Page 61 of Not on the Same Page

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CASEY

“Happy birthday, Robert.” I hand him a huge box as I walk through the door of our father’s house.

He takes it and beams at me from behind the package. “This might be the biggest one yet.”

I pull the corners of my mouth down, pretending to think. “I don’t know. I think last year’s was bigger.”

“No way,” Robert insists. “This one is heavier, too.”

Dad saunters into the front room, drying his hands on a towel. He throws the towel over his shoulder and claps me on the back. “Trying to show off with your big money from your hot-shot job, I see,” he jokes.

“Dad.” Robert rolls his eyes. “He’s not doing that. This one’s smaller than last year.”

Giving me an incredulous look, Dad huffs with mock exasperation. “They’re not paying you enough then if you can’t even outdo last year’s gift.”

“Which is it, old man?” I tease. “I’m either showing off or not spending enough. Can’t be both.”

Dad shrugs and motions me into the house. We follow him through the living room and out into the backyard where a table is laden with snacks, paper plates, napkins, and plastic utensils. Colorful balloons adorn the fence surrounding the deck, and I can smell Dad’s famous barbecue coming from the grill.

Over on one side of the yard, Robert’s roommates, Danny and Paul, are playing a game of bags. Danny—a man about Robert’s age with a dark, scruffy beard and short hair—shakes his hands excitedly at his sides while he waits for Robert to toss his bag. Paul, the oldest of the three at forty years old, smirks as he takes off his blue baseball cap and wipes some sweat off his brow, mussing his sandy hair in the process. When he notices me enter the backyard, he waves excitedly.

“Hey, Casey! Watch me sink this shot.”

Danny tips his face to the sky and groans. “Quit talking about it and do it already.”

Using an underhand toss, Paul throws the beanbag a touch too hard. It slides over the hole and into the grass.

“Next time, I’ll get it.” He sounds confident.

“I know you will,” I call back.

Robert plops down on one of the chairs and sets the gift-wrapped box between his feet on the wooden deck. Danny and Paul pause their game and wander over to see.

“What’s in it?” Danny asks. “It looks impressive.”

“Don’t know,” Robert responds, then looks at me. “Can I open it?”

“Yeah,” I say as if it’s obvious. “I mean, unless you want to wait until the end of your party.”

“No way,” he says as he excitedly starts tearing into the wrapping paper. Erick and Lisa, the two staff members who work closest with Robert and his roommates, stop their conversation and turn their attention to Robert.

As soon as he gets the paper off, he looks disappointed. Underneath is just a large, cardboard box. “Did you trick me again? You did that three years ago with those boxes that got smaller and smaller and I had to unwrap each one.”

I shake my head. “It’s no fun to play the same prank twice. This isn’t a trick, promise.”

“Come on, Robert,” Danny urges. “Open the box!”

Robert starts undoing the tape one piece at a time, and Danny starts to fidget like he’s about to jump in and rip the box open himself, but he doesn’t. Once Robert pulls open the top, his eyes light up and he gasps.

Unable to contain himself any longer, Danny leans over and peeks inside. “Oh, no way! This is so cool!” He reaches in and takes out one of the video game cartridges.

“This is exactly like the one we had when we were kids,” Robert says, his voice thick with emotion. He looks up at me. “Thank you, Casey.”

“Yeah, it’s vintage, so be careful with it.” I eye Danny as he drops the cartridge on the table and snags another, then another. He flashes me a sheepish grin and starts placing them more gently on the table.

“I’m going to dominate,” Paul says, his eyes growing wider with each game Danny pulls out of the box.