If he was going to spend the evening trapped in at family dinner, then Kay was at least going to get the most out of his day off. He had spent most of that Monday morning playing on his computer. In the last couple years he had gotten used to staying on the internet for many hours across the day but that morning he kept disconnected because the house was expecting a call.

He had tried that Rudras game he was recommended from Huxley and was lost in the game’s robust magic-naming system. He needed a guide but with the internet off he couldn’t log into GameFAQs.

He massaged his brow. “Naming your own spells sounds cooler than the reality.”

Then a voice came from the living room. It was his mother: “Kaaaay!”

“Yeah, mom?” he called back.

“Phone!” shouted his mother. “It’s your father!”

It was Dad! Kay paused his game and got up from his computer. He crashed out of his room and zipped to phone by the front door. His mother stood there, an uncomfortable half-smile on her face, holding the phone like it was a dirty sock.

Kay took the phone and brought it to his head. He spoke: “Dad?”

“Hello, Mikhail,” said Dad. “Happy Thanksgiving! How are you?”

Kay had missed hearing his dad’s voice. Dad had a soft but intelligent tone, heartfelt words spoken through a dignified Lithuanian accent.

Kay’s mother walked off, giving her son a little bit of privacy.

“I’m good,” said Kay. He added “Happy Thanksgiving” although that didn’t seem appropriate being that Dad lived in Lithuania.

“Doing well in school?” asked Dad.

Kay peered around the room to see his mother and Urban peering him from the couch.

“Yeah, I’m doing good.” No, he had more to say. “I’m doing great.”

“Good to hear, son,” said Dad.

“How have you been?” asked Kay. He tried his best to ask a question with a bit of sophistication. “How is work? Life?”

“Work’s good,” said Dad. “My life is busy.”

The cord rattled as the coils clicked against the edge of the phone table. Kay folded into the corner and lowered his voice, unseen and unheard by the other people in the house.

“Are you coming home for Christmas?” asked Kay. “Uh– coming here?”

Dad let out a tortured sigh. “No, that’s not happening, Kay.”

Kay’s heart sank. He had to shake his head in disappointment and mouth some cursed words, but he put the phone back up to his head. “Why not?”

“I can’t make it,” said Dad. “I’m busy and it’s expensive to fly.”

“You work at a tech company,” said Kay, his tone condescending. “You can afford it.”

“Don’t tell me what money I have.” Dad’s scowl could be heard through the phone. “I can’t make it this year.”

Kay exhaled. It was disappointing but he had to live with it. “Okay...”

“So what has been up with you?” asked Dad. “You’re sixteen now. You’re in... grade eleven, right?”

“Yes,” said Kay.

“Getting close to the end of high school,” said Dad. “What were you thinking of specializing in?”

Kay’s dad had a weird way of saying things but Kay knew what he meant. What did Kay want to do with his life? What did he want to go to college for? It was something he wasn’t sure about going into high school and after his powers unleashed in the tenth grade, the thought of planning a future became absurd.

“I’m not sure,” said Kay. “It’s not something I really thought about.”

“You have to get on that, Mikhail,” said Dad. “Grade eleven is when you must start making those decisions.”

Kay sighed. “Right...”

They chatted a little bit more and then Dad wanted to talk to his daughter. Kay called Aubrey and handed the phone to her while he went back into his room to continue his game for a remainder of the day.

For Thanksgiving dinner, Kay was forced to put on decent clothing and wear his unshaded glasses. He didn’t like getting dressed up, the collared shirt feeling constricting on his body. It was a bit itchy, too.

Wearing unshaded glasses was the bigger issue, though. Clear plastic, resting on Kay’s eyes? He looked across his room. The wall’s paint was an unfamiliar shade. The sky was caustically bright. Kay held the glasses up to the ceiling light, rays of light like swords on his eyes.

“This can’t be healthy,” he said, squinting out into the world.

With Kay, Stevie, and Urban ready to go, they said ‘Bye’ to Aubrey and then went down to the parking lot and got in Urban’s Camry. He drove while Mom took the passenger seat and Kay took the back. While his mom and stepdad chatted, the boy let himself be distracted by the outside world, watching the outside world wave by as the car journeyed across the city to the Danforth.

Urban’s aunt, who was hosting the dinner, had her house on the corner of an intersection. Cars were parked up and down the road for that Thanksgiving Saturday but just as Urban turned into the road, another car pulled out and Urban took their place.

“What if they were just going to the store quick?” asked Mom.

“Their loss!” said Urban.

Kay was worried that it was going to be cold when he got out of the car, but it was mild. He walked a few paces behind his mom and her husband, up to the house. It was older-looking but without any signs of decay. Maybe it had been built long ago but got regular upkeep.

It wasn’t very large, though, and seeing all the cars parked up beside it reminded Kay how crowded the dinner was going to be. Now Kay had basic sense and understood it was Thanksgiving dinner for most other folks around but all it took was getting into thirty feet of Urban’s aunt’s house for a choir of voices to hit Kay.

When Urban and Mom walked in, Urban cheered and gave a big hello and hug to somebody Kay never got a chance to see before. Whoever it was, they walked off but Kay assumed it was someone Urban hadn’t seen in awhile, although Urban’s family was big and Kay couldn’t know who it was.

As Kay got to the door, he could see his fears realized as the house was full of people. Even the foyer was stuffed. A few people were crowded around the stairs, chatting happily with drinks in hand.

And the house was loud. Kay walked in the door and he was bombarded with unknowable conversation. It hit him like wall of sound. Occasionally, a laugh or a child’s scream would rise about the amorphous muttering. It was like the cafeteria during lunch.

Kay couldn’t even walk in the door all the way. Trying to step into the house, he bumped into Urban’s coat.

“Hey, I need in,” said Kay.

His parents had to step around the crowd of people hanging and chatting in the foyer. Urban politely asked some people to move so that he and Mom could step forward and allow Kay in. With some room cleared up, Kay was able to properly step inside the house and close the door behind him.

The trio of a family was ushered into a side room where stands were left out for people to hang up coats and take off shoes. Kay removed his shoes but that’s when Kay was lost. What did he do? Where did he go? Who did he talk to? It was a party full of strangers.

“Where do I sit?” asked Kay.

“Let’s go to the living room,” said Urban.

What else could Kay do? He followed Urban’s lead; him and his mom following Urban through the house, having to squeeze between people planted around the hallways. It was like someone tried squishing a congregation into a normal-sized house.

Kay’s family walked to a large, split-level living room with cozy amber walls. When Kay, Stevie and Urban walked in, they got a choir of hellos from a sea of strangers. There were people situated across old rocking chairs, couches with quilts draped over top, and some cushions on the floors.

Mom and Urban found a spot together on a nice couch on the upper level whereas Kay had to find a wooden chair in the corner, sandwiched between an old woman and a middle-aged man with a bushy black beard. He smiled and said “Hello” when they said “Hello” to him but that’s as far as conversation went.

Kay didn’t know what to do, and he couldn’t shake his lack of enthusiasm about trying to strike up conversation with people that forced upon him on some level. Everyone around the room chatted, so familiar with one another but he sat there alone, awkward in his silence. Everyone had their loud conversations.

At one point, a woman approached Kay’s mom. Mom gave her usual introductions, even pointing at Kay in the corner– “That’s Kay, my son”– and Kay having to sheepishly wave back from across the room like he was a kid on time out. It was embarrassing to have Kay’s mom explain him but on the other hand, Kay didn’t want to shout across the room to have a conversation.

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Daphne arrived at the party came in the room with a big smile on her face but of course she did. In the couple times that Kay had met Daphne before, she was always cheerful. She had long dark brown hair and wore a nice black dress that evening.

“Oh, Kay!” she said, waving at the boy. “You should head up to the upstairs rec room! I think they’re playing Risk or something.”

“Okay,” said Kay.

That was his cue to go check it out. He got up, knocking his leg against the old woman’s knee. He gave a quick “Sorry” without offering any eye contact and then walked off, asking Daphne for directions.

“Go back to the front door and go up the stairs,” she said. “Then go down the hall and take a right at the end. Shouldn’t be hard to find.”

Kay was on his way but he slowed his steps. What was the chance that he was going to enjoy himself anymore there than being quiet in a larger room? He sighed. As he walked back to the foyer, he passed by a door underneath the top of the stairs into another room: he couldn’t tell which. Maybe it was another living room, or a lounge. That room looked just as packed as the living room.

The group of people lounging by the foyer hadn’t moved an inch since Kay had arrived. He slipped past them and went upstairs. As he reached the top, he could hear chatter and laughter of a younger variety– kids his age. He went down the hall to the left and the chatter got louder.

Kay turned the corner and looked into a rec room. There was an assortment of youths scattered around the room. It was a cozy room with sloped roof to the side. A variety of seats were about and in the middle of the floor were a few boys playing a tiled board game on the floor. Kay took a look at the box: Carcasonne.

“Who are you with?” asked Alek, a boy a few years older than Kay. He was on the floor leaning against the wall, not participating in the game.

“Urban,” said Kay.

“I don’t remember Urban having a son,” said Brittany, a taller girl with dark hair. She took a chair off of the wall and laid it out for Kay. Kay sat down.

“Stepson,” Kay corrected.

Alek tapped a knee. “Oh yeah, Uncle Urban’s wedding...” It was a year ago by now. It wasn’t that hard to remember.

The three kids in the centre played their game silently, listening in on the conversation.

“Which school do you go to?” asked Nikolas, a boy with sideburns about the same age as Alek.

“Central,” said Kay, using one of the common nicknames for the York Central Collegiate Institute.

“Oh, you mean: Icky,” said Nikolas, using another.

“A lot of posers in that school,” said Alek, scratching his chin.

How was Kay going to respond to that? Posers? He wondered how Central got that kind of reputation. He straightened up. “I’m not one of them.”

“Suuuure...” said Alek, checking Nikolas and the two breaking into a little chuckle. A few snickers echoed across the room.

“I’m out of school,” said Alek.

Kay smirked. “Couldn’t take it, huh?” This didn’t get the reaction Kay wanted so he had to graft in some clarity to his insult. “Had to drop out, huh?”

This got a reaction. A few chuckles across the room.

Alek raised his nose smugly. “Even if I did, what would that mean? People don’t learn real skills in school. They learn–” He dropped his nose and gave a dismissive shrug– “history and stuff. Me?” He shirt was starting to pull up and reveal some skin on his stomach so he straightened it out. “I can fix cars.” He paused to look elsewhere. “I guess learned that in school, but I didn’t have to.”

“How old are you?” asked Nikolas. “Fourteen?”

The low-balling grated on Kay.

“Sixteen,” said Kay, knowing that he was about to be on the receiving end of criticisms and jeers.

“You driving yet?” asked Alek.

“No,” said Kay.

“Sheesh,” said Alek. “I was gunning for my license when I was still fifteen.”

“Not everyone does that, Alek,” said Brittany.

“They should,” said Alek. “Getting a car is very important.”

“It’s a transportable home,” said Nikolas, “It’s probably your first symbol of independence.”

What we he need driving for? He could get across town almost as fast as taking busses. Kay couldn’t say that out loud, though.

“Hey!” someone called from below, “Dinner’s about to be served!”

“O-kaaaay!” Nikolas called back.

They left the game and got up. Everyone proceeded downstairs, Alek giving Kay a condescending look before they left the room.

The dining space was actually the kitchen, the dining room, then the front room where people hung up their coats. Large divisional doors had to be opened to fit in the series of long tables, and even then a few people had to eat on the chairs on the side of the room. On the tables, there was the occasional candle display but most of the room had to be reserved for food.

And the food looked good. Kay was uncomfortable swimming through an ocean of acquaintances but the food smelled delicious. Urban wanted to sit near his brother Luke so Mom had to sit beside Urban and then the seats beside her filled up.

“But where am I supposed to sit?” asked Kay.

Mom looked around. “I dunno. Find some place.”

“What’s the matter, kid?” asked Luke. “Need your mommy nearby?” He broke out into a horse laugh and Kay responded by feeling like an idiot and saying nothing.

Kay moved around the table while seats filled up with excited family members and found an empty seat, sitting between a large bearded man named Alpheus and Gregor, an older man with his grey hair combed back. Kay took his seat and tried to remain as quiet as possible.

Alpheus and Gregor talking to each other over Kay, though, and Kay got sucked into their circle of conversation. Soon, they volunteered Kay to join their chat.

“So you’re Urban’s new stepson, huh?” asked Alpheus.

God, did Kay hate that word but a family dinner was no place to protest it. Kay uttered: “Yeah...”

“That must be a fun time!” said Gregor.

“Yeah...”

“How old are you?” asked Alpheus.

It didn’t take long for the conversation to codify into the adults asking the adolescent a series of question rapid fire. Kay answered them with short, inoffensive answers.

“What’s your favourite sport?”

“Norkemasis? Is that Greek?”

“You ever been the Bahamas?”

Kay was on the receiving end of a conversation he didn’t have control over. Even when he had a chance to answer questions, he knew that there were a lot of answers the two men would have issues with.

“Which church do you go to? What? You don’t go to church? You should go to our church.”

It only took a few minutes for the men to give up the pretense of asking question and instead outright told Kay what he was like.

“You must be thinking about girls all the time!”

“You’re Lebanese? You must have fattoush every day!”

“The food’s good right?”

It wasn’t exhausting and didn’t distract Kay from the food that was quite good, but it made him feel lonely. He wasn’t be talked to– he was being talked at.

The night went on and Kay went to a corner in the living room to pretend to be asleep. Some younger kids came in while he pretended to be asleep and made threats of drawing on his face but didn’t got through with it.

The hours went on and then Mom called at Kay. “Hey, Kay! We’re leaving!”

Kay got up. The suffering had ended. He skulked to the front and got his shoes back on. He felt heavy, although that was likely all the food he consumed.

Stepping out into the night, the outside air was cold. Kay shivered and clutched his shirt. Urban and Mom laughed as they walked to the car. Maybe Mom had a glass of something, Kay didn’t know. Urban was driving anyway.

The car was cold when they got inside and Kay didn’t want to bother Urban to turn on the heat so he shivered in the back seat. Urban waited for a line of cars to pass by and then he drove out and the trio was on their way home.

“What did you guys play up there?” asked Mom.

“I didn’t play anything,” said Kay. “It was Carcas– something. It was like Lost Treasure? Do you remember that game... mom?”

“Ummm, no,” said Mom. “As long as you had fun then.”

Kay huffed a joyless chuckle. I didn’t, he thought to himself.