“Are you going to do this?” she asked.
“Yes, of course I am. I’ll even try to enjoy it.”
“That’s my boy, we’ll have fun. I promise, I’ll find a way to make it up to you.”
“Mom, it’s not necessary. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
“This one I will. You can count on it.”
*****
They arrived at the stadium early, bundled up for the cold weather. The sun had just dropped below the horizon, and the stadium lights were on. The plan was to slip out about fifteen minutes before halftime and use the locker room to get into the costume, then get back out to the field for the start of the halftime show.
Jason was freezing, despite the long underwear, wool pants, two sweaters and a down parka. They made their way to the home team sidelines and staked out a spot behind the bench.
“Shit!” he exclaimed, a cloud of frost billowing from his lips, “Are we going to be standing the whole time?” He stomped his feet in a futile effort to warm up.
“Yes, I don’t want to miss any of the game. I want to be right here when your brother breaks the touchdown scoring record.”
“But, we have to leave to put on the costume.”
“Well, I’ve changed our plans. We are going to put it on before the game, that way I won’t miss anything.”
“Mom!” he nearly shouted, his frosty breath engulfing her face, “I can’t stay bent over in that costume for the entire half.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll both put our feet into the costume and stand up through the zipper opening. I added some shoulder straps to hold the costume up while we stand in it.”
“We’ll freeze! Our long johns won’t be enough keep us warm without the costume covering us.”
“I’ve got this figured out. We’ll put our parkas on over our long johns and we’ll have our caps and gloves. The costume will keep our lower bodies warm. We’ll be just fine.”
“I don’t know Mom, this is crazy. Are the cheerleaders even going to perform at halftime?”
“It doesn’t matter. We’ll be out there, even if nobody else is.”
She took him by the arm and headed to the locker room, carrying the bulky costume.
*****
They took up their position behind the bench just in time for the opening kickoff. It anything, the temperature was dropping and Jason hopped around, trying to stay warm. Getting into the buffalo costume, they found that their bulky parkas interfered with the shoulder straps, so they had to settle for wearing two layers of wool sweaters.
“Mom, I’m going to freeze,” he said, his hot breath producing another cloud of ice crystals.
“Knock it off,” she replied, tired of hearing him whine, “Toughen up, your brother is out on the field wearing less than you have on.”
Wanting to avoid another rebuke, he said, “Okay, but just help me keep warm, that’s all I want.”
“Fine,” she said, slightly annoyed, “put your arms around me and snuggle up. Maybe that will help.”
He wrapped his arms around her just as a roar went up from the home team crowd. Justin had completed a twenty-yard strike over the middle and the receiver broke two tackles to make it into the end zone. She jumped up and down and cheered for her son. Only one more score to tie the school record, and they were still in the first quarter. It was going to happen!