The Best Gift Ever

Yesterday Callie turned 7 and grandpa wasn’t there because he had a golf tournament. But he said on Facetime that next year when Callie turns 8 he’s going to give her $100 to make up for it.

$100!

“Dad,” Callie’s mother exclaimed when he said it, and her eyebrows made those little triangles they make when she’s… What’s the word? Oh yeah: ex-asper-rated.

“What?” Grandpa said, and grinned like a shark. “She’s my only grandchild - I gotta spoil her, it’s my job.” Grandpa said he grinned like a shark because he was always the biggest fish in the pond.

Mom took the phone to have a little chat with grandpa in the other room, but Callie couldn’t care less. She was looking around her bedroom and instead of the cardboard doll house she’d decorated with crayons and pictures she’d cut out of Aunt Karen’s fashion magazines, she saw the entire Barbie Dream House complete with its electric lights and working music player blasting tunes, and she saw all her friends from camp asking to come over to her house for play dates, and she saw a whole closet full of the complete wardrobe of all the Disney princess movies with tiaras with real jewels in them and metal instead of plastic so you knew they were real for real.

That night before bed as she fell asleep she imagined she was at CVS in the candy aisle the week before Halloween and she had a real cart with wheels, not a basket because it would be too heavy, and she saw so clearly the look of…what was the word? Awe - that’s it! The cashier had a look of awe on her face because Callie had 4 jumbo bags of Twix candies, just Twix candies. She freaking loves Twix candies!

She could probably afford 12 bags actually, one for each month of the year. She could eat Twix candies every day before breakfast and her mother wouldn’t even know because CVS was right behind their house, their backyard had a hedge but you could still see the parking lot back there behind it, and even though mom said she was going to plant a bunch of pine trees back there to block the view she never did because she said they couldn’t afford it.

But Callie already knew she could go to CVS while her mother watched ‘Is It Cake’ on Netflix because Callie once spilled an entire gallon of milk on the kitchen floor and then soaked it up with her dirty laundry while her mother watched ‘Is It Cake’ on Netflix, and her mother even walked in the kitchen to grab a beer while Callie was standing over the pile of sopping wet tshirts and skorts and mom didn’t even notice.

‘Is It Cake’ episodes were at least a half hour long and Callie could definitely go to CVS and back in that time. She could probably take 3 trips in that time, and she’d need to if she was going to get 12 bags of candy.

The next day Callie went to camp because even though it was summer and a bunch of her friends could stay home and play all day mom said Callie couldn’t because mom had to work a bunch of twelve hour shifts. Next year when Callie turned eight she figured she could probably pay Cindy Lewis across the street to babysit so she could stay home all day while mom was at work, because Cindy Lewis was 13 and she took a class and everything on how to be a babysitter so she was certainly… Qualified. That’s the word mom would use. Callie knew Cindy would definitely watch her a bunch for $100.

In the meantime Callie told everyone at camp about the $100 grandpa had promised her next year, and everyone lay on the floor under the lunch tables after lunch and came up with oodles of things they’d all do if they had a grandpa as wonderful as Callie’s.

When Aunt Karen picked Callie up from camp for some reason she wasn’t excited when Callie gushed the news the whole car ride home. Instead she got a weird serious face with a crooked frown and said Grandpa doesn’t even play golf. Whatever Aunt Karen! $100 is $100 and $100 could buy a lot of minigolf tournaments with her friends and Grandpa could come too and learn to play!

It went on like that the rest of the year - any time mom said they couldn’t afford something, Callie was quick to point out that on her next birthday she could buy it herself with Grandpa’s $100, and that happened a lot because mom was always saying they couldn’t afford things.

Plus it was fun to slip into all the different awesome things Callie was going to be able to do or wear or own or play with once she was rich - it was literally one of Callie’s favorite things to do. Being 7 was way more fun than being 6 because she always had something to look forward to.

And that’s why it was really a…a no brainer! That’s what her second grade teacher Ms. Pettigrou called it when everyone knows what the best of 2 choices is - like when it’s pizza day at the cafeteria and you have the choice between that and bean salad. Everyone knows bean salad is going in the trash at the end of the day - it’s a no brainer! And that’s what it was like when Grandpa Facetimed her at her 8th birthday to tell her he couldn’t make it to her super awesome trampoline park birthday party that mom saved up for a whole month to pay for this year, because he had a fish on the hook but he had to be patient and steady and reel him in slow or he was going to lose him. Whatever Grandpa - of course you’re going to catch that fish - you’re the shark!

“That’s right baby baby,” Grandpa said - that was his special nickname just for Callie ever since she was little little. And then Grandpa let her in on his secret - Callie always loved it when Grandpa let her in on his secrets. He always looked all around to be sure nobody was nearby and then he leaned in close to the camera and his voice got all low and purry - Callie looked all around too just to be sure nobody could overhear and scooted to the other side of the party room because her mother was getting the triangle eyebrows again.

And that’s when Grandpa told her this was such a big fish he was gonna catch that he was for sure for sure going to be able to win the big big prize this time.

Double or nothing, he said, and would she rather have $100 now or $200 on her next birthday when she turns 9?

Two-hundred dollars? Holy Cowabunga Grandpa - that’s twice as much as last year. Which of course means being 8 was going to be twice as good as being 7 with twice as many things to dream about. Grandpa was really the best!

“Wishes and kisses,” Grandpa said and gave her his special wink that meant they were in this together.

“Wishes and kisses Grandpa,” Callie said and winked right back.

And then she went to tell her mom the awesome news.