The Unexpected Gift

Max stood at the window, watching the taillights on his brother’s car slowly disappear down the driveway. He stood by the window until he could no longer see them. His parents were both outside, still waving at his brother, even though he knew his brother was too far away to see them now. He couldn’t believe that his brother had just left for college. In four years, it would be his turn, but that didn’t matter right now. What mattered was that Camden was gone.

He turned away from the window and sighed. He and Camden had always been close despite the differences in their ages. Sure, Camden had given him the occasional hard time, but then that’s what big brothers were supposed to do. But most of the time, his brother had always invited him along. Even when he was going to games or other events at the school or with his friends, he hadn’t minded most of the time if Max came, too. He knew from talking to his friends that he was lucky to have a brother like Camden. And now, Camden was gone. Max knew Camden would come home and visit, and they’d talk all the time, but he also knew it would never be the same as it was.

As the door to the outside opened, and his parents came in, Max could hear his mother crying. His parents were going to miss Camden just as much as he was. He needed to remember that and try to be there for them, but right now, he just wanted a moment alone.

Opening the door to his room, he was surprised to see a package sitting on his bed. He went over and saw a card sticking out. He opened it and immediately recognized Camden’s handwriting even with just the one word he’d written . . . surprise!

Max ripped into the paper and laughed out loud when he saw what it was. He ran downstairs to show his parents. Camden had written a manual on what they should do for the first ten days after he left so they wouldn’t miss him so much. Max quickly saw that day one involved going to a movie and getting pizza and then calling Camden at least three times while they were out. Max was glad to see his parents were smiling as they left the house to begin enjoying the ideas Camden had given them.