The Trade by JT Kalnay Page A

But no,” he answered.

    "Wonder how long it’ll take him to forget
her?" the one said. Rock beat scissors, and rock went to sleep for
the first half of the shift.

    The rest of the week went quickly for Jay.
Working and jogging and watching baseball on the tube waiting for
Maria to call. She never did. Friday night he went to the happy
hour with the gang. He kept looking for Maria in the crowd but
didn't see her. He left early, complaining of a cold. Truth be told
he was lonely and the crowd and noise only made it worse. He didn't
want any more one nighters. When Jay got back to his apartment he
checked his answering machine. There was a rambling message from
his mother. Once again she was cut off mid word. She'd never
realized that she only had a minute to leave her message. Jay
picked up the phone to call her back.
    "Hi mom.”
    "Hi.”
    "How you doin'?" he asked.
    "Okay,” she answered. "Did you get my
message?" she asked.
    "Part of it. Something must be wrong with my
machine,” he lied. After trying to explain it to her three times,
he'd given up. Thank God you can't burn down the house with a
microwave , he thought. He loved her, but his mother was
dangerous around the new appliances of the eighties and
nineties.
    "So you've got some news for me?" he asked,
expecting the latest cousin news or gossip from the coffee
stop.
    "Yes baby. A girl. A very nice girl I might
add, phoned looking for you. Her name was, I wrote it down here, it
was Tonia Taggert and she said something about baseball, I'm not
sure what.” Jay's heart skipped a beat. Tonia Taggert had
called?
    He couldn't believe it. He couldn’t believe
she’d kept the number he’d slipped into her hand on their only
date.
    "Did she leave a number?" he asked.
    "No but she said she'd try you in New York
City. I gave her your number, I hope that's alright?" she asked.
Jay was both pleased and upset. Ecstatic that Tonia Taggert had
called but angry that his mother had given out his number. What
if I had taken the CIA job, he wondered.
    They chit chatted some more and then said
their good-byes. Jay danced around the room in his home run trot,
giving high fives to all his imaginary teammates. He settled in to
wait by the phone, for Tonia, not for Maria. Hours later she still
hadn't called and he drifted off to sleep on the couch after the
last west coast game on ESPN ended.

    In Jay's dream the phone was ringing.
    "Hello,” Jay mumbled in response to the
ringing phone. It rang again. "Hello?" he said louder. The next
ring pulled him awake. His back hurt from sleeping on the couch and
the TV was babbling some much too energetic aerobics. He picked up
the phone.
    "Hello?" Jay said.
    "Hi. Jay?”
    "Yeah,” he answered, not recognizing the
voice.
    "Hi. It's Tonia. Tonia Taggert. Remember?”
Jay's eyes flew open wide. The morning light was way too bright for
his eyes. Jay squinted in pain. It's her. It's really her ,
Jay thought. He sat up straight on the couch, his back cracking and
popping with the sudden movement.
    "Tonia. Tonia from the baseball game?" he
asked. Jay was trying to sound nonchalant. Though his heart was
racing and his mind was flying back to his few joyous hours with
her, he struggled to control his voice, to not sound too anxious,
too urgent. He didn't want to frighten her away.
    "Yes silly. Tonia from the baseball game,”
she answered.
    "So. What's up?" Jay asked.
    "Well. I got your number from your mom, what
a sweetheart, and I thought I'd give you a call. See if you wanted
to catch a ball game, go for a run, or something?"
    "That sounds good,” he answered. "Did you
have a particular game in mind or were you just asking in general?”
There was a hint of studied indifference in his voice.
    "Well,” there was a pause, "there's a game
tonight, if you're not doing anything?" she ventured. Jay couldn't
believe it. Not a word from the gorgeous woman in months. Not a
card, letter, or call, and now she wanted to go out with him. What
happened to