Page 4 of King of the Crease

“Sorry, Dad. I just need to test these samples, then I will put them away.” He checks his computer and bites his lip. “Can I have a few more days of taking over the dining table? The science fair is Thursday.”

“Sure thing, pal. I wasn’t planning on using this table until Christmas.” I put the Tupperware on a cleared-off sliver of table and kiss the tangle of curls atop the head. He inherited my shaggy hair and his mom’s dark chestnut eyes. As for his sky-high IQ, my ex-wife and I have no idea where that came from.

“So, what are we testing?”

“Microplastics in our water supply.”

“Wonderful,” I deadpan. “I’m terrified to know the answer.”

“Sourwood’s water supply is within acceptable levels. The Hudson River, though, is another story.”

I grab a pair of plates and silverware from the kitchen. I make a plate of Thanksgiving leftovers for Brody and put it on an empty chair. I balance my plate on my lap. I watch Brody in action, testing samples, typing up his findings, eyes moving from microscope to computer effortlessly, his brain working at a higher level than mine ever could.

This kid amazes me every single day. Seriously. He’s at the top of his class. He wins science awards. He knows his way around a computer operating system like I know my way around a septic tank.

But he’s not just smart. He’s personable and warm and dryly funny. He loves comic books and taught himself how to play the drums. I showed him Tommy Boy, and he laughed so hard he fell off the couch. The kid has taste.

I can’t believe that I get to call him my son. Even though it seems as though he’s speaking a different language, I love seeing how his mind works. The hardest part about being divorced is joint custody. When Brody isn’t here, the house is too quiet.

Sometimes I wonder if high school me would’ve shoved him into a locker or called him a nerd. Despite being part of South Rock High’s championship-winning hockey team and thus very popular, I only shoved two kids into lockers in my whole high school tenure. In my defense, they both deserved it. One kid heckled us when we lost a playoff game. The other grabbed Stacy Mancuso’s ass on the lunch line.

Brody shovels turkey and stuffing into his mouth as he hunches over his computer. He’s big now. A man. Seventeen. Going off to college in the fall. He shaves. He’s as tall as me, though he doesn’t have my big gut. His voice dropped.

When did all this happen? Wasn’t I just body slamming his little toddler self on the couch and building Lego Towers with him?

Where did the time go?

“The science fair will have to wear extra padding because this is going to kick so much butt. Ready to win first prize?”

“Dad, don’t jinx me.”

As a hockey player, I know all about jinxes. “Fair enough.”

Brody loves everything I hated in high school—learning, books, tests. I was into sports, lunch, and calling into radio stations at the pay phone to win concert tickets.

He pours liquid from a petri dish into a beaker, then swirls it around studying its contents. He looks up, catches me watching him. “What?”

I shake my head, trying to savor every moment with him. “Nothing. I’m just having one of those ‘I can’t believe my son is grown up’ moments.”

“Dad.”

“I can’t control when these moments come. They’re like my heartburn episodes. And they’re coming more frequently now that you’re a senior and applying to colleges.”

Brody bites his lower lip and shuts his laptop. “Dad, I actually wanted to talk to you about something.”

“What is it?” I drag my dining chair close to him, swing it around, and sit backwards on it, AC Slater-style. I’ve done it since high school, and I have no intention of stopping.

“I know we talked about me going to SUNY Binghamton, but I was talking to my teachers, and there’s another school they think I should apply to.” He looks up at me with his big, brown eyes. “Stanford.”

“Cool. Is that in New York, too?”

“It’s in Palo Alto…California.”

“California as in that state literally on the other side of the country?”

“They have the top computer science and environmental science programs in the country.”

“Doesn’t the state of California burn down from wildfires once a year? And it never snows there.”