maybe

“What time are you coming home?”  It’s a question I’ve been asking Alexander for weeks now.  And I always get the same answer.  “Sometime on Wednesday.”  A more specific commitment is impossible to get.

Last night I call and ask the same question.  And again, I get the same answer.  I know my son is not going to his classes on Wednesday morning, so I suggest he come home on the ten bus.  “Maybe, “ he responds, with zero possibility of the maybe becoming a yes.

Alexander takes the noon bus and calls me.  “Hey, can we have sushi for dinner?”  I tell him maybe.  He is looking for a stronger commitment.  I tell him it’s the same level of maybe he provided me with last night when I suggested the ten a.m. bus.

Alexander comes home around 6:30.  It is so good to see him.  I give him a big hug.

Later we have dinner.  My maybe was of course nothing like his.