“Gee whiz. You are so polite!” He was possessed!Who is this person?
They meandered over to the living room. Hobie sat on the ottoman directly across from Cameron while Walker made them coffee. His blinking stare intimidated Cameron.
“So, Hobie. I heard your birthday party was tons of fun!”
Hobie nodded.
“Did you eat cake?”
Hobie nodded again.
“What kind of cake did you have?”
“Vanilla.”
“And did you get to blow out the candles?”
Hobie nodded. Cameron imagined this was worse than Chinese water torture. He thought kids were supposed to be nonstop talkers. Why wasn’t this kid saying the darndest things?
“What grade are you in?”
“Kindergarten.”
“Very cool.” Kindergarten was a blur to Cameron. There may have been the alphabet on the wall. “Can you read?”
“A little.”
“Oh. Can you recite the alphabet?”
“Yes.” Hobie didn’t say anything. Though he technically answered Cameron’s question.
“That’s great! The alphabet is wonderful! And so is reading!” He couldn’t stop exclaiming every freaking thing he said. Even Hobie was finding it a bit much.
“You have a really cool racecar bed.”
From the mirror above Hobie, Cameron watched Walker’s head jolt up from the coffeemaker. His eyes bulged.
“You were in my room?”
“I…no…”
Hobie leaped up. “Dad! Why did you let him in my room? He’s a stranger?”
Cameron was saying every curse word in the book to himself.
“He saw it from the hallway when I went to get something. He didn’t go inside.”
“That’s an invasion of privacy!” Hobie said with a stomping of the feet.
Cameron wondered how he knew what any of those words meant.
“Hobert James Reed. Do not stomp your feet.”
Hobie jumped over Cameron’s feet and ran down the hall. Cameron was five seconds away from the fetal position.Fuck. Fuck again. Never enough fucks.He swiveled his head to Walker, who closed his eyes and listened.
“I’m so sorry!” Cameron whispered.
Walker waved it off. He held up three fingers.
