Cam Callaghan gripped the edge of the table firmly as he stood on his tiptoes to get the best possible view of the man who sat just a few inches away. His eyes were wide, dilated with anticipation and begging to exchange a glance with the man who, currently, was occupied chatting with the woman standing in front of him. Cam began to bounce slightly, counting the seconds with the impatient up and down motion of his legs. The woman moved, allowing Cam, still with a firm grip on the table, to slide over. The man sitting at the table, a young man of about 21, clean shaven with short light brown hair and dressed smartly in a blue button down shirt, looked down, but just before his eye’s met Cam’s, there was a slam on the table next to Cam’s fingers. Cam nearly jumped, but didn’t make a sound, not wanting to act afraid in front of this man whom he admired. However, he couldn’t help but lose his focus and catch a glimpse of the person who had interrupted him.
Cam was surprised to find that the stranger was a boy about his own age. He was a similar height, just slightly taller than he, just barely able to see over the table without standing on tiptoes. He smashed his hands on the table again and leapt forward over the corner, suspended in midair as he hung on to the table’s edge and let his feet dangle behind him. He looked up at Cam’s hero with a wide, almost crazed toothy smile, and let out a small laugh. He was dressed, Cam noticed, in the same shirt as he was, a small red shirt reading “Indiana University Basketball,” and he had messy blond hair that flew up in more places the longer he swung from the table.
“Hi!” the blond with the large grin began overenthusiastically, focusing his big brown eyes on the older man behind the table.
“Hi there,” the brown hair man replied with a wide smile of his own, bending down to meet the boy closer to eye level. Cam folded his arms across his chest, his eyes sinking away from the table and towards the group, until looking up again and finally settling on the brash blond boy in front of him.
“Hey!” Cam interjected, though he was barely audible. Despite the quite tone, however, he caught the boy’s attention. The wide eyes turned on him, losing all their excitement as they focused on the source of the noise with a harsh stare. “It was my turn,” Cam continued with a simple statement. There was no anger in his voice, and the calm tone seemed to make the blond boy almost relent. However, after a split second’s pause, he began his assent onto the table top again, until an arm yanked him away, pulling him further back in line.
“Kyle!” came a woman’s voice angrily. “You have to wait your turn.” Kyle pouted, and tried to pull his arm out of the woman’s grip, but found himself unable to. He looked towards Cam with pleading eyes, and Cam, for a moment looked back. Then, he remembered where he was.
Cam looked back up, his eyes once again bright and the expression on his face awe-inspired.
“And how are you today?” the man in the chair behind asked, looking down at the boy on tiptoes.
“Good,” Cam replied eagerly with a big smile that seemed to sink inward, as though his nerves and his excitement were fighting for control.
“That’s good,” the man replied with a big smile of his own. “Do you go to the games?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Cam replied nodding his head yes. “Mommy and daddy and I go to every game.” He stressed the words every game, making sure the man realized what an accomplishment it was.
“Wow!” the man sounded impressed. “That’s awesome buddy!” he reached out his hand down below the table for a high-five. Cam smiled widely and slapped the hand in front of them with a burst of energy. “Well enjoy the rest of the night,” he smiled as he pulled his hand back behind the table. “What’s your name again?”
“Cameron,” Cam replied his legs once again shifting in a near-bounce.
“Well you enjoy everything, ok, Cameron?” the man smiled and waved before he looked behind Cam and took a poster from the hand of the woman whose other hand was tightly gripping the young blond boy’s arm.
When he had exited the line, Cam heard the pitter-patter of small footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw the blond boy, who once again flashed his toothy smile.
“Hi!” he said excitedly, extending his hand. “I’m Kyle.”
“I’m Cameron,” Cam replied, returning the handshake.
“That was really cool, wasn’t it!” Kyle exclaimed.
“Yeah!” Cam nodded. “I got to meet my favorite player.”
“Whose your favorite player?” Kyle asked. “I like Tom and Jordan,” he said quickly, answering his own question.
“Me too!” Cam said, his excitement causing his high pitched voice to become almost shrill.
“Were you at the Michigan game?” Kyle asked, continuing to direct the conversation as the two boys started to wander away from the adults.
“Yeah,” Cam replied. “That was fun, it was sooo close.”
“Yeah,” Kyle agreed, “I was totally scared.” He laughed. Cam laughed back.
“Kyle, there you are!” called a worried voice after several more minutes of similar conversation had passed between the two boys. “Don’t you wander off like that!” She stopped her reprimands suddenly, however, noticing the other boy. “Is this your friend?” she asked, much more sweetly.
“Yeah,” Kyle smiled. “This is Cameron. He likes basketball too.”
“That’s very nice,” the woman, presumably his mother, continued. “But we need to go eat, honey.”
“Mommy, we should invite him over to play!” Kyle whined. He turned to Cam. “We have a full sized court in our backyard!” Cam’s eyes widened once again.
“Maybe,” his mom replied. “Nice meet you Cameron,” she said, bending down towards her son’s new friend—he seemed to make new friends everywhere he went. “You should go find your parents, ok? They’re probably worried about you.”
Cam nodded slowly, knowing that Kyle’s mom was right. But he couldn’t leave as he watched his new friend being led away with a sad look on his face. As Kyle disappeared from view, Cam decided he should go find his parents after all. As he walked, he wondered if he’d ever meet Kyle again. He tried to convince himself he would, as kids do, but a small part of his mind was already mature enough to see how unlikely that was.
That night when he got home, Cam looked at all the things his parents had gotten signed as he enthusiastically told him all his favorite parts of the night. He ran through his interactions with all the players, the awards, what he remembered of the speeches, and the friend he had made. Suddenly, he paused, the smile drifting off his face for a moment, as he thought of the conversation that had been cut sort.
“Maybe you’ll see him next year at a game?” Cam’s mom reassured her son, putting an arm around him, not needed the young boy to say another word to judge how he was feeling.
However, a year passed, and Cam forgot about his friend from the awards ceremony. Indeed, when, years later, in sixth grade, he took his seat in science class next to a boy with messy dark blond hair and a mischievous smile named Kyle Hodges, he was quite sure he had never seen his counterpart in his life. Kyle gave no indication that they had met before either.
“Hi,” the boy at the seat next to him said, extending his hand. “I’m Kyle. Kyle Hodges.”
“Cameron Callaghan,” Cam replied, and shook Kyle’s hand.
Kyle nodded, and turned away, flipping aimlessly through his science textbook before pulling out a binder and flopping it on the table. Cam noticed the book out of the corner of his eye for a moment, before doing a double-take, and turning back quickly.
“That picture in the front cover,” he said, pointing. “Is that…Jordan Smith?”
“Yeah,” Kyle nodded. “Surprised you recognized him. He played when we were little,” he laughed.
“I met him when we were little,” Cam replied. He and Tom were my favorite players.”
Kyle smiled. “No kidding, mine too.”
Cam nodded. Kyle nodded. Then, the two boys turned away, unsure what else to say. They waited in silence, strangers to one another. Yet every so often their eyes would tear a glance towards that binder as they tried desperately and unsuccessfully to uncover long since forgotten memories, only preserved by memorabilia and photographs.
