I pulled up the BuyMart website.

“Okay, what do you want, a desktop or a laptop, Carson?”

“I think a desktop. I already have my netbook and that’ll be fine to take to school. For at home I’d like something more powerful that I can expand.”

“Okay, let’s see what we can find.”

I clicked the ‘computers’ tab then on the next page the ‘desktops’ tab. It showed the deals they were offering. Most were underpowered, so I went to the ‘filter by’ section at the left of the window.

“Okay, let’s pick PC. That will filter out Macs. I assume you want a PC and not a Mac?”

“Yup, PC. That way it will be compatible with my netbook and I won’t have two different interfaces. And I won’t have any problems transferring files and running Word docs and Excel spreadsheets.”

“Okay, let’s pick some of the other things you’ll want. First, let’s set the price range at $500 to $1,000.”

“Whoa, that’s too high.”

“No, it isn’t. Dad won’t have any problem with up to a thousand bucks. Trust me.”

Carson just shook his head like he didn’t believe me, so I ignored him.

“Next, let’s pick the type of PC you want. There’s home, games, and advanced. Let’s start with home and see what that gives us. Now, let’s pick eight gigs of RAM, a one terabyte hard drive, and then let’s sort by price low to high.”

We looked at the seven PC’s that were listed.

“These suck. They all have low powered processors. Let’s start over. Let’s see what happens when we pick ‘games’…  okay, there are five but they’re all over $1,500.00. Now, that is too much. Let’s pick ‘advanced’ and see what they have there.”

There were 37 different PC’s listed.

“Let’s look at the packages. You’ll need a display and a keyboard and mouse, so they might be a better deal.” I clicked on ‘packages’ and there were seven of them. I ignored the four el cheapo packages and looked at the top three. “Look at these, Carson.”

There were two in the $700.00 to $800.00 range, and one at over a thousand bucks.

“I think this HP that’s on sale for $799.99 is the best deal. It has sixteen gigs of memory and a two terabyte hard drive, a CD-DVD writer, a CD-DVD reader, an i5 quad-core processor, a keyboard and mouse, and a 23 inch display. The cheaper one is $729.99 and has an AMD quad-core processor, eight gigs of memory, and a one terabyte hard drive. It’s worth the extra $70.00 to get the additional RAM and twice the amount of disk storage. What do you think?”

“Man, looks good. But are you sure Dad will go for this one because of the price? That’s really expensive.”

It wasn’t, but Carson wouldn’t believe me so I said to him, “Well, let’s go ask Dad.”

I printed the spec sheets for the two models and we headed downstairs.

Dad and Mom were sitting in the family room watching TV. Some home buyers show.

Carson crouched next to Dad. “Uh, Dad, can we talk to you my new PC? We printed spec sheets for the two best models.”

“Sure. Let’s go to the kitchen so we won’t disturb your mother.”

We sat down around the kitchen table. “Here’s what we found. David says these are the best configurations. I think they’re pretty expensive. So if you want me to look at less expensive ones that’s okay.”

Dad took one look at the two sets of specs.

“Carson, this one is only $70.00 more for double the RAM and the size of the hard drive. The rest of the configurations are pretty much the same, and both look good.”

“You’re sure it’s not too expensive, Dad?” Carson asked.

“Nope. I think this looks like a very good deal. And the price is definitely not expensive, it’s reasonable for this configuration. That’s a powerful machine, and it should last you at least a couple of years. Besides, it’s on sale. Let’s go to the store Sunday morning and get it for you. Before we do, let me call and make sure they have it in stock and that they have a demo model up and running. I always believe in having a hands-on examination of whatever computer you’re going to buy.” Dad looked at the spec sheet. “Let’s see. Here’s the local BuyMart store’s phone number.”

Dad phoned the store and asked about this configuration. They had it in stock, and had a demo that we could play with. They confirmed the price, and told Dad that if he bought it tomorrow they would include an extra year’s in-store service.

“Well, what time Sunday morning do you two want to haul yourselves out of bed so we can have breakfast and be ready to go to BuyMart?”

I looked at the spec sheet.

“They open at ten on Sunday. So if we leave at quarter to ten that’s early enough, that means we should eat breakfast at nine, so we’ll get up and eight-thirty.”

“Okay, you guys have a deal. The sales rep I talked to said he’ll be there all day tomorrow, and that his name is Paulo.”

I wrote that name on the spec sheet for the $799.99 configuration along with ‘free extra year of in-store service.’ I crumpled up the other spec sheet and tossed it into the waste can for paper and plastic that are to be recycled.

“Dad, you know what else Carson needs is a printer.”

“I agree. I think we should look at printers when we get to the store and see if we can get a deal on that as well.”

I looked at Carson. His eyes were shining and his cheeks were glowing. He looked absolutely ecstatic.

“Come on, Carson. Let’s go upstairs and get ready for bed, then we can hang out and watch a movie until we’re ready to go to sleep. Tomorrow’s our birthday party, and you’ll meet the rest of my friends.”

“Okay.”

When we got to my room Carson grabbed me in a one-armed hug and kissed me on my cheek.

“You’re the absolutely best brother anyone could ever have, David. I love you, man!”

“And I love you too, Carson.” I kissed him on his nose.

“What’s with the nose kisses? Did you always do this with your relatives or is it some strange habit you have, David?”

“You have such a cute nose I just can’t not kiss it.”

“My nose is cute?”

“Yup. Ultra cute. Mondo cute. The cutest in the universe cute. And it’s all mine to kiss.”

Carson started to giggle, and then I started to laugh, and then we were lying on our backs on my bed laughing like we’d been doing before dinner.

“Well, what is all of this laughing that you too seem to be doing all the time?” It was Mom, standing in the door, looking at us and smiling.

“You know, Mom, the two of us have discovered how great it is having a twin brother.” I knew that would get her going.

“Again, it might be fun and funny to refer to each other as your twin, but I think it’s a bad idea. Because you two do look so much alike saying you’re twins might be misinterpreted and come back to haunt you.”

“How? I just don’t get it,” I told her.

“I went through all of this earlier and I’m not going to repeat those reasons. But here’s another possibility. You tell someone your twins, just for fun. They tell someone else that you are twins. Then someone else who knows that you’re not actually twins and says you’re lying. Pretty soon the rumor that you’re lying about being twins is all over the school. You two know how gossip spreads at your schools. Then your reputations have a black mark against them, and some of your friends don’t trust you as being truthful and start doubting almost everything that you say.”

“Oh.” I replied. “I can mostly believe that. Especially about the gossip mill at school.”

“Carson, do you agree with me and David?”

He stopped and thought for a few seconds. “Yeah. That’s true about the gossip mill and people being called out for lying. He looked at me. “I guess we have to not say that we’re twins. Just brothers. And if there are any questions about us being the same age and having the same birthday, I’ll just say that I’m adopted.”

“But I’m adopted, too! Don’t forget that!”

“Yeah, but the people at Hillcrest know you, and when I go to Hillcrest in the spring I’ll be the one they’re asking about. So if we’re asked then both of us should say that I’m adopted. It’s up to you if you want to explain anything else about yourself, and I don’t have anything else to explain about.”

“Okay. I guess that makes sense. Mom, we won’t tell anyone that we’re twins even if we’re just joking around.”

“Thank you. I’m glad that you understand how something that might be fun can be misinterpreted and cause problems for the two of you.”

“I love you, Mom,” Carson told her and hugged her.

“I love you too, Carson. Every time I talk with you and see you I just know that we made the absolutely right decision to adopt you. You and David are our wonderful adopted sons. I want to make sure you know how much we love the two of you. One other thing. You are our children, no different than Alan and Lynn and Barbara.”

Carson started to cry.

“What are the tears for, Carson?” Mom asked.

“I’m just so happy. I get teary so much just thinking about how lucky I am. I can’t think of a better family to have and a better Mom and Dad to have. I love you all so much.”

“Thank you, Carson. Now, this has been a very busy day. I suggest you both get a good night’s sleep.”

That sounded like a good idea to me.

“I agree, Mom. Carson, I think we should skip the movie tonight. I don’t think I’d last more than ten or fifteen minutes after it started before I’d fall asleep.”

Carson wiped his eyes on his sleeve. “I agree. ‘Night, Mom.”

“Goodnight, Carson. Goodnight David.”

“Goodnight, Mom. See you in the morning. Oh. We’re getting up early to help you get ready for my and Carson’s birthday party.”

“You’re lucky that the weather is going to be nice again,” she said. “In fact, a few degrees warmer tomorrow than it was today, according to the weather report on the nine o’clock news.”

“Good. I’m glad we’re having the party outside,” I said.

“See you in the morning, boys. Go to sleep!” she said, then she chuckled as she closed my bedroom door as she left.

“Why was she laughing?” Carson asked.

“She doesn’t think we’re actually going to go to sleep.”

“I’m so tired I don’t think I’d be able to stay awake much longer,” Carson said, then he yawned. That made me yawn, too.

“I agree with you. I’m tired!” I said. “Goodnight, Carson.”

“Goodnight, David.”

We woke up at eight-thirty, I showered and brushed my teeth, then Carson did the same in the opposite order.

We went downstairs and Mom had cereal and two blueberry muffins on the table ready for us. After we ate it would be party-get-ready time. While we ate, Carson asked, “Who’s coming to the party, and what are you going to tell them about me?”

“The same that we told Gary. You were being chased by a dog — and by the way, most of these kids won’t know about Woofie — and accidentally ran into me, and you broke your arm. We found out that we are the same age and have the same birthday. If they ask where you live, tell them you’re at Hathaway House… you know, the same stuff you told Gary.”

“I hope I don’t have to explain it to each guy who’s going to be there. How many will be there?”

“There’s about twenty coming. I say about because Joe Green called the other day and said he had a cold and wouldn’t be able to come if he’s still sneezing and coughing today.”

“You should say, ‘there are about twenty coming’,” Carson said, correcting my grammar. I just gave him a squinty-eye look for a few seconds. He laughed at me.

“So, who are the guys coming? I know Gary will be there, but he’s the only one I’ll know. What are the others like? Any girls, or just guys?”

“All guys. They’re all great, and I’m sure you’ll like them and they’ll like you. I’m not going to bother telling you their names now. You probably wouldn’t remember them, and you wouldn’t have their faces to connect to the names anyway. That reminds me, I have something that’s going to help you learn their names. I’ll be right back.”

I went to my dad’s office, and luckily he was there.

“Dad, I remember you had some of those name tags, you know, the ones that say ‘My name is’ and a place to write your name?”

“I assume you want to use them for the kids coming to your birthday party today, so Carson will know their names. That’s a good idea.”

“Yup. And for me and Carson, too, so they can tell us apart.” I grinned.

“Here’s a pack that probably has about forty or so left. And two marking pens so as they arrive they can write in their name and then put the tag on their shirt. Will that be enough?”

“Yeah, there are twenty guys coming, plus me and Carson, so that’s plenty. Thanks, Dad.”

I took the name tags and pens outside and put them on the small table that’s on the patio, then we moved the table closer to where everyone would walk past on their way to the back yard.

I helped Carson put a big plastic table covering on our picnic table. It seats two on each end and ten on each side, so it would be more than enough for us. We put plastic plates, glasses, knives, forks, and spoons at each place. That meant ten sitting on each side and two at one end. The two end seats were for me and Carson. We got two stack chairs out of the garage for me and Carson, hosed them down to wash off dust, and put them at one end of the table. We didn’t have to put any chairs on the sides. Just like the picnic tables at the park, our picnic table has built-in benches along each side. But they were dusty, so we wet a rag and wiped them down. We didn’t want anyone to have dusty butts!

“What are we having to eat?” Carson asked.

“We’re having pizza and wings. There will be some different salads including potato salad, coleslaw, and a taco salad that Mom makes that’s totally killer. And afterwards, a birthday cake and ice cream, like what we had at Thanksgiving.”

“What kind of cake?”

“I’m not sure. Probably chocolate.”

“What time will the party start?”

“Eleven o’clock.”

“What are we going to do?”

“Well, next you and I are going to set up the badminton net and the pingpong table in the back yard. We have the basketball hoop on the side of the garage. So, we’ll play some 2-on-2 or 3-on-3 basketball, singles and doubles pingpong, and singles and doubles badminton. Gary’s bringing his Xbox and I’ll set up my PS3 on the patio, and we’ll bring down our computer displays and hook them up to the game consoles; some guys like to play video games, especially games they don’t have at home. Some guys will want to just sit around and talk.”

“After we got everything set up, Carson asked, “What time will we eat?”

“Probably around one-thirty, two o’clock. Dad’s picking up the pizzas and wings at one, and Mom will put them in the oven to keep them hot.”

“Twenty-two guys can eat a lot of pizza. How many are they getting?” Carson asked.

“They usually get six of the eighteen inch size, and five orders of wings, there’s… sorry, there are one dozen wings per order. I think there’ll be pizza and wings left over.”

“That’s good! Then we can have pizza and wings for dinner. I don’t get pizza very often, and I never get wings,” Carson said.

We went inside. Mom was in the kitchen. “Anything else can we help with?” I asked her.

“Your dad just got back from the store with bags of ice. They’re in the cooler chests in the laundry room along with four twelve-packs each of Coke and root beer. You can take the bags out of the cooler chests, pour some of the ice in the bottom of each chest, put in cans of soda, and fill in with more ice. If there’s any ice left over, consolidate it in one or two bags and put them in the freezer. It’s ten thirty-five; you should get that done before your friends get here at eleven.”

While we were setting up the sodas, Carson asked another question. “Are they giving you birthday presents?”

“No. My friends and I decided we don’t need to exchange gifts at our birthday parties. Most guys bring six-packs of their favorite soda, like Dew or 7-Up, to share.”

“That’s a good idea. That way there’s no one-up kind of competition going on.”

“It’s almost time for the guys to start getting here. Let’s do our name tags now,” I suggested.

We went out to the patio and each wrote our name on a tag, peeled off the backing, and stuck it on our T-shirts.

“I hope these stay stuck on,” Carson said.

“Yeah, me too.”

I heard the doorbell. “Sounds like we have visitors!”

“Where should I be?” Carson asked.

“Why don’t you come with me and I’ll introduce you. You can take whoever it is outside, have them fill out their name tag, and stay there acting as back yard host. I’ll stick around to answer the door.”

Mom overheard me. “Tell you what, David. When your first guest arrives do what you just said, then both of you go out back and I’ll answer the front door and send them back. That way Carson can man the name tag table and introduce himself to your friends while you be the back yard host.”

“That’s a good idea,” I said. “What do you think, Carson?”

“Sounds like a plan,” he replied.

I opened the front door. It was Damon Covington.

“Hey, Damon! Come on in. This is Carson Evans.” I shut the door and we headed toward the kitchen. “Let’s…” Before I could finish my sentence, the doorbell rang again.

“Hey, Damon, I’ll take your Dew. Let’s go out back and I’ll get you signed in,” Carson said.

“Signed in? What do ya mean, signed in?” Damon asked.

“Okay, here’s the deal. Because I don’t know most of you guys, David decided…” Their voices faded as they walked through the house; I walked back to the front door. It was Gary.

“Hi, Gary. Damon’s here. He and Carson are out back. Let’s join them.”

When we got to the patio Gary wrote his name on a name tag and put it on. “Clever idea. That way Carson won’t have to try to memorize everyone’s names.”

The rest of the guys arrived, and were welcomed by Mom who sent them out back through the kitchen. Even Joe Green was able to come, and he didn’t bring his cold.

I’ve gotta say, the party was a success. Everyone had a good time, and plenty to eat. The badminton and ping pong games were popular; several guys got in a 3-point shooting contest once they agreed on where the 3-point line should be; and the PS3 and Xbox consoles always had guys playing video games. Carson told everyone that he’d tell about his broken arm while we ate. So just before the cake was brought out he told what happened and how we’d become friends. The guys gathered around him and gave him careful hugs.

The birthday cake was a long, rectangular sheet cake with fifteen candles at each end, each made to look like the number 15. One end was for me, the other for Carson.

“Think you can blow out all of your candles?” I asked Carson.

“So, does that mean you want me to go first?”

“Absolutely.”

He blew out all of his candles with one breath. Everyone cheered.

“Think you can beat that, David?” Gary asked.

“Absolutely,” I said.

Unfortunately, as I was almost finished blowing out my candles I started to giggle. You cannot blow out candles if you’re giggling. So, I left one candle lit. I took another breath and blew it out, to a chorus of boos.

“Hey! No fair! I never said all the candles had to be blown out in one breath,” I shouted.

“Blowing them out with one breath,” Carson said, “is the standard rule. You can’t invent a rule of your own, especially one that you invent because you failed.”

I shouted, “Traitor!” then started laughing. Carson and the rest of the guys all laughed, too. “Okay, okay, I give!” I said. “You won. Fair and square. Congratulations, Carson. Now, how about you cut this cake and I’ll go in and get the ice cream. Deal?“

“Deal.”

Carson pulled out the candles and cut the cake in neat squares. Turns out it was a two-layer cake with one layer was chocolate cake and the other layer was white cake. There was plenty for everyone to have two pieces. There were four flavors of ice cream. Dad did the scooping, and everyone got a bowl with a scoop of each flavor to start: vanilla, chocolate, butterscotch marble, and pumpkin, which I delivered. That eliminated a long line of guys getting their ice cream. I also learned that I don’t ever want to work as a waiter. My favorite was the pumpkin. I’d never had this flavor before. It was like eating the most wonderful pumpkin pie ever. Of course, the other flavors weren’t bad, either. But when I went back it was to get two more scoops of the pumpkin. Carson was in back of me, and he was doing the same: two more scoops of pumpkin ice cream.

Well, if anyone needs more proof that we are twins separated at birth, our addiction to pumpkin ice cream proves it.

After everyone had left and we’d put everything away and cleaned up the back yard we went into the kitchen.

“Hey, Mom, Dad, thanks for a fantastic birthday party,” I said. “Everyone had a great time.”

“It was fantastic for me,” Carson said. “I met David’s friends and now I have them as friends, too. It’s going to be great when I go to Hillcrest High in the spring.”

It was surprising, but Carson and I weren’t very hungry when Mom asked us what we’d like for dinner. We agreed that a bowl of soup and a turkey sandwich would be enough.

We watched TV for a while, then Mom suggested that we should get ready for bed. “Remember, you’re going to have to get up early to have breakfast before you leave for BuyMart with your Dad to buy Carson his new PC.”

We went upstairs and I decided I’d check my email.

“What are you doing?” Carson asked.

“I’m checking email.” I started to laugh.

“What are you laughing about?” Carson asked.

“This friend of mine sends me funny cartoons all the time. Come here and take a look. Sit down so it’ll be easier for you to see the screen.”

Carson plopped down on the chair I’d brought in from Alan’s room. We sat looking at the cartoons and laughing like fools until I heard a loud “Uh hum!” from the door. It was Mom.

“I thought you two were going to bed.”

“We are. I wanted to show Carson something funny that Charlie Kress sent me. We’re almost done. We’ll get to bed in a few, alright?”

“Just be sure you do. You want to be ready to go with your Dad tomorrow morning,” she said. “So, goodnight David and goodnight Carson.”

“Goodnight, Mom,” we said simultaneously. That made me and Carson chuckle.

Mom shook her head, then turned and left my room.

“Did we plan that, saying goodnight at the same time?” he asked.

“Probably. Hey, look at these snowman cartoons,” I said. We looked at a bunch more cartoons and laughed at each of them.

“Look at this one!” I pointed and started laughing. “Look where the little kid put the snowman’s carrot.”

“What’s the talk bubble say?”

“It’s a little kid talking to… I guess it’s his mother, who doesn’t look pleased. He’s saying, ‘I couldn’t reach any higher,’ and he’s pointing at the carrot.”

We both busted up. “Now, that is funny!” Carson said.

We looked at more cartoons. I didn’t know where Charlie got them, but he sent like fifty or more in one message, and they were set up like a slide show.

“Excuse me,” Mom said, standing in my bedroom doorway again. “You said you’d get right to sleep. That was about fifteen minutes ago. And you’re still on your computer.”

I looked at Carson. “Did I say we’d go to bed in a few minutes?”

“Gee, I thought you said it would be a few minutes,” he replied.

“Your few minutes is over,” Mom said. “Now’s the time to get ready and go to bed. Now! Up! Get going! To bed!” she stood there, waving her hands palm-up. At least she was grinning.

So we stood up. Then we said “Goodnight,” simultaneously. Mom just shook her head. I stood looking as angelic as possible, or maybe as what I thought angelic would look like, and glanced at Carson. He was standing there grinning at me.

“To bed!” Mom said. She turned and left my bedroom.

“Huh. Some supportive brother you are!”

“What do you mean?”

“Here I am trying to look like Mom’s angelic son and all you’re doing is making me look silly by grinning.”

“You’ve gotta give me advance notice of these things, David. Remember, I’m new around here.”

Mom stuck her head around the door jamb and looked in at us. “And remember, David, that I’m not new around here and I know all of your cute little tricks to avoid going to bed.”

With that Mom walked out.

“Hmm. You’re going to have to teach me all of your cute little tricks, David.”

“All you have to do is watch and learn, Carson. Just watch and learn.”

“I’ve been watching and so far I’ve learned some things that don’t work. I guess that’s useful to know.”

I grinned and poked him in his side.

“Hey, what’d I do to deserve that?”

“Remember, just watch and learn!”

Carson walked to the bathroom door. “Yeah. Just like a TV rerun. Seen that before.” He walked in and closed the door, then opened the door and peeked out at me.

“I’m gonna take a leak and then clean up. Come on in anytime you want.”

I got undressed down to my briefs and joined him in the bathroom. He was brushing his teeth, so I took a quick shower. When I was done I helped him put the plastic bag on his arm and he took his shower while I brushed my teeth. When we were both finished we climbed into bed.

“Goodnight, David.”

“Goodnight, Carson.” I leaned over and kissed him, then laid back. I felt his hand reach for mine, and that’s how we fell asleep, holding hands.

I woke up to the sun shining through the blinds on the window next to my bed. I turned and looked at my clock. Eight-thirty-five. I yawned, and then it dawned on me. I forgot to set my alarm. I yawned again, and looked at Carson who was sound asleep. I nudged him.

“Hey, Carson. Time to get up.”

I shook his shoulder.

“Come on, bro, wake up. We’re running a bit late.”

He turned his head and opened one eye.

“Huh?”

“Time to get up. Up, up! We’ve gotta get ready and have breakfast. We’re going to BuyMart to get you your PC this morning.”

That woke him up! We finished getting ready, rushed downstairs, and were at the breakfast table by five minutes before nine.

Carson said, “Morning Mom, morning Dad!”

I said, “Morning Mom and Dad. Where are Lynn and Barb?”

“Still in bed, I presume. But I’m glad to see that you two made it down for breakfast by the time you said you would. Even if you did run down the stairs.” Mom was grinning, so I knew she was kidding.

I pretended to pout. “You never believe me when I’m telling you the truth.” I turned to Carson. “See how mistreated I am?”

He started laughing and looked at Dad, who was also grinning. “Is it like this all the time? If it is, I’ll never have to watch a comedy show on TV.” That made Dad laugh, then Mom, then me.

“And what miracle occurred to get you up this early on a Sunday, David?” Dad asked.

“We’re going with you to BuyMart to buy Carson a desktop PC. They open at ten, so we told Mom we’d be up and ready for breakfast by nine. And… tah-dah… here we are!”

Dad made a “Humpf!” sound.

“Is this part of ‘watch and learn?’” Carson asked me in a whisper.

“I’m making blueberry waffles and bacon. Is that okay for you two?” Mom asked.

Carson and I both said “Yes!” simultaneously, and that got us laughing again.

“David, you know where the orange juice and maple syrup are, why don’t you get those out. Put the orange juice on the table. Open the bottle of maple syrup and put it in the microwave for one minute on the defrost setting. That will warm the syrup. Carson, you can put glasses and utensils on the table for everyone. Get out eight plates and put them on the counter at the left of the stove. I’ll use one of the plates for the bacon.”

Barb came down and sat at the table.

“I smelled waffles. They smell good. I heard David and Carson laughing. What was so funny?”

“Just David being his normal silly self, and leading Carson astray,” Mom replied. “Well, is everyone ready for waffles? Carson, we have softened butter and real maple syrup for our waffles.”

Mom served each of us two blueberry waffles, and I loaded up mine with butter and maple syrup, lots of maple syrup. That’s the way I liked them. I saw Carson put a little maple syrup on his plate. He cut a small piece of waffle and dipped in in the maple syrup and put it in his mouth. I had to chuckle when I saw his expression.

“This is amazing. It’s delicious! I love it.”

Dad asked, “Is this the first time you’ve had real maple syrup?”

“Yes. I can’t believe how good it is. It’s wonderful. It isn’t thick like the kind of pancake syrup that I’m used to.”

“And how about my waffles?” Mom asked.

“They’re even more wonderful, Mom,” he replied.

“Good answer.” Mom grinned and sat down to eat her waffles.

We were all finished eating by nine-thirty, and we cleaned up the kitchen afterwards.

“Uh, David, what about Lynn? Won’t she want waffles too?” Carson asked.

“Lynn gets to sleep as late as she wants on Sundays. She probably won’t get up until eleven. We’ll be back from BuyMart with your new computer before then.”

“Weird. I’m so used to getting up early at Hathaway House, and before that at the Adamsen’s. Oh, my god!”

“What’s wrong, Carson?” Mom asked.

“I just remembered that I need to phone Mrs. Adamsen today to find out how Mr. Adamsen is doing. He’s been in the hospital, and I don’t know if he got out yet or not. I usually call Granma… uh, that’s what I call them, Granma and Gramps. Anyway, I usually call Granma every couple of days. I called her on Thanksgiving day and forgot to call yesterday.”

“Dad, would it be okay if I go visit her? And if Gramps is still in the hospital I’d like to visit him too.”

“Sure, Carson. We can do that today if you’d like.”

“Thanks. I’ll call her this afternoon, maybe right after lunch.”

At ten minutes before ten we left for BuyMart. It only takes about ten minutes to get there, but we seemed to be stopped by every traffic signal on the way, so we arrived at five after ten. The parking lot was already about a quarter full. Seems like everyone wants to get their stuff as early as possible so they can rush home with it.

Dad looked at the demo unit of the model Carson and I picked out.

“This looks like a good choice, Carson. It’s well built, and has plenty of ports. The monitor looks very good. What do you think?”

“I like it. Actually, it’s amazing.”

“Let’s do it then. First, though, let’s take a look at inkjet printers. Maybe we can sweeten the deal if we’re buying a printer with the system.”

We walked over to the printer section and ran the demo tests on each.

“I like this Canon, Dad. The sheet here says ink costs are among the lowest. I can also use it as a copier and as a scanner. Thing is, it’s sort of expensive, $159.99.”

“I think we can get a lot better deal. Let’s go find Paulo.”

I never knew my dad was such an amazing negotiator. He told Paulo that he knew the Canon printer was a discontinued model, that he’d seen it on several internet sites for $59.99, and charging over $100.00 more for it was ridiculous.

Paulo said he’d talk to his manager. The manager came over and talked to Dad. By the time they were through, including Dad saying he could buy an equivalent HP PC and monitor online and buy the printer for $59.99 and there wouldn’t be any sales tax or shipping charge and it would be less expensive than buying it in the BuyMart store today. I guess that convinced the manager because he told Paolo to include the printer at no charge. I bumped Carson on his side, and we were grinning at each other. In fact, I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing out loud.

I let Carson unbox everything when we got home, and only did things he asked me to do because of his arm. It was his new PC and he should have the fun of unpacking it and setting it up. Dad helped us clean off Alan’s desk so Carson’s computer could be installed in what was going to be his bedroom. It took him about an hour, with my help to get it connected to our network, and it was up and running. He hooked up his printer and it automatically connected to his computer, including finding and loading the Windows 10 driver. That was totally easy and very cool. Then he set up iTunes and that connected and worked right away too, including setting up sharing of his music files that he’d loaded on his netbook.

Dad came in to see how he was doing.

“How do you like your new PC, Carson?”

“It’s great, Dad. David helped me get on our home network, the printer connected as soon as I turned it on, and I even set up iTunes.”

“That’s good. The shared network drive has Microsoft Office and you can install it from there. Here’s your personal key code, just enter it when it’s requested and you’ll have the entire Office suite of programs. David can show you how to set up your Gmail POP and SMTP accounts so you’ll get your email messages in Outlook.”

“Thanks, Dad. What about the Adobe programs?”

“I’ll have to get a copy for you, and you’ll install the new CC suite from the DVDs. Any other questions I can answer for you?”

“I guess the only one is what do you want us to do with these empty boxes?”

“I think you should hang on to them in case anything fails within the 30 day return period. David can help you store them in the garage.”

“Okay. Thanks, Dad.” Carson stood and he and Dad hugged. “You’re the best. I love you, Dad.”

“You’re a good kid, Carson, and I love you.”

One of my favorite things about our family was that we love each other and always tell each other that we do. I know kids at school that seem to be ashamed of their folks, or they talk about how they’re always arguing with their folks, and most never tell their folks they love them. That’s so bogus. Our parents are the most important people in our lives, and they should be. We might get yelled at, like when I run up or down the stairs, but that doesn’t mean our folks don’t love us and that we don’t love them. The same is true with Alan and Lynn and Barb. We love each other. Maybe we don’t say the ‘love’ word as much with them, but we do say it and we all do mean it. I really liked the way Carson fit right in to the way we all relate with each other.

We stored the boxes in the top of the garage. I saw some old boxes we didn’t need any more so we pulled them down and I cut them up and dumped them in the recycle bin for trash pickup. When we got back upstairs Carson said he wanted to phone Mrs. Adamsen. I said he could use my bedroom, and I went downstairs to watch some TV. There were pro football games on, so I watched NFL RedZone. That’s a great channel that shows live or instant replay action of every score from every pro game that’s on while you’re watching. Why I love it is that even if the Raider’s and 49er’s games are blacked out, they show their key plays on RedZone. It’s also cool that I don’t have to use the remote. Just sit back and watch.

Dad joined me. “Any interesting games on?”

“I suppose. Mainly it’s fun to watch all the best plays from all the games that are on now no matter who’s playing.”

“And I don’t have to put up with you changing the channels every two minutes, do I.”

“Aw, Dad, I don’t really do that.”

“I’m not so sure about that, David.” He squeezed my shoulder. “What’s Carson doing, playing with his new PC?”

“No, he’s calling his granma, Mrs. Adamsen.”

We watched RedZone for another fifteen minutes when Carson came downstairs.

“Dad, can you take me to the Adamsen’s? There’s a problem and I need to see Mrs. Adamsen right away.”