Kyle and the Mysterious Stranger

Kyle loved the world underneath his big dining room table. He could often be found under the table taking imaginary friends on imaginary adventures. It could be a jungle, or a jail, a forgotten island, or the realm of demons.

Today the big dining room table was where Kyle heard his mother say something very interesting. Today under the table Kyle heard the first mention of the mysterious stranger.

Kyle’s dad got Kyle’s breakfast this morning, which was not how it usually went. Instead of his mom making his breakfast, Kyle’s dad asked him what he wanted.

“I want mommy to make me peanut butter toast,” Kyle replied.

“Not today, your mom has a stomach bug.”

“But mommy knows how to make it right!” Kyle was insistent.

“Did you know that I was a little older than you are now when I first started eating only peanut butter toast for breakfast? I think that you first ate my peanut butter toast when you started always wanting it, but you probably forgot that.”

“I thought mom invented peanut butter toast. YOU invented peanut butter toast?” asked Kyle, his eyes growing wide.

“Well, I didn’t invent it, but I am pretty good at making it. Give me a chance, so we can let your mother rest,” his dad said as he started getting bread and peanut butter out.

Kyle heard his parents’ bedroom door open. Out stepped his mom in her pink bathrobe, her hair a mess but a smile on her face.

“Hey sweetie! Look at that, Dad made you breakfast! I’m sure it’s wonderful; it smells wonderful! Anyway, Hank, you can get going. I love you. Don’t bother kissing me ‘cause I still feel …blegh,” she said, waving her hand in the air to emphasize how unknowable her feeling was.

Getting breakfast from his dad inspired Kyle’s adventures for the day. His world under the table was the world without girls. It was full of monster trucks and mud, and there were no baths ever. It even inspired him to tell his mom he would be playing in the living room even though he stayed under the dining room table.

He drove his monster truck through a lava lake and jumped it through a wall of flame. The truck landed on a floor covered in bugs and squished and splashed the audience, and nobody complained about it being gross or icky.

As exciting as the world seemed at first, it was a world without his mom, and that was a world that could never be perfect. He was starting to miss her in his pretend world when he heard her again in the real world.

“Yes, Mom, it’s a horrible stomach bug, but we still plan on traveling to see you in a few weeks. I mean, I’m not even feeling that nauseous anymore now that I am up and about. What do you- I…I suppose-” and then a giggle. It was a giggle quite unlike anything that should come from his mom, and he was under the table so he could not be certain it really came from his mom. Maybe there was someone else who made that giggle.

“Yeah…” said his mom in a dreamy, far-off voice. Kyle recognized the tone she sometimes took with him when she was saying how much she loved him.

“Yeah… that makes sense. She hasn’t visited yet; you may be right about a different visitor.” And another giggle. Who hadn’t visited, and who would be visiting? Kyle wondered whether Aunt Carol was supposed to come. He liked it when she came, because they always made Aunt Carol’s famous carrot cake.

Sometimes Kyle’s mom would hum a song. Today, however, Kyle did not think she stopped humming all day. She hummed while she put away Kyle’s clean clothes, and she hummed as she baked the chicken pot pie for dinner.

The pot pie was delicious, as always. Kyle watched as his mom shot glances at his dad and his dad’s face working to figure out the mood.

Past his bedtime, Kyle snuck out to listen in on his parents at their bedroom door. He knew that after his bedtime was when they talked about stuff like the strange giggle or the phone call with Meemaw or the mysterious stranger.

He slunk to the crack between floor and door and moved his ear as close as he could.

“-Because I need to let the good news in. I-I started to build up a wall, I started living with the fact that it would be the three of us.”

Dad’s voice was different than usual. Kyle usually knew his dad’s voice to be even and steady. The sound and rhythm mixed in his memories with the smell of his dad’s chin after shaving. His dad was a place he could cry into and eventually stop crying, because his dad’s voice was steady like a tree. Now it sounded different. Was his dad upset about something? Did mom invite the stranger without asking Dad?

Kyle was deep in thought; why should this visitor upset him so much? Maybe because that first visitor he had heard about wasn’t coming anymore? Dad did not like change. Kyle’s aunts still made fun of him for ordering the same coffee for fifteen years.

Kyle didn’t hear voices anymore. He had been lost in thought and blocked out all outside sounds. He slinked back into bed and fell asleep wondering how his parents had ended what sounded like a bad conversation.

As is the way of children, Kyle forgot all about the mysterious stranger by the next morning. As is also the way of children he could pick up right where he left off if it came up again. It came up again. Kyles routine was once again shaken up by the mysterious stranger. Kyle had to get up, get dressed, and eat breakfast, and all three of them had to get going. Kyle’s dad once again made him breakfast. Kyle’s mom once again showed up later, although this time she was dressed and ready to go rather than in a bathrobe. When they were all in the car, Kyle asked where they were going.

“The doctor,” his parents replied in unison. Kyle was just learning his letters, and when they got to the doctor Kyle tried to recognize some of the letters. He asked his dad about the letters he could see.

“What’s a obb doctor?”

“It’s a doctor son,” replied his dad in an impatient tone. “We’re dropping your mother off, and we will come get her in a few hours.”

“A few hours?” came Kyle’s upset inquiry. “I want to go with mommy!”

His mom chimed in to help everyone out: “Sweetie, the doctor just wants to see mommy, in fact, his office is so small, only I can fit inside it. I think I heard that there will be donuts at Daddy’s work, so maybe you can eat one for yourself and one for me.”

This placated Kyle as his mom got out of the car and his dad drove to work.

“I don’t like how things are turning out,” Kyle stated. He had picked up that phrase from a big family get together.

“With what?” his dad asked.

“I heard mommy on the phone with Meemaw talking about someone not visiting and someone different visiting us. And since that mom hasn’t been feeling good in the morning. I miss seeing her at breakfast, and I miss the way she does things for breakfast, and I don’t like her being sick in the morning!” All this had been building up inside Kyle, and the words were starting to come out faster and at an increasing volume. “I even heard you sounding upset the other night. Don’t let the mysterious stranger come, he’s already causing problems!”

After a pause, his dad replied, “Well, son, your mother and I have some very good news that we want to share with you.”