OCR Text |
Show son for twenty years by working as a cook for a threshing crew. Then one day, s t i l l in uniform, Toby the middle-aged Marine would catch a Superbowl Championship in an airport lounge. Up there on the screen would be their son, the one with incredible speed and great hands. Toby would never suspect i t was his boy until a drunk on the stool next to his would nudge him and say, "Hey, that kid on the screen is your s p i t t i n ' image, Buddy'." Toby would contact the N.F.L. and t e ll his sob story to any reporter who would l i s t e n , but the boy would always remain loyal to his self-sacrificing mother. Vanda loved the thought. She made a l a s t tour of the closets, then got on a bus and made the two-hundred mile t r i p to the farm. She was relieved her dad had gone to Texas to a bull sale, so there would be only the Gnichts to t e l l her story to. Angela Gnicht, standing over the stove, hugged her and brushed the tears from her cheeks, saying, "Poor l i t t l e Vanda." Her name came out "Fonda" in Angela's thick I t a l i a n accent. Mr. Gnicht was Swiss, so Joe spoke both German and I t a l i a n . Vanda wondered about Joe as she hugged his mother. He knew she was pregnant and that she had l e f t her husband. Most likely, when he saw how enormous she was, he'd swear a few times and cross himself. She had f i r s t seen Joe Gnicht when she was seven years old and he was ten. "Here's the l i t t l e immigrant boy," her father had said, and |