“Come on, let me take it off. I want to see where we are. It smells good, whatever it is.”
“See, I told you this was a good idea,” Benji says.
“My idea was good too,” David replies.
I turn my head his way, even though I can’t actually look at him. “I’m sure it was. Would I have been blindfolded for that one too, cause if not, I say let’s turn around and go to David’s choice right now.”
“Can’t you just play along?” Benji asks with a sigh.
“Fine, but if I fall over and break my nose again, you can explain to the coach how it happened.”
“Deal,” they both reply, and then I’m helped up three stairs and over a wooden deck of some kind. It creaks underfoot from age, and my mind is racing, trying to think of places with wooden entries. I realize quickly that I’m not very observant of my surroundings when I’m not deprived of one of my senses, because I can’t picture a single place with a wooden entry. My mind keeps going back to a pirate ship place our parents took us to as kids, and I’m ninety percent sure that place burned down before they died, so it’s definitely not there.
Thewooshof the automatic door doesn’t give anything away either, and while I can hear faint noises of shuffling feet and kitchen utensils, I still can’t pick it. I do get this odd feeling like I’m being watched, though, but I shake it off and let my brothers lead me deeper inside.
“Are you ready to see where we brought you?”
“I was ready in the parking lot,” I laugh.
In one quick move, they rip the fabric from my face, and I’m blinded by the warm lights—and then startled by the cheers of every person I know yelling, “Surprise!”
Benji and David jump in front of me.
“Happy birthday, Dad Bro,” they cheer.
I grab each by the shirt and pull them in close, hugging my arms as far around them as I can. It was easier when they were smaller; now I can barely get my arm around Benji’s shoulders.
“Thanks, boys, this is great.”
I start on a lap of the crowd to thank everyone for coming out and helping the boys keep this secret. I might have known they were up to something, but booking out my favorite pizza place and inviting every person I know was above expectations.
“Aunt Peggy, you didn’t have to make the trip just for me,” I say, giving her a soft squeeze. She’s about sixty now and as thin as a rake. I really wish she’d come and stay at the house; we’d be happy to help her with whatever she needs, but she insists she likes the home.
“I can’t imagine a better reason to visit than my favorite nephew’s birthday,” she replies, and a second later, Benji and David are right there.
“Wait, no way he is your favorite,” Benji complains. “I should be your favorite. I’m the one moving closer to you, remember?”
“You’re going to train for that sport of yours, what is it again?” She pretends to forget. Though none of us ever could; he’s beentalking about it ever since he first watched a video on socials. The day they called to invite him for tryouts was the best day he’s had since before Mom and Dad passed. He didn’t stop smiling for days, and he doubled his training both on the baseball pitch and in his dance and gymnastics classes.
He hugs her to his side. “I know you know it’s Banana Ball. You send me videos you come across all the time, AP. Besides, I’ll still come to visit lots,” he says.
David has his arms folded over his chest, a pout on his lips like a toddler being told no to a second helping of pie.
She reaches up and squeezes his cheek.
“Relax, you two, you’re all my favorites,” she says. David caves and gives her a hug, and I try not to laugh when she winks at me over his shoulder before he stands upright again.
“I’ll be over here with Tom. You go say hi to all your friends,” she says.
“Who’s Tom?” we ask.
“Just a friend of mine from home.”
“A friend or a . . . special friend?” Benji asks, and I punch him in the arm.
“Don’t ask that.”
Aunt Peggy shakes her head, and we watch her walk over to where an older gentleman sits in one of the booths. His dark gray hat, like the kind you’d see a mobster wear in old movies, is on the seat beside him, but he lifts it the second he sees her and moves it to the other side so she can sit there. It’s actually kind of sweet.
