch Library in the mornings and afternoons, monitoring both the behavior of the children and the street traffic.

Amanda put all of her thoughts and cares behind her as she kissed each son goodbye. She watched them walk briskly down the sidewalk until out of sight.

Stepping back into the house, she thought again, What a pretty day.

During the middle of the morning, the telephone rang. It was Marge Schroeder, the Lee School receptionist. Marge knew Amanda well from Connor’s time as a habitual occupant of the vice principal’s office. She said, “Good morning, Amanda. One of your sons did not make it to first hour. We don’t know where he is”

Amanda thought for a moment. Finally, she said to Marge, “I know who it was without you having to say. I’ll see you in a minute.” She told Marge who she suspected had skipped class and, before the startled Marge could answer, Amanda hung up and headed out the door.