Page 8 of These Secret Years

“You, my friend,” Gabe says as he cuts through the crowd holding a gigantic wicker hamper. “Won the Fun Room Kit.”

Everyone laughs, and Tyson asks, “The what?”

“You’re new here, so trust me when I tell you, you want to have a fun room. That’s the room where everybody wants to hang out.”

The whole thing is so nerdy and stupid, I can’t help but laugh, too. “What’s in it?”

“Check it out.” Gabe presents me the hamper as I turn in the chair and take it from him.

Gabe’s idea of fun is…interesting.

“There’s a lot of…uh…stuff…in here, my man,” I say as I pick up a box containing sandalwood incense sticks and an incense boat, which I only know because the box says so.

Rodrigo has moved to stand next to me. My room is his room, so he’s invested. “I don’t know what that is, QB,” he whispers.

“I’ll explain it later.” The most prominent item in the hamper is a shrink-wrapped dart board with yellow and red target wedges. I don’t remember the last time I played darts, but I bet I’m good at it. Next, I pick up the handle of a small fire extinguisher and glance at Gabe. “Fun,” I say.

He grins like he’s enjoying this as much as a strip show. “Just wait.”

In order, I continue unpacking the hamper, leaving the contents on the card table. There are three, small, paperback books. One is about card games, another is for card tricks, and the last is called Cardistry. I flip through that one briefly and find it contains a lot of different ways to build structures from cards. There are also four decks of cards in the hamper, each in unique styles.

“Wow,” I say.

Gabe looks prouder than if he’d won the tournament himself.

But there’s more. Plenty more. An LED light projector, a box of Cards Against Humanity, and a damn air fryer.

“That’s what the fire extinguisher is for.”

“Sick,” Rodrigo says, taking hold of the fryer. “I thought these were illegal to have here.”

Gabe shrugs. “Fry responsibly.”

This all very much makes me wonder what Gabe’s room looks like.

The last head scratcher in the hamper is what I believe is an original Wii console. It’s clearly used, but Gabe assures me it still works, and it comes with a game of Wii Sports.

I have the latest Play Station and every game imaginable in my room already, so this is interesting.

And it really gets the guys going.

“Fuck man, that’s my favorite.”

“I’ll kick all your asses at golf.”

“Where’s the sign-up sheet?”

“You have a TV?”

“No,” I say.

Rodrigo slaps my shoulder. “We can get a TV.”

I guess he wants us to have the fun room.

“Yeah. Sure,” I agree.

“Is that everything?” Rod asks.