Hendrick the Hound Dog
My son spotted the young woman with the long, dark hair the minute she walked in the door. He was sitting with my husband and me at a table in the back of the deli, but he saw no one but her.
Hendrick was listening to the radio, which was playing a little too loud, and gnawing on a buttered bagel when the pretty teenager -- fashionably dressed in blue jeans, a white sweater and furry boots -- walked over to the counter. She placed her order, then buried her face in a newspaper she had picked up from the rack near the cash register.
She had no idea she was being watched.
Hendrick put down his bagel, jumped off the bench and danced his way over to her without dropping his gaze. He moved slowly, confidently, as John Mayer's "Your Body is a Wonderland" played in the background.
"Our son is a lounge lizard," my husband declared. He was almost proud of Hendrick's determination to acquaint himself with this stranger.
I tried not to get jealous. I thought I would be the only woman my son could love at least until he was 15. Maybe 16. This was ridiculous.
The girl finally realized she had an admirer. She smiled, then her eyes quickly darted around the room to look for his parents. Yes, we're right here, I assured her. We preferred to witness this spectacle from a distance.
Hendrick has always been a flirt, and when he turns on the charm, the ladies melt. It works every time. But how long can he keep this up? That baby face is eventually going to grow whiskers.
There has to come a time when self-awareness sets in and his confidence level sinks to something a little more realistic.
I suppose my son is no different than most toddlers. Even so, my husband and I marvel at Hendrick's adventurous nature. He takes chances no matter how impossible they may seem. And when he gets rejected (the girl obviously left the store with just her sandwich) he brushes it off without a wince.
Faced with such rejection at age 15, I don't think he will handle it so casually. Who's going to need Momma's love then?
Hendrick was listening to the radio, which was playing a little too loud, and gnawing on a buttered bagel when the pretty teenager -- fashionably dressed in blue jeans, a white sweater and furry boots -- walked over to the counter. She placed her order, then buried her face in a newspaper she had picked up from the rack near the cash register.
She had no idea she was being watched.
Hendrick put down his bagel, jumped off the bench and danced his way over to her without dropping his gaze. He moved slowly, confidently, as John Mayer's "Your Body is a Wonderland" played in the background.
"Our son is a lounge lizard," my husband declared. He was almost proud of Hendrick's determination to acquaint himself with this stranger.
I tried not to get jealous. I thought I would be the only woman my son could love at least until he was 15. Maybe 16. This was ridiculous.
The girl finally realized she had an admirer. She smiled, then her eyes quickly darted around the room to look for his parents. Yes, we're right here, I assured her. We preferred to witness this spectacle from a distance.
Hendrick has always been a flirt, and when he turns on the charm, the ladies melt. It works every time. But how long can he keep this up? That baby face is eventually going to grow whiskers.
There has to come a time when self-awareness sets in and his confidence level sinks to something a little more realistic.
I suppose my son is no different than most toddlers. Even so, my husband and I marvel at Hendrick's adventurous nature. He takes chances no matter how impossible they may seem. And when he gets rejected (the girl obviously left the store with just her sandwich) he brushes it off without a wince.
Faced with such rejection at age 15, I don't think he will handle it so casually. Who's going to need Momma's love then?
posted by Nina Rizzo at 7:42 PM
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