"Ahem…" He nervously cleared his throat.
"Yea, want to say something to me?" Jacob asked. It seemed like Jayden was acting a bit strangely today. He had noticed that the teen seemed a little more reserved with him than from before, but he hadn't really delved on it too deeply. He had his own problems and after all other people have bad days too.
"Ah- of... No… I don't have anything to say to you…" Jayden chickened out breaking eye contact with him. Avery threw up his hands in despair watching his friend.
"Hopeless…" He mouthed the words so that Jayden could read his lips. Disappointedly he shook his head as he turned his attention back to buying customers.
"Well okay… Have a good day…" Mr. Ellis turned to leave. Jayden stood watching hopelessly and disappointed with himself for losing his courage. Abruptly before he knew it he heard himself blurting out: "Marla Townsend?"
Those four syllables rose above all of the surrounding sounds and echoed within Jacob Ellis's being; staying his steps. He hadn't heard that name in years and only thought about her once in a great while as a passing thought. However hearing her name called out like that, made him freeze in his tracks and his blood drain from face. His blood chilled as he felt his heart pounding with the utterance of that name. He stood there as the world kept spinning all around him and people busy about avoiding colliding into him - as he stood like a boulder in the ground. How could this teen know that name and know that he too would recognize that name? Slowly Jacob body about faced and he rigidly made his way back down the steps, one-by-one looking astounded by that question's revelation. If that teen knew who Marla Townsend was and his relationship to her; then that could mean only one thing.
Jayden watched as if he were having an outer body experience. The man who he knew as his biological father turned white as a ghost from hearing the name of his mother. It was as if somehow Jayden had found the key to unlocking the door to a parallel universe- the world was somehow transformed into a different look and feel. He saw Mr. Ellis not as an estranged father who knew not the whereabouts or identity of his own son; but rather as a man having learned the knowledge that his son was always right there living side-by-side in his shadow.
Jacob had seen these kids a thousand times. He had pretty much watched these kids growing up right under his very own eyes. He never could have imagined that one of them was his long-lost and forgotten about son. He had admired their ambition and perseverance; and even from time to time envied their parents. How proud must they be to have teenage sons who knew the value of hard work, money and commitment being studious early in the morning to go to work and staying late finishing with it every day- year-after-year; come rain or sunshine the teens were out here serving the commuting traffic and earning their own way in life.