In John’s house (which I generally refer to as “840”), there’s a small bookshelf above the television which contains nothing but the thirty or so books written by his father.

So when Chelsey and I were at the Holy Family Fair on Sunday with all our friends from Anything Goes, we bought a random hardcover book called Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart for twenty-five cents. We hid it from John all evening at the Fair, and then later when he was gone, we signed it: “To John and Carrie, Happy Bar Mitzvah! Mazel Tov! Love, David and Chelsey.”

Then we placed it on the shelf among John’s father’s books, and now we’ll wait to see how long it takes him to notice.