Grant laughed. “Cheese?” he suggested.
“No way?” Wally’s ears perked up eagerly.
“Is it Istanbul?” David asked.
Grant tapped Hailey’s leg, and she moved, so he could stand up. “It is not,” Grant replied factually. “However, as much as Dad would love for me to get into how, why and when that changed, I’m not in the mood.”
“You have always been moodier than a woman, Grant,” Rachel declared.
“Come get hot chocolate!” Nora called. “Who wants marshmallows?”
Suddenly the living room cleared, leaving only Randy and Jack sitting on opposite sides of the room. “It’s a defense mechanism,” Jack blurted.
“Oh is that so?” Randy nodded. “A defense against what? I didn’t realize you recognized any defenses other than zone and man to man, Jack.”
Jack ignored the insinuation and made his point. “I’m just saying…you can only push any kid so far before he starts pushing back, and that one pushes hard.”
“I don’t need any help handling my son, thank you,” Randy said sternly. “You’ve got two girls; how would you know the first thing about raising boys?”
Grant returned from the bedroom with a basketball in hand. “Coach, you up for a quick game?”
“Sure thing, Buddy, let me grab my jacket!” Jack said as he stood.
In the kitchen, Nora’s mind drifted back to a trip they had taken when Grant was about nine years old. She still remembered the red, handheld video game that he hadn’t put down since he had gotten it. Grant was playing his game, minding his own business, but there was something about being behind the wheel of a car for hours at a time that gave Randy an unquenchable urge to play everybody’s favorite game that was nobody’s favorite game: Name that Capital City. This particular trip Randy fired questions at Grant who answered them in a bored monotone without ever looking up from his game.
“What’s the capital of New York?”
“Albany.”
“How about Oklahoma?”
“Oklahoma City…duh.”
“New Hampshire?”
“Concord.”
“Alaska?”
“Juneau.” And then in an exhaled exclamation, “Yes! Mom, I made it to level ten!”
“California?” Randy changed lanes.
“In level ten you can…”
“I asked you a question, Soldier!”
“Huh?”
“Sir!” Randy barked.
“Sir?” Grant gulped.
“What is the capital of California?”
“I don’t want to play anymore,” came the bold reply.
“Answer me, or I’ll take that silly game of yours and toss it out the window,” Randy insisted.
Grant crossed his arms then, ready to play hardball. Nora recalled with an uncontrollable grin how Grant named practically every city in the state of California, but wouldn’t have said Sacramento if Randy had pulled off the side of the road and tried to beat it out of him.
With one hand on the wheel, Randy reached into the backseat and snatched Grant’s game with a quickness that made both she and Grant jump. Randy rolled down the window, so that the wind beat wildly inside the car. Nora turned to Grant. “Answer your father,” her eyes begged, but, somewhere in her face, she was sure Grant saw, “Mama will buy you another game if your crazy daddy chunks this harmless, twelve dollar and fifty-nine cent toy to the birds.”
“Santa Barbara,” Grant smiled with the purposeful grin that, of all of Nora’s kids, only he could have produced. Then he watched from the backseat as his favorite game tumbled into hundreds of pieces along a forgotten Kansas highway.
As Nora’s memory faded everyone had drifted back to the living room. The sound of Christmas carols playing softly on the radio was overridden by conversation, sporadic giggling, and, occasionally, by the sound of the whistle on the toy train which Leah watched go round and round the track.
Randy eyed the room, but he wasn’t seeing the lights or hearing the train whistle. All he could hear was the echo of Grant’s laughter as Jack Nelson pulled his baseball cap down over his eyes. He found himself wondering if Grant had ever laughed like that for him. Randy stared at Grant; he was dribbling an imaginary basketball between his legs, reenacting something off television. Jack said something to Grant, patted his shoulder, and they both laughed.
Nora sat on the arm of the couch next to Randy.
“Grant and Jack get along really well don’t they?” Randy sighed.
“Aren’t you thankful for that?” Nora replied. “I sure have been”
“Of course, Nora,” Randy barked, “I’m thrilled my son finally found the father he has always wanted!”
“Randy,” Nora sighed. “Don’t be ridiculous! You are Grant’s daddy, and he loves you! Jack and Grant spend a lot of time together; they’ve gotten close…Jack’s never had a son, so I think…”
