“What?”
“Darius the Great. Or Darioush. You were named after him. Right?”
I was amazed that Cyprian Cusumano, Soulless Minion of Orthodoxy (maybe), had made that connection.
I was amazed he knew the proper pronunciation.
I was amazed he never once tried to make a joke about it.
“Yeah. I mean, I was named after him, but I’m pretty sure we’re not related.”
“Well, it’s still cool.” Chip adjusted the rubber band holding his hair in place. “Hey. Glad you’re back, Darius.”
“Um. Thanks.”
“Cool. See you.”
“Yeah. See you.”
Chip followed me the first mile, laughing about the awkwardness of saying good-bye and then not actually parting ways, until he turned right at the Safeway and I kept going straight.
I didn’t know what to make of his sudden and inexplicable change in attitude.
Maybe he was right, and I was different somehow.
Maybe I had brought a little bit of Darioush the Great back with me.
I would have to ask Sohrab what he thought.
He and I emailed every day.
Well, it was more like every other day, given the temporal differential involved in waiting for a reply. Sohrab lived half a day into the future.
This is why I hate time travel.
That night, we ate carry-out from the sushi restaurant around the corner from Dad’s office. And then we watched “Family,” which is the episode where Captain Picard goes home to France to visit his family and recover from being assimilated by the Borg.
It was his first time seeing his family in years.
“Is it just me, or is this really weird timing?”
Dad laughed.
“Not just you.”
Mom sat down on my other side during the opening credits. Dad and I both turned to stare at her.
“What? I like this episode. It’s all on the farm.”
“Vineyard,” Dad said.
Mom reached across me to swat at Dad’s chest.
“Whatever.”
Dad caught Mom’s hand and kissed her on the palm, which made her laugh.
Mom spent the whole show running her fingers through my hair. It was nice, sitting there sandwiched between her and Dad.
