Oscar contemplated this before nodding to himself, like he found Keys’ answer satisfactory. He turned back to the screen, where the respawn countdown was ticking. “Mommy says I’m not little. She says I’m a big boy now.”
“You are very big,” Keys agreed.
“You’re bigger,” Oscar told him.
Keys couldn’t help but chuckle; Oscar said it like he was trying to boost Keys’ confidence. “Fair, but one day, you’ll be just as big. If not bigger.”
“I’ll be the biggest,” Oscar announced, puffing his chest out in pride.
“Okay,” Keys said with renewed focus. He scooted slightly closer to Oscar so he could see the boy’s hands on the controller. “Let’s go slower.” He pressed Play again. “Now, see this stick, on the left?”
Oscar looked down at his hands. “Uh huh.”
“That one moves your guy. Just left and right, like this.” He demonstrated on his own controller, walking his character in a small, direct line. “You don’t want to push it all the way. Just a little.”
But before he could even finish his statement, Oscar already pushed it forward all the way.
His character bolted sideways like it had been launched from a catapult, ricocheted off a bumper platform, and went flying upward in an arc that was, objectively, kind of impressive.Butthis time he did not commit character suicide.
“I wentup,” Oscar exclaimed, completely delighted.
“You did go up,” Keys agreed with a smile. “Can you come back down to the platform?”
“I don't know where down is.”
Keys showed him, gently encouraging him to “tilt, not shove”. After three more falls—one of which involved Oscar’s character bouncing off Keys’ character’s head in a way that made Oscar shriek with laughter—they made it to the first checkpoint. A small burst of fireworks erupted on screen. Oscar threw both hands up, controller and all.
Keys scrambled to catch the controller before it landed on Oscar’s head as the boy loudly shouted, “We won! We won!”
Handing him back the remote, Keys informed him, “We got to the checkpoint. Game’s not over yet.”
“There’s more?” Oscar’s eyes widened into giant saucers.
“This is only the first checkpoint on Level One, kid. There’s a lot more to go.”
Oscar lowered his arms and looked at the screen with a graveexpression. “Okay,” he said with far too much seriousness for someone of his ageandthe time of night. “Let’s do this.”
* * *
Hours later,andwaypast Oscar’s and Keys’ bedtimes, they reached Level Three. Keys ended up removing his character from the game. Oscar and he were now on the floor with Keys’ back against the base of the couch and Oscar stationed on his lap. They shared the controller with Keys doing most of the moving while Oscar did most of the jumping. This was not the intended design of the game, but the game did not know Oscar or the boy’s very strong feelings about the jump button. Specifically, he loved it. He pressed it constantly and completely unnecessarily. He even occasionally made his character do an unintentional flip.
“You don’t have to jump every time,” Keys mentioned casually when they were skipping more than running.
“I like jumping.”
Keys shook his head, his chest shaking with silent laughter. “Oh, I know. But we would certainly move faster if you kept your jumping skills to a minimum.”
When Oscar looked up at him from his place on Keys’ lap, Keys indicated the screen where Oscar’s blue character was at the zenith of a completely pointless leap over nothing, sailing through empty air. He came back down safely and immediately started jumping again.
But the unabashed joy on Oscar’s face made Keys feel guilty for having said anything at all. This wasn’t a challenge or a competition. What did it matter if Oscar’s character jumped his way through the entire game? He wasn’t jumping to be difficult; he was jumping because he genuinely loved it. And who was Keys to take away that joy from the little boy?
“You know what?” Keys said, dropping his thumbs from the joysticks. “You jump as much as you want.”
Oscar’s giggles rang through the living room. Keys had been around his club nieces and nephews before, had seen them accomplish various tasks and milestones. He’d certainly cheered them on and felt happy for them, but it was nothing like the sheer pride he felt growing in his chest as he watched the pure glee on Oscar’s face as he jumped his way through the third level of the game.
“Hey,” Oscar said up to him, not looking away from the screen.
“Yeah?”
