Neil

The next afternoon my nephew Neil (son of Noah and Sadie) came off the school bus with Sebastian. I have to say, the boy is quite an interesting little character. He's inherited his mom's neurotic trait and his dad's good trait, which ought to be intriguing in his own right.

"Hey, last one to the house is a rotten egg," Neil called playfully. And though Neil is the couch potato, it was Bassy who was struggling to keep up. Not to mention, even though Bassy is Neil's uncle, Neil is actually 4 simdays older than he is. That's one measure of how crazy this family is.

Finally I saw them both walk to the house.

Before going off to my part-time job at the cemetery, I overheard Bassy and Neil talking about this movie that's playing at the multiplex. Boys will be boys, I guess.

Including, well, older boys. When I got back from the cemetery, dad had joined them downstairs. Neil seemed to instantly recognize he was in his grandfather's presence for the first time in his life. "I knew grandpa was famous," I heard him later tell Bassy, "but, man, he's grandpa, ya know?"

So there they were sitting on the couch, Neil, Bassy, and dad, Bassy asking dad if he changed the batteries on the smoke detector and Neil kinda sitting there soaking everything in. It was weird having Neil there, honestly, a stark reminder that time marches on.