cards at the next airport. There are two airports, but we’ll do it all at one in the interest of time.”
“You play this? ”
“All the time when I ’m flying with the band. We had blank cards printed. Descriptions had to fit in the box so you couldn’t get too technical and make it impossible. Zane bought a magnifying glass so he could write smaller. Drew almost strangled him for that. It was in Tokyo, I think. Then Charlie started getting really specific, like ‘Scrimshaw necklace: $250 Canadian’ when we were flying out of Canada. Zane got that card. Everything was in Canadian Dollars so he just conceded on the spot. He retaliated with advertisements for specific local events or attractions and made sure Charlie got his card next time.”
“And you want the boys to play this? ”
“I assume Cassie and Tiffany will come too. And Bryan’s girlfriend. I haven’t met her yet. What’s her name again?”
“Brenda. Who ’s breaking up the resulting fight between Jess and Dev?”
“Cassie ,” Flynn said cheerfully and Teri laughed.
“Is it safe to come up yet? ” Dev called from the stairs.
“Sure , baby, come on in,” Teri called.
“Mom , don’t call me ‘baby.’ I keep telling you.”
“Just keep reminding me , sweetheart, I’m bound to remember eventually.”
Dev edged into the room , giving first Teri, then Flynn, nervous looks.
“You ’re safe. I’m done,” Teri assured him. She felt bad for making him worry.
“You were laughing. ”
“Flynn wants to take us to the airport this weekend. ”
“Or the zoo ,” Flynn added.
“It ’s March. It’s too cold for the zoo,” Dev frowned.
“What is it with this family and the cold? ” Flynn asked in mock exasperation.
“I ’m asthmatic. Cold air makes it worse,” Dev answered.
“Okay fine , the airport.”
Teri giggled at the blank look on her son ’s face.
“I ’m going to teach you a very important travel survival skill: Airport Bingo. I’ll have to print off the rules, there’s something like eleven pages of them now.”
“You ’re serious? For Bingo?” Teri asked.
“We ’re very competitive. There’s no point having them duplicating old arguments, it’s like a bad remake. They have to invent new mischief. I’m sure they’re up to the task.”
“I ’m sure,” Teri agreed.
“Bingo? Sounds lame ,” Dev said, leaning against the wall and frowning.
“Like so many things in life , Dev,” Flynn said with a grin. “It all depends on how you interpret the rules."
• • •
“So, how did the field trip to the airport go?” Nicholas asked Flynn a few days later, then realized it was a pointless question considering the kids’ laughter that filled the entry.
“I think we ’ll do that again,” Flynn answered.
“I ’m glad you can have fun at an airport. Did you get many murderous glares from passengers stuck with a layover?”
“More than a few. They did pretty good. ‘Woman with layover between Denver and Anchorage’ was one of Dev’s. Very clever of him, he added it just before the plane to Anchorage boarded.”
“W e need to add a new rule about time sensitive additions,” Jess complained.
“Oh , like your ‘For a good time call Carrie’ box was such a hot idea. Tiffany got your card. How was she supposed to check the men’s rooms?” Cassie demanded.
“I said I was sorry. I thought one of the guys would get it and have to check all the men ’s rooms stalls. It would have taken forever.” Jess held up his hands in surrender.
“Okay so new rule about nothing in the bathrooms? ” Tiffany asked.
“Wait a sec , what if that only applies if we’re a mixed group? I mean, it wasn’t a bad idea,” Jess argued.
“Except now you ’ve given everyone the idea, Jess. Dev is going to find a way to one-up you on that, you know it,” Brenda pointed out. Jess looked around at Dev. He just smiled back.
“Fine , bathrooms are out of bounds.”
“Chicken ,” Dev
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