A Simple Word

GOODBYE TOMORROW

 

'Lazy Johnny, will you get up? Will you get up this morning?' I kiss the top of my son's head, tweak his ass and start my nagging. 'Breakfast is ready and so is the lawn mower. Get going. You promised Dad.' Johnny whines. 'Mom, I can't work on the lawn now. I've got more important 'things to do today. I promise I'll do it tomorrow. Mom, you're making your fantastic pancakes aren't you? I can't eat more than two today, really can't.'  He jumps out of bed and hops to the loo. The toilet flushes and the shower clunks once or twice and then starts to flow. I keep looking at my watch to check the fifteen minutes it will take for my son to get out of the bathroom. All hell is going to break loose in sixteen minutes. My stern, but loving husband, Nelson, has finished his cold, pulpless O.J. and a pile high stack of pancakes while he  waits for Johnny.

 

A bright, cheery greeting rings out. 'Great morning, isn't it, Dad? Perfect!' I know what will come next and don't want to be part of a big argument. I go out in the garden to cut a few roses just opening their sunny faces. Loud voices from the kitchen reach me anyhow.

 

'Dad, I can't, really I can't cut the lawn today. I swear, I promise, I'll do it tomorrow. Please understand, Dad. I am leading Fairfield High's five mile run. I want to lead all 400 hundred of the senior class to the finish line to be noted in our yearbook. I gotta go, now Dad!' In the kitchen I find Johnny's two pancakes flat and cold on the sink. Nelson waits to tell me he's leaving and to remind Johnny about tomorrow. They are both gone and I make a pan of pancakes for myself

 

Dinner is a disaster. The roast, little red boiled potatoes and saurkraut
are tasty. Mouths chew but words remain locked inside. Johnny helps me clear the table while Nelson goes outside to smoke his one cig a day. Tired from his run, Johnny heads upstairs but is stopped. 'No excuses tomorrow. The grass is up to my ankles.'

 

During the night Johnny is restless. Close to midnite I peep in his room and see him pacing the floor. He looks at his watch, then the digital clock.  My puzzlement is too strong to walk away. In a whisper I ask him what he is doing but get no answer. Troubled though I am, I go back to bed and fall asleep fast. The sun is up when I hear Nestor and Johnny in a heated discussion.

 

Johnny is irate. 'I won't, I can't cut the lawn before school,' he shouts.
The comeback is, 'You promised, promised every day, now keep your promise or be grounded.' 'Dad I can't and besides I am not obligated to cut the lawn today. I promised to cut it tomorrow and this is 'today,'so stop hounding me. Don't you get it? There is no tomorrow.' He takes his books and leaves the house.

 

At 3 in the afternoon a lawn mower is whirring out front. Another is going in circles in the back yard. At 3:30 Johnny appears and pays the
two young men cutting our grass. He tells me not to tell Dad. 'Mary Jo and I are going steady and I can't waste my time on our lawn.' 'But Johnny,  you promised Dad you'd do it. I can't understand your logic.'

 

'O.K., Son, you are right. There is no tomorrow. Let's remove it from the dictionary and our minds. Come inside, Darling.' He follows me in, and enjoys a tall glass of milk and a hefty slice of my world famous double double Dutch chocolate cake.'

 

Nelson comes home at 5 and tells Johnny he did a nice job.