“My father sold auto parts and never played professional football, and I didn’t drive a BMW,” I told her. “I drove a car that we all called the Dread Dodge of Embarrassment.”

She didn’t respond at first, clearly waiting for me to break into laughter. When I didn’t, she looked back at her brother’s drawing.

“And that was yesterday?” she asked.

I nodded.

She thought about it for a few moments, never looking up from the coloring book. “Was Layton the same yesterday?” she finally asked.

“Pretty much,” I told her. “Yeah, he was.”

She didn’t say anything to that . . . but I could tell from the look on her face what she was thinking. That maybe there was a world where he was different.

4

Horror/Comedy, but Mostly Horror

On Sunday night, I had a few friends over for a movie in our home theater. Reclining seats, an old-fashioned popcorn machine with actual movie theater buckets. Everything but the bored zit-faced dude taking your ticket.

Tonight, however, the movie was a study in torture, for reasons that will become clear.

The evening’s cast of characters included Leo and Angela; Norris, who wasn’t invited, but showed up on a regular basis like a cold sore; Kendra, Norris’s date, who I didn’t know all that well; and Paul, a classmate who tutored me in math, and deserved all the perks he could get from that thankless job. I invited Katie, but she pointed out that I couldn’t invite just her. Layton was part of the package, and they already had other plans. I asked what those plans were, but she told me in no uncertain terms that it was none of my business.

Norris arrived first with Kendra, who, of course, drove. We have this big unnecessary circular driveway, and Kendra parked close to the edge to make room for other cars. That would have been fine, but when Norris got out, he stomped all over my mother’s hydrangeas, like it was his own personal flower petal path.

“Horror!” Norris proclaimed. “Kendra wants horror.”

And although Kendra’s “horror” box was already checked by her choice of date, I refrained from pointing that out.

“Actually,” said Kendra, “I said comedy.”

“Okay then, a classic horror/comedy, like Zombieland or something.”

Kendra shrugged, accepting the compromise, so I added it to the list of possible movies.

Paul arrived with a bucket of chicken. “I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to bring food or not, so here’s a donation of grease and carcinogens.”

“Not necessary, but always appreciated,” I told him.