“Bowen Merlin,” I replied, shaking as if she were royalty.
“Yes, I know about you.”
“You do?”
Felix already told people?
“You teach my granddaughter trombone. Sarah Patterson. She goes to Whitefield Elementary.”
Sarah, Sarah…oh!
“Pigtails!” I exclaimed.
“That’s her!” Phyllis replied, clapping her hands.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Phyllis,” I said. “Sarah is a very talented young student.”
Phyllis got a little puffy-chested at the compliment. “Have you come to do some holiday shopping, then?”
“Actually, I was here to meet Mr. Hansen. Is he around?”
“Felix is in his office. Would you like me to show you the way?”
“I know where it is, but thank you.” I gave her another smile, went through the gift shop, and turned down the short hall on the left. I knocked briefly on the door.
“Come in!”
I poked my head inside. “Hello.”
Felix looked up from where he stood behind the computer chair. Alan sat at his desk, watching the screen. “Hey!” His smile lit up his entire face.
I stepped inside, leaving the door open. “Am I interrupting?”
“No, no. Alan was just teaching me how to play, uh—”
“Dragon Chaos, Dad.”
“Dragon Chaos,” Felix repeated.
Alan spun in the chair and looked up at me. “Have you played it?”
“My skills are limited to Minesweeper.” I walked toward the desk as Alan turned his attention back to the screen. I slid behind, standing beside Felix. I put a hand on his back and kissed his cheek. “What’s the game about?”
“It’s an MMO.”
“Ah-ha.”
“You pick characters and skills and join up with other players to complete quests.” Alan glanced back at us briefly before pointing at the screen. “This is my character.”
“Why’s he got big ears?” I asked.
“She’sa dark elf.” Alan looked at me again, eyes darting to my hand on his dad before he continued talking. “It’s pretty cool. Sometimes I make the leaderboard.”
“What’s that?”
“When you kick ass and end up being a top player on the server, your name is on the leaderboard. For as long as you can defend the score, you get lots of cool bonus points and rare items. I got a white tiger steed last week.”
A dark elf dragon hunter riding a white tiger?
