Afternoon was enjoyed with a typical teen

Picture a typical teen boy who is growing so quickly that he is surely a few inches taller than he was when you first started reading this. Now add a spike on top of a battered metal helmet that not quite covers his creatively cut strawberry blonde hair. To complete the image, put a cane in his hand and have him do a modified soft shoe routine. If you can imagine all this you will have a fairly accurate picture of my nephew, Jadyn, on a recent autumn afternoon.
He and his family had come to visit. They didn’t want to just sit around and talk so we went to a local antique store and walked around. We tried to get Jadyn to add a wild shirt to his ensemble but he rejected our offerings.
Antique stores are always humbling. I see so many things we used on a daily basis when we were kids.
Even my little brother, 16 years my junior, recognized many things in the store. Old 45 rpm records? We had them. A record player? Of course. Jadyn confessed he wouldn't know how to operate the thing. I didn't mention that the record player we had when I was little required a crank to get it going.
We strolled through the cavernous place and marveled at the selection. I said something about an entire box of bottle caps. Before I could ask who would save so many bottle caps and why, my brother and I locked eyes and said in unison, “Mom.”
Mom grew up during the depression and never, ever throws anything out. Well, hardly ever. She is convinced that they will come in handy some day.
I have been known to deplete her stock of milk rings by half whenever I get the chance. Someday my daughter will do the same with my own “treasures.”
What impressed me most about Jadyn was how at ease he was. He is at the age when being seen with one's parents is horrifying. Actually having fun in the presence of those parents is unheard of.
Nevertheless, there he was, hat on head and cane in hand, having a good time.
Then we found the sword. I thought it was a cane at first. When I picked it up it came apart and revealed a sword. The blade was in dire need of cleaning. We all thought the tag said $22.
Jadyn returned the other cane and the helmet to their proper places and asked if he could have the sword. His parents agreed.   
However, when the cashier rang it up the total was unexpected. Nobody had noticed the other numeral two. The cost was actually $222. The sword was also returned to its former resting place.
We returned home to find Gracie, the calico cat, perched on the newel post at the bottom of the stairs. To our shock she let Jadyn pet her.
He then sat on the stairs and began playing with his phone while the adults talked. At one point my brother went over to pet the cat. Gracie hissed and growled and let him know that she didn't want to be petted. Fortunately, he kept far enough away to keep from getting mauled to death.
I tell you all of this to balance out all the bad news in the paper and other news media. Jadyn is an ordinary boy and what transpired was ordinary. Sometimes we need to be reminded that not all news is bad and that a strawberry blonde boy can win the affections of a cranky calico cat.[[In-content Ad]]