Aug. 23, 1941, Massachusetts
Phineas Bogg took a hard tackle from Jack and fell to the ground, dropping the football and pushing up the sleeves on his blue-checked flannel shirt. He heard Jeffrey laughing at him, and teasingly raised a fist at the boy standing not far off and running interference for the other "team."
Bogg smiled. It was a wonderful sound to hear, Jeff laughing. It was almost impossible to believe that six months ago, he was so eager to drop the child off at Voyager Headquarters for reassignment to someone, really anyone, who had an interest in acting as a trainer. But one mission had led to the next, and he'd enjoyed getting to know this child, brilliant and brave but also very broken by the tragedy in his past. Jeffrey was so confident one minute and yet so clearly scared to death he'd be abandoned the next. Bogg thought Jeff was becoming surer of his situation and believed that he could depend on his mentor to be there.
"And I intend to be. Who knew?" Bogg thought as he picked himself up from the ground and got back to the game. They really should be leaving, but Bogg wanted Jeff to enjoy just a bit of time to do ordinary kid things. OK, well, maybe joining the Kennedy clan for one of their famed Hyannis Port football games wasn't exactly ordinary. The job jaded you to that sort of thing, Bogg acknowledged, but it was closer than most of what they did.
Jeffrey was clearly enjoying himself, and was easily outrunning the 9-year-old Ted. The kid wasn't so lucky with Bobby, though, and yelled in frustration as the teen took what had seemed to be a likely catch away from him.
"See how it feels!" Bogg yelled jokingly to Jeff before cheering on his teammate. "Go, Bobby!"
Jeff tried to give his mentor a convincing glare but ended up laughing himself.
The game wrapped up, and young Ted was clearly thrilled to be on the winning team in this very competitive family. He gave Bogg a grin and ran back toward the house.
It was still a green light. Jack Kennedy had been dissuaded from eloping before his naval assignment began the next month, leaving himself free to meet and marry the storied Jacqueline Bouvier years later.
Bogg looked at the family, thinking of the unimaginable tragedies to come and was almost overwhelmed for a moment. But for now, it was just a beautiful late summer day enjoyed by family and friends.
"Sometimes," Bogg thought, "you just have to grab those and not worry about the rest."
He smiled as Jeff came up to him. The kid was slightly sunburned and brushing the dirt from his clothing. The sparkle in his eyes made Bogg very glad he'd decided to extend the assignment just a little.
"That was great!" the boy said "Even if my team did lose."
"Points for good sportsmanship, kid," Bogg said. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah," Jeff said setting his jaw into his more serious "Voyager" look. It was all Bogg could do not to laugh again, but he was also proud of the sincere dedication the kid showed to the job.