When I arrived bae after a few minutes of walking, I found everyone, even the adult men, sitting at the table with grim expressions.

  The younger ones, in particur, were rigidly in their pces. Gabe and Sheldohe least affected by whatever had happened in my absence. One was reading a ic book, while the other was gazing into space with a calm smile.

  "PJ," Mom said, smiling cheerfully, "you're here. What's up with Dewey's family?" she tinued with i.

  "His mother told me they'd be delighted to e. I gave them the address, and they said they would follow behind me," I expio the now strangely cheerful woman.

  "Good, good" she nodded slowly. "We're just waiting for them to e to have lunch," she tinued, beaming at Bob, who meically nodded along with the other two present fathers.

  As I took a seat between Gabe and little Dewey, my brother leaned in and whispered, "Mom went a little crazy when you weren't here," before slowly, even more slowly than he had approached, retreating to his inal position to tinue reading his ic with his bapletely straight.

  Looking around the table, I could see that the majority were unfortably seated, f smiles.

  "So?" suddenly Geie whispered, leaning over Dewey to speak with a suggestively wide smile.

  "What?" I asked, intrigued by my strange friend.

  "Oh, you know, your date with Regina," he said, even more suggestively, pursing his lips and exaggerating a disgusted sound as he hugged himself.

  "Ew," my younger brother said with disgust, still with his ic book open but paying special attention to our versation.

  In a small bout of embarrassment, as my silly friend was drawing the attention of the adults oher side of the table, I lightly tapped Geie's side to get him to stop his annoying mime.

  "e on, we're friends. Tell me what happened," Geie tinued after rec from the rib nudge.

  Shaking my head i, I began to tell Geie, still over the big-eared boy's head, how the date went.

  "So, you just talked?" he asked incredulously after I expihe more mundane parts of the date, skipping over the parts about Sarah and the end of the date.

  "Well, yeah, more or less," I said, trying to downpy the significe of the date. A moment ter, Mom stood up excitedly, "They've arrived," she said, smiling and pointing to the end of the garden.

  At a small shabby truck parked in front of our house, a momehree more children and two adults, presumably their parents, emerged.

  As the new family approached, the adults got up from the table to greet the newers.

  "Do we have to get up too?" Gabe asked, frowning as he watched the adults introdug themselves.

  "No, Gabe," I assured him as I stood up. "But if you don't want Mom to get mad, I suggest you do," I joked with the child as I ruffled his hair.

  "Those are my brothers," Dewey suddenly poio the kids a few steps away from us.

  The older boy from the new family, hearing Dewey, furrowed his brow as he approached the table.

  When he was an arm's length away from Dewey, the older boy began to press the little boy's head. "Mom scolded us because of you," he said, obviously annoyed, ign the unfortable sounds the little boy made.

  Despite being older than Dewey, Gabe, or Sheldon, the new boy seemed even smaller from my perspective. He didn't appear much older than Teddy, possibly around thirteen or twelve.

  Taking his forearm and easily separating it from the little boy's head, I quickly took his hand and gave it a quick shake. "Hey, o meet you, I'm PJ Dun," I quickly said to the boy, who hadn't seemed to notice my preseil that moment. Even though he robably a few years youhan me, my head towered over his several times, making him lift his head to see my face.

  "Francis," he quickly replied, avoiding my gaze and trying to get his hand basuccessfully.

  Pulling the boy by the hand, causing him to slightly lose his ban his feet, I leaned down to be at eye level with him. "o meet you, Francis," I said with a big smile. "How about you sit o my friend Geie over there?" I tinued, nodding my head toward my friend, who, uanding his role, smiled threateningly at Francis, or at least attempted to. "Burgers will be ready in a moment," I tinued, capturing his attention again with a pat on the boy's shoulder aing go of his hand to push him gently to the other side of Geie.

  "And who are you two?" I also smiled at the other two boys who came with Francis.

  "Hi, my name is Reese, o meet you, sir," said the taller of the two, raising his hand with a smile that for some reason didn't feel natural in the child.

  Shaking the boy's hand, I waited for the other to introduce himself.

  "Mal," he said with a small friendly smile, but still unfortable.

  "Well, Reese, Mal, o meet you," I said, smiling at the boys. "This is Gabe, my brother," I said, pointing to Gabe, who, still in his pce at the table, returhe greeting by nodding his head.

  "On that side of the table are Missy, Chi Boy, Teddy, and..." I tinued, pointing at each child until I reached the little girl.

  "She's Bobbi Sparks, and I'm Sheldon Cooper," Sheldon intervened.

  "That's right, well, in case you didn't hear me a moment ago when I was talking to your brother, I'm PJ Dun," I told the two boys.

  The taller one quickly adapted, sitting in a free space at the table and starting to talk a acquainted with Gabe, while the shorter oill seemed somewhat unfortable.

  The four siblings were very different from each other. The eldest, Francis, quickly ignored ahat Geie might have instilled, sittio my friend and with him the both of them pletely enthralled by my sister, who simply ighem, eained by pying with Missy and the little girl I now knew as Bobbi.

  The you one was pletely calm, sitting with his arms at his sides, pletely undisturbed by what was happening around him, engrossed in his own world smiling and slowly shaking his head as if he could hear something that the others couldn't.

  Reese and Mal were also different from each other, but surely, due to their smaller age gap, they had simir topics to discuss with Gabe.

  "PJ, e here," I suddenly heard Bob shout from the grill, where again all the adult men were waiting.

  Leaving my pce at the table, I approached.

  "What's up?" I asked, smiling at the new man there."I was talking with Hal about a job for you, I reended you because you are quite responsible" Bob said, obviously proud, puffing out his chest.

  Intrigued, I looked at the now known Mr. Hal, who was smiling oddly with a beer in his hand. "Hal Wilkerson," the man said, stretg his hand for a shake. "o meet you, Mr. Wilkerson. I'm PJ Dun," I quickly responded, shaking his hand.

  "Your dad was tellihat you were looking for a job," the man said, leaning in a bit.

  "Yes, I have a lot of extracurricur activities, but I usually have weekends free," I said, trying to be as friendly as possible.

  "It's very hard to find capable babysitters," the man said, pausing to think for a moment. "So maybe you'd like to babysit on some weekends," he said, a little nervously.

  "Sure, that wouldn't be a problem," I said to the man, who, for some strange reason, seemed relieved.

  "I'd eie," Mr. Cooper, who was also sipping his beer with one hand on his back, said, "but, well," he said, a bit defeated, refog on the grill.

  "You could also look after my kids," the other ma said, "Herschel Sparks," he tinued quickly introdug himself, "one night a week to spend with our dies, to keep the fme alive," he said, shaking his head with a big smile.

  Mr. Cooper and Bob immediately ughed in agreement with Mr. Sparks, while Mr. Wilkerson took a few seds, putting on an obvious fake ugh, trying to imitate the other men.

  Seemingly ign my presehe men began to talk about other things among themselves. Slowly fading from their fields of vision, I returo my seat at the table.

  "Not true," I heard Sheldon say, annoyed.

  "It is true," Mal said, supported by Gabe and Reese.

  "What's going on?" I asked as I sat down.

  "PJ, these," Sheldon said, pointing at the kids in front of him, searg for the word to defihem, "tricksters," he finally said, "are saying that Stephen Hawking came to the elementary school to give a lecture," he tinued, offended.

  "It's true, he talked to us about a heory that tradicts his own bck hole theory, only we 't discuss it because we signed a Non-disclreement," Mal quickly said.

  "So you're already breaking one of the agreements by telling me," Sheldoed haughtily.

  "No, one of the tract cuses specified the ability to talk about Dr. Hawking's lecture, but not its tent," Mal quickly tered.

  Feeling ered, Sheldon didn't know what to do, seeing the other kids' sinister smiles, I couldn't help but let out a small ugh, catg the attention of the little genius boy.

  "PJ," Sheldon said hopefully, "it's not true, right?" the boy asked from the other side of the table, looking ed.

  Seeing the boy's face, I couldn't help it as I shook my head, causing the boy to celebrate and the other kids to look at me in disappoi. "Well, at least I don't think so, Sheldon. I don't follow the career of Stephen Hawking," I said, making the cheerful boy lose his smile. "What are the ces that such a well-known stist would e to Medford? Surely not zero," I tinued as I picked up a bottle of ketchup from the table and read its bel.

  Sheldon lost his smile, furrowing his brow as he stood up. "My mom will surely know, she has es with the city's pastor," the boy said as he quickly left with his mother, making the other kids ugh.

  Looking at Gabe with a fake expression of disappoi, I tried hard to hold back my ughter.

  "Oh, e on, PJ, it's a funny joke," Gabe said wheiced my gaze.

  "Yes, that was fun. I 't believe I fell for it, the current top expo of theoretical physics here in Medford," Mal said ironically, also ughing.

  Mal was strange, he spoke unusually well for a boy his age, and he knew about stists that only Sheldon and I knew.

  Seeing the boy, who had lost all inhibitions while ughing, I wao do a quick test. Still holding the ent bottle, I preteo read it more closely, "it has thirty-seven grams of sugar per one hundred grams serving," I said, pg the sugar in front of me, loudly drawing the attention of the other kids at the table. "I wonder how much sugar is in this five hundred and sixty-seven grams bottle," I said, pretending it was an insequential question, paying attention to the little boy who seemed puzzled, furrowing his brow like all the other kids at the table before tinuing with their versation. Seems he doesn't know.

  A few moments ter, Sheldouro the table with his head held high, sn with sarcasm.

  When the burgers were ready, the game had started, Bob and Mr. Cooper had pulled the television from our living room with extensions to watch the game.

  The Wilkerson family seemed to be the least ied in sports, along with the mothers and the chi boy.

  When the game ended much ter, everyone had fiheir burgers, the children who had been sitting for a long time seemed to have accumuted a lot of energy, especially active in their seats, talking and ughing among themselves.

  "Do you want to py with the ball a bit?" I asked the eic children, receivied affirmations as they quickly got up, including Francis, who was forcibly lifted by Geie, preventing the younger betting too close to Teddy.

  Smiling at the present mothers, I slowly walked behind the excited children who followed Gabe, running for the ball.

  Mal, who was the st to stand up, calmly walked by my side. "Two hundred nine poiy-six grams," he said quietly, taking me by surprise before running after the other children.

  I k.

  Together with the Wilkerson children, Geie, and the chi boy, we pyed a few pys, throwing the ball and trying to stop whoever was to receive the ball at that moment.

  The day tinued until the sky turned bck. The Wilkersohe first to leave on Mrs. Wilkerson's orders, not giving any room for debate. It seemed the children had fun as they grumbled, following their mother into the shabbily maintained van, the woman had her hands pressed on Dewey's shoulders as she made the boy say goodbye and thank you for the hospitality.

  They were followed by the Sparks, who, needing to che their chis, walked to their house oher side of the Cooper family.

  Mrs. Cooper helped M in the necessary things, while Geie, Gabe, and I took care of putting the chairs in arage, followed by the folding table.

  When there was nothio store besides Bob's grill, the Cooper children said their goodbyes on their mother's orders to prepare for bed, as there was a church service the day. Missy once again iionally ignored me as she huffed and walked out of our yard.

  After Bob and Mr. Cooper extinguished the remaining embers of the grill and with effort moved it out of the front yard of the house, only Meemaw and I were left on our porch.

  With a serious look, Meemaw leaned slightly, "are you sure about this, Aces? There's still a ce for you to retire," she said, taking out my envelope from her purse. "It's okay, Meemaw, I have a good feeling about Dougs," I said, trying to look as serious as possible.

  Shaking her head i, Meemaw sighed before saying, "Tyson is ued, Aces," looking at me with a raised eyebrow, trying to vince me. "I know, Meemaw, but still, I have a hunch that Dougs is going to win," I said, trying to show fidence. I really didn't know if in this life as in the previous ohe fight would happen the same way, I hoped it did.

  "As your wish, Aces," Meemaw said defeated as she turned around. "I'll be ba Wednesday, Aces, with a check or with an 'I told you so'," she tinued, raising her hand in farewell.

  Amused by the older woman's as, I ehe house.

  At the kit door, Mom was bidding farewell to Mrs. Cooper, who was insistently trying to stay and help up the pregnant woman. "It's not necessary, Mary, go with Sheldon and Missy, they're probably waiting for you," Mom said as she pushed Mrs. Cooper out of the house.

  "But-" Mrs. Cooper was saying, "no, nothing," Mom interrupted her.

  "Good night, Mrs. Cooper, don't worry, I'll help Mom," I said to the woman as I opehe door for Mom to push her out of the house.

  "Okay, all right, see you ter, Amy, PJ, good nigth" the woman said, bidding farewell as she accepted her defeat, leaving the house on her own.

  Closing the door, Mom immediately let out a sigh. "I like her, but there's too much to hear about God, and then there's Mary Cooper," Mom said, ughing slightly as she walked to the kit, followed by me.

  While we were washing the used utensils, Mom nudged me with her shoulder. "You're a very good boy, PJ," Mom said in a straone. "And now the girls are starting to notice. I'm sure you'll have a lot of them after you in no time," she tinued with what I nnized as a nasal voice. "And one day you'll choose oo marry and start a family," she said, n. "I just hope she's a kind girl reciates you for who you are, a very well educated boy with a great future" she tinued while sniffing.

  Unfortable with the situation and not really sure what to do, I reached out my arm to give Mom a sideways hug, and she immediately g to my body, bursting into tears. I stroked her arm in an attempt to calm her down and decided not to make any ents to the obviously hormonal pregnant woman.

  "Sweetheart..." Bob said cheerfully aedly as he ehe house, interrupted by the se.

  "Oh, you had to e in shouting and ruin the moment," in an impressive ge of emotions, Mom was pletely furious at Bob's intrusion, raising her hands as she left the kit.

  Surprised, both Bob and I looked at each other for a few seds before bursting into a plicated ugh. "e on, son, we have to turn all that hamburger fat into muscle," Bob said, stifling his ughter as he flexed his arms.

  "Yeah," I said as I dried the st pte in the sink.

  Bob was once again the first to ehe garage, turning on the light. "Gabe won't be ing today, he's already ready to sleep," he expined as he picked up a disd put it on the bar.

  After finishing spotting for Bob, it was my turn uhe bar. "Ready?" asked a sweaty Bob.

  After nodding to the man, he helped me remove the bar from the safety of the rack. "One," Bob said when I raised the bar again, "so your mom wants me to do this now, two," he tihe t, "I know it be a bit unfortable, but it's better to talk about it before something happen, three." I didn't uand what Bob was trying to say.

  Apparently notig my puzzled expression amid my effort, Bob expined, "Well, when a girl and a boy really like each other, there may e a time when they have, certain desires," Bob said, and I immediately uood what was going to happen. For a moment, my grip on the bar loosened, causing Bob, as a good spotter, to quickly intervene. "Whoa, be careful there," said the man, who with effort and a little help from me lifted the bar to the safety stops.

  I was about to say something, but a bad swallow of saliva made me start coughing, choking on my owh.

  "This is something that every father has to talk to his sons about at some point, and I think now is your time," Bob said, patting my back to help with my coughing fit.

  Moving to the side of the bench, Bob sat down beside me and gave me 'the talk.'

  I had never experiehis kind of embarrassment. I had studied enough anatomy csses to know how human reprodu works; heck, I might even know better than Bob how it works. Certainly, I had no practical experience, and Bob did. There were at least four pieces of evidence of that. But that didn't mean I felt fortable talking to him about it.

  After assuring him tless times, embarrassed, that I would always be careful with prote, Bob set me free from 'the talk' to tinue exerg. In the end, Bob left the garage with a smile, tappih his hand towel. "Just remember what we talked about here," he said, amused, entering the house.

  What happehat night would be something I would never fet, even if I wao.

  After wiping the sweat off my body and going through my nightly routine before bed, I entered my dark room, finding my brother already asleep. Without wanting to disturb him, I quietly closed the door to the room and walked in the darko my bed, quickly falling asleep from physical aal exhaustion, especially mental.

  The day, being Sunday, I woke up much ter than usual, without the o get up early for the daily run. Gabe was no longer in his bed. When I left my room, I found Gabe eating breakfast cereal while watg television. Following his example, I ehe kit to greet Mom and Teddy, who were having breakfast at the kit table, took a bowl of oatmeal with a banana, auro the living room.

  Slightly nudging my brother's head, I sat dowo him on the couch. Gabe didn't take his eyes off the TV for a sed and simply ignored my a as he put another spoonful of cereal in his mouth.

  "Good m to you too, shorty," I said, also eating my breakfast.

  "Ah, yeah, sure," the boy said without taking his eyes off his program. It was a cartoon; I remembered seeing it in my past life. Four friends and a talking dog solving mysteries. Unknowingly, I also got caught up iory of the funny cartoon.

  The sound of the house phone and then Mom's shouts calling me brought me out of my daydream iV. "PJ, phone!" Mom shouted again from the kit.

  Leaving the pte on the small table in the living room, I ehe kit to ahe phoer thanking Mom.

  "Hello," I greeted oher end of the phone, "SuperStar," I heard Brock's cheerful voice. "Hey Brock, good m," I greeted my friend back, "so, do you want to go see the car?" Brock asked.

  "Yeah, sure," I responded, not really g much. I didn't know much about cars anyway; any car would be fine.

  "Great, we'll pick you up in half an hour, SuperStar," Brock said oher end of the line. "Pick me up?" I asked my friend. I thought Bob or Mom would have to take me again.

  "Yeah, Dad offered to take you," my friend expined. "Okay, then, see you here, thanks" I said as I looked at the clock hanging i. "See you ter," my friend said before hanging up the call.

  "Where are you going?" Teddy asked, being reprimanded by Mom with a light tap on the shoulder, making the teenager look a the pregnant woman.

  Quietening her daughter with a facial expression, Mom turned her body back to face me. "Where are you going?" she asked, making Teddy open her mouth in disbelief.

  "I'm going with my friend Brock's uncle. He's selling his old car, and I want to see it," I expined, amused.

  Raising her eyebrow, Mom nodded slightly. "Do you have money for a car?" she asked as she stood up.

  "Yes," I quickly responded, a little nervous, making Teddy mock me.

  Ign Teddy's ughter, Mom approached, putting her hand on my shoulder and movi of the kit. "If you , you ask your father, and if he doesn't want to, I have a little saved up," she whispered as we were outside the kit.

  Surprised by her sudden acceptance, I stopped for a sed. "I thought you deserved it. The alk, and so do the teachers. Acc to Gee, all your teachers adore you," the pregnant woman said proudly. "Besides, you have a lovely girlfriend; you need a great car," she tinued before quickly moving away from me. "Bathroom," she expined as she walked quickly.

  The fact that the woman was so proud of me, along with the pride that Bob had shown me, squeezed my chest with a pleasant feeling.

  "What are you doing?" Gabe asked amused, pulli of my trance as he sat from the living room couch a few steps away from me.

  "Nothing, Frodo," I replied as I took my pte and garbage to the kit.

  Preparing myself for when Brod his father would e for me, took me long enough for it to be time.

  "PJ, someone's at the door for you!" I heard Gabe shout.

  In the living room, Gabe was once again sitting watg cartoons while the front door of the house en, with Broder the frame awkwardly waiting.

  "Hey," I greeted my friend as I left the house, receiving a fist bump from him. "Hey SuperStar," my friend said as he guided me to his father's car.

  The not so luxurious but well-kept car of his father arked on the curb at the end of our yard. Brotered through the passenger door, allowio open the back door to get in. "Good m, sir-" I said, surprised because the man I found behind the wheel, being a pletely different specter from his son, was a giant mass of muscle. His chest was so big that it seemed like his shirt would burst at any moment, he had muscles in his shoulders that I didn't know could ihat way, his neck had muscles in his muscles. In short it was a little scary.

  The man, with a big smile beh his mustache, turned, stretg his impressively muscur hand. "Wayde Kingman, Joe has spoken a lot about you, kid," the man said, surprisingly friendly, still maintaining his pleasant smile as we shook hands.

  ---

  Author Thoughts:

  As always, I am not Ameri, much less a doctor.

  The other day, I watched the miniseries based on the world of John Wick, The tial. I highly reend it; I liked it a lot.

  A few things I would like to crify:

  1. I am not 100% satisfied with my way of writing the Wilkerson family, but I hope to improve over time.2. I know ically Mal's st name is supposed to be Nostname, but Wilkerson also exists, so that's what I'm going to choose. I hope you agree with me when you see that it's the better of the two.3. Brock turned out to be someone "known" iure, who is he?

  Halloween passed, I dressed up and got drunk, but I also handed out dy. It was a bittersweet feeling to be the one handing out the dy now. I had never do before; my family used to take care of it before the pandemic, but now it's up to me.

  That being said.

  I think that's all, as always, if you find any mistakes, please let me know, and I will correct them immediately.

  Thank you for reading :D

  PS: PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW, The title will ge after a few hours, I realized that a big part of this site to attract readers is the name of the chapters, I will try to do it this way.