It was a quiet day driving home from school. Oliver, a 6-year-old boy stares out the window as if he were looking for something. His mother is safely turning the vehicle into the driveway by the house. After 20 minutes of driving, they are finally home.

     Restless from sitting still for too long, Oliver forcefully pushes the door open and jumps out of the vehicle. He runs over his neighbor’s green, luscious lawn.

     “Oliver, where are you going?” His mother asks.

      “To go play with Addison,” he answers, hurrying over to a younger girl sitting in the neighbor’s driveway.

     Oliver’s mom sighs. She wishes she had his energy. [She walks over to the other side of the car to unbuckle baby Kayden, Oliver’s brother.

     About an hour later, Oliver’s father sits in the living room exhausted from a day of work. He is relieved to finally be able to sit down and rest. He sits on the couch and turns on the television. His favorite sports channel is on. It immediately grabs his attention. He sits and watches the beginning of an intense game.

     Shortly after the game starts, he hears a voice that doesn’t sound like it’s coming from the television.

     “Hey, Dad?”

     Mr. Cross glances down and away from the TV to find his son looking up at him.

     He looks back over at the television, as his team is 50 yards away from scoring.

     “What’s up bud?” he asks, his eyes on the television.

     “Can I have a son?”

     This causes the father to take his eyes off the TV and onto Oliver.

     “What did you say?”

    “I was wondering if I could have a son.”

      Mr. Cross looks over at his son for a whole minute. What is this about?

     “And touchdown-” the speaker on the TV announces loudly. Mr. Cross has his attention back on the screen.

     This is probably just a kid thing. Perhaps he wants to grab a teddy bear, call it his son, and drag it around or something like that.

     “Sure,” he answers. Oliver leaves the room happily, and Mr. Cross jumps up on his feet and cheers. “Go Black Bears!”

     About 30 minutes later, Oliver returns to the living room. This time, his father is not in the room. He looks over at the TV and sees that there are advertisements on.

     “Hey Oliver,” says a friendly voice behind him. Oliver turns around to find his dad holding coffee. He walks over and sits down on the sofa. He places his mug on the table beside him with his eyes on Oliver. “What’s up?”

     “Do you know where the diapers are at?” Oliver asks.

     This is another strange question. His father assumes he just wants to put a diaper on his toy.

     “The diapers are in the nursery in the closet.”

     “Ok, thanks!” nods Oliver. He runs off. Mr. Cross sips his coffee as the game comes back on.

     Mr. Cross watches the game for a little while but is soon distracted by a loud thud. He glances over and sees Oliver in the kitchen. Oliver knocked some things over. Mr. Cross turns the television off and walks over to see what is going on. He finds Oliver reaching for the baby formula.

     “What are you doing now?” Mr. Cross asks his son.

     “I need to feed my son,” Oliver replies.

     Mr. Cross rolls his eyes. “You don’t need formula.”

     Oliver looks up at his father and begins to whine and almost cry.

     Mr. Cross sighs, “Ok Ok, fine. I’ll make you the formula.”

      Oliver excitedly watches his father. After a few minutes, Oliver is holding a bottle filled with baby formula and is carrying it upstairs to his room. His father sighs, he had better not make a mess. To be sure he doesn’t, Mr. Cross follows Oliver upstairs. Oliver walks into his room. Mr. Cross follows, hot on his son’s heels. When he opens Oliver’s bedroom door, he is met with a surprise. He sees a real, live, moving baby crawling on the floor. Mr. Cross is in shock at the sight of the child. How did Oliver get ahold of a baby? His mind begins to think up a million different possibilities. Then it hits him, which makes him start laughing. This is Kayden, Oliver’s brother. Mr. Cross begins to laugh, thinking about how foolish he had been. He is relieved. He smiles and picks up the child off the floor.

     “Did you decide to babysit your brother?” Mr. Cross asks, looking down at Oliver. Oliver looks up at his father, holding the filled bottle. His father opens his hand and reaches for the bottle. Oliver sighs and hands the bottle to him.

     “He’s my son,” Oliver says.

     Mr. Cross feeds and burps the baby. He carries him downstairs. As soon as he reaches the bottom of the steps, he is met with the face of his wife. He smiles, but she doesn’t return it.

     “Where did you get the child?” she asks, holding a baby as well.

     “This is Kayden,” states Mr. Cross.

     “No, I have Kayden,” Mrs. Cross answers. Mr. Cross’ eyes widened. He turns to Oliver who is right by his leg.

     “Oliver,” he says in a stern voice. “Where did he come from?”

      “That’s Kayden,” says Oliver, pointing up at his mom. “And that’s my son.”

Oliver points to his father.

     “Very funny,” answers his mom. “Where did you get him from?”

     “His mom.”

      This shenanigan continues to the living room. Oliver’s parents continue asking questions, but it seems like Oliver is convinced the boy is his son. Mrs. Cross continues to hold little Kayden as this goes on.

     Eventually, Mr. Cross gets tired of Oliver’s answers and turns to his wife.

     “Do you think he actually-”

     There is a knock at the door. Mr. Cross gets up.

     “I’ll answer it,” he says firmly. He walks over to the front door and opens it. He looks around and sees no one. He then looks down and sees a young girl at the front door.

     “Hey Addison,” he says. “How can I help you?” He wonders why the neighbor girl is here. She’s all alone, where is her mother? Also, why is she holding a baby rattle?

     “I’m here to see my son,” Addison answers.

     Mr. Cross stares at her with wide eyes.

     “How old are you again?” he asks.

     “Four and a half,” Addison states. “Now may I come in?”

     Mr. Cross, flabbergasted, steps to the side and ushers her to come in. Addison’s mom knows Oliver’s parents very well, so it is okay for her to come in. She walks into the living room and sees the baby on the floor. She smiles and hands him the rattle she was holding. The baby starts shaking the rattle.

     “So Addison,” starts Mrs. Cross. “Since you claim to be his mother, what’s his name?”

     “We haven’t named him yet,” Addison answers looking up at her. Her attention goes back to the baby.

     “So, how old is he?”

     “Eight months.”

     “What time was he born?”

     “About eight in the morning.”

     Mrs. Cross looks over at Mr. Cross, who is still utterly confused. Mrs. Cross continues.

     “So Addison, do you know how you know these answers, but Oliver doesn’t?”

     “He’s his father,” Addison answers. “My father can never remember how old I am either. It’s just something Mom knows.”

     Mrs. Cross chuckles glancing at her husband, “I’m inclined to believe you are right.”

     “I’m not that forgetful!” exclaims Mr. Cross.

     “Do you know what time Kayden was born?” Mrs. Cross asks. Mr. Cross puts on a thinking face. He responds with silence and turns his head away. “That’s what I thought.”

     “Dad only remembers important stuff,” Oliver answers. “Not useless stuff like that.”

      Mr. Cross uses this as an opportunity, “Yeah, how could I forget who you are?” He ties a kiss for his wife into his compliment. Mrs. Cross smiles.

     “Eww,” groans Oliver, regretting his comment.

     Oliver and Addison sit and play with the young boy. Mr. and Mrs. Cross watch them. They begin basic conversation.

     “So how was work?” Mrs. Cross starts.

     “Tiring.”. Mr. Cross answers. Mrs. Cross’ phone gets a notification. She looks down at it.

     “What is it?” Mr. Cross asks, anticipating an answer.

     “It’s-” Mrs. Cross starts, as Kayden interrupts with a roaring scream. He rocks as if he wants down. Mrs. Cross puts him down and let’s him go play with the others.

     “It looks like we have a full on playdate here, don’t you think?”. Comments Mrs. Cross.

     “It’s a family reunion!” Shouts Addison, smiling.

     “Where did you learn about family reunions?” Mrs. Cross asks Addison.

     “My mom used those words a lot when I was younger,” Addison answers. “She used to hate them, but now she’s seemed to have changed her mind…”

     Addison continues to play.

     Mrs. Cross remarks to her husband, “She knows a lot of words for a four-year-old.”

     Mr. Cross changes the subject, “So, what did you see on your phone?”

     “It was a text from the ladies,” Mrs. Cross starts. She opens her phone and shows him a picture of two different vases holding roses. There is a text title stating, “Which one?” 

     “Oh.” Mr. Cross says. Mrs. Cross moves the screen to her face and then starts bursting out laughing.

       “What’s so funny about roses?” Mr. Cross asks, trying to understand. Mrs. Cross shows him a texted response on the phone. “Lucy: Neither, I have a young girl who would probably knock it over and a baby who would try to eat it.”

     Mr. Cross looks up from the phone. “Isn’t Lucy Addison’s mother?”

     Mrs. Cross’ face lights up. She nods, then immediately walks over to the 4 kids up to Oliver’s son. She looks over at Addison, who is watching her every move.

     “Addison,” she says in a calm voice. “Would you mind if I sent a picture of your son to your mother?”

     This stuns Mr. Cross. Wait until Addison’s mother finds out that her daughter is now also a mother. He’s not even sure how he feels about Oliver trying to be a father, or even having another mouth to feed. How did Oliver become a father in the first place? Did he steal the baby from someone, or is it actually-

     “Sure,” Addison nods. “She already knows about him though.”

     Now Mr. Cross decides to text Lucy and find out why she never told him or his wife that his son is a father. Meanwhile Mrs. Cross texts Lucy as well.

     Mr. Cross’ phone starts to ring. He answers it.

     Lucy laughs, “Philip! That’s my son!”

     He gasps on realization, “Ohhhhhhhh!”

     Mrs. Cross laughs, “Oliver’s too young to be a-”

     She then looks over at Oliver. “Adult.”

     Oliver looks over at his parents’ smiling faces. “I’m not an adult.”

     His parents start laughing with relief, but Oliver cannot understand why.