We were sitting on our usual park bench, close enough to the playground so his mom could see him, but far enough away that it didn’t look like he was playing with his little sisters. We met there often when I came to sketch the children and dogs at play. Over the months we had struck up a friendship.

“Hey, where were you last week? I waited for a while, but then Mom made me play with the girls. Sisters! Why couldn’t they’ve been boys? Or a dog maybe. Jimmy just got a puppy and I’m going to see him tomorrow.”

Before I could answer, he had changed the subject again. By now I was used to his monologs and relished the challenge of trying to keep up with his rapid flow of ideas. He seemed content if I was watching him whenever he looked my way and I murmured a word or two in all the right places. My own daughter, though married, planned to put off motherhood for a while longer. Max didn’t know it, but I was practicing being a grandmother on him.

“Yeah, so you know what my mom did? You know how she’s always on me about getting ready for school and not being late and stuff? Well, she made me late one day last week.”

“My, that’s unusual,” I said.

“You bet it is. And I was on time that morning, too. Anyway, she took one look out the window and started to bundle the girls up into their snowsuits. At seven o’clock in the morning! She hurried me up and we all got into the car and off we went. I even left my lunch and backpack behind, but it wasn’t my fault.” Max got up, made a few snowballs, and tossed them at the oak across the path. As he wandered back to our bench, I quickly sketched his expressive face, ever changing as it displayed his varying emotions. He stole a glance at my pad as he settled himself to continue his story.

“So where do you think we went? To the river. Seven o’clock in the morning on a school day! I couldn’t figure out what had gotten into my mom.”

“So what was at the river?”

“Well, actually the show started before we got there. The sun was just coming up and it was magic.”

“Magic?”

“Yeah. Magic.” A satisfied sigh escaped through his smile and a look of wonder filled his eyes. “Well, you know how it looks when the window is all frosted up and the sun comes through? Kind like a rainbow, all the colors there?” I nodded. “Well, the whole world looked like that. There was ice on all the trees and even the blades of grass had outlines. And when the sun hit it, man, that was something!” He slumped back on the bench and stared off into the sky for a moment. “That was really something.”

“Worth being late for school for?”

“You bet! Only I wasn’t late for school that day. We took the whole day off. Mom said days like that didn’t happen very often and we should celebrate it. So we stayed at the river until the sun melted all the ice and we got cold. Then we came home, had hot chocolate and read books to each other all day. It was so cool!”

“Your mom is a very wise woman. Days like that one really should be celebrated.”

“But just when I thought I had her figured out, she went and did this. Now I’m back where I started. Confused.” He grinned at me. “Will I ever figure out women?”