Mandel felt he ought at least to call Danny to ask what was going on. His father's name (Gustavo Montoya) was in the book. He left messages for him with Danny's mother twice, and only a week or so later did Danny call back.

"Yo, Jerry," he said. "Got your message. What's up?"

"Nothing much. What's up with you?"

"It's complicated," he said. "I'm getting married. Two weeks from next Saturday. Claire's pregnant." 

Mandel didn't know what to say. Congratulations, maybe? God, how terrible, maybe? 

He felt a combination of pity for Danny's situation and also a touch of admiration for his entering adulthood so calmly. Mandel asked Danny if he were planning on going back to school anywhere else.

"Don't think so," Danny said. "Nothing much there for me. School's not my best game. Don't think I'll miss it much. I've got a job. I'm working at Claire's Uncle Matt's grocery right now, till something better turns up. Gotta run. Stay in touch, OK?"

They didn't stay in touch. Once married and working for a living, Danny, Mandel assumed, must have quit tennis, because his name wasn't any longer in the papers in connection with local tennis tournaments that spring and summer or any time thereafter. 

Danny slipped prematurely into an adult world and Mandel was allowed to remain a boy for another five or six years, still searching for the perfect backhand, which he never found. He never found out what became of Danny and, though he may have had a stray thought or two about him over the years, he otherwise disappeared from his mind, until 25 or so minutes ago when he saw him, a salesman, at Home Depot. 

Mandel arrives at Target's before Danny. Danny comes over; under the orange Home Depot apron he has shed, he had on a pair of khakis and a blue polo shirt. His hair, unlike Mandel's, is still dark but thin in front. Mandel searches for the face of the boy in the man, but has difficulty finding it. Danny, he notes, seems to be doing the same to him. 

"Can I get you a coffee, a hot dog, or something?" Danny asks. 

"A coffee will be great," Mandel says. 

"Maybe I'll have just a coffee, too," Danny says, touching his paunch.