Episode 1141: Fun Fun Fun

“You must be so proud of this guy,” Ava said, giving Nate’s non-existent bicep a squeeze.

“Always,” Bowie replied, ruffling his kid’s hair.

Nate had done so well for the school year, had worked so hard that Bowie and Lila thought he deserved some kind of reward, preferably something that would encourage him to wind down a bit, something Nate didn’t do nearly enough for a sixteen year old or any age for that matter. Nate’s nose to the grindstone approach to his studies probably boded well for the kid’s future career, but in the present it didn’t seem healthy to lead such an unbalanced life, to hardly live at all really outside of the classroom.

“I’m honored that you chose to shop at my store when your parents gave you the freedom to choose anything,” Ava said.

“It’s not the freedom to pick anything,” Nate lamented.

“Only you would act like it’s torture to not be allowed to buy anything textbook-like, to be limited to books that are just fun. We’re serious, Ava. Lila and I don’t want you selling anything to him that will have this kid locked up in his room like he has been all year. We agreed on this compromise, right, Nate? You’re overdue to relax a bit, so if books are your reward then it has to be nothing related to furthering your education.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, Mom said it before we left, I can nerd out just not nerd out all the way. So just fiction, it’s not like that’s the worst.”

“Definitely not,” Avalon agreed. “I’m sorry my selection still isn’t back to what it should be yet. If there’s something you can’t find, I’ll be happy to order it for you just let me know what you’re interested in. I do also have a couple titles in mind that will be my gift to you, a thank you for not shopping online and my little way as your sort of honorary aunt to say I’m proud of you, too.”

“Wow. Cool. Thanks. I’m gonna look around then.”

“That’s a first,” Ava said after Nate had wandered off. “Parents who don’t want their kid to learn anything.’

“We just think it would be good for him to take the pressure off himself for a couple months. You’re not exactly looking like you lead a low-stress life these days either. What’s going on? What’s with the forced smile? I mean, obviously I can see returning the place to normal is slow-going, is it an even bigger headache than you thought?”

“Yeah, there’s definitely that,” Ava said, “but there’s also Sebastian finding out this morning that I lied to him.”

Episode 1142: Sleep At Night