"Hey Ben," Riley said, lowering the top half of the newspaper to look at his friend from across the cluttered table. Ben looked up, eyebrow raised, continuing to eat his scrambled eggs. "Did you know that on this day, in—"
"1776, Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence?"
Riley glared. "No, smarty pants. President Garfield was shot by—"
"Charles J. Guiteau in 1881."
"1937…"
"Amelia Earhart disappeared over the Pacific Ocean."
"And in 1947…"
Ben stared. Riley stared in return for a moment before his eyes lit up.
"You don't know? You don't know what happened on this date in 1947?"
Ben rolled his eyes and took another bite of scrambled eggs, swallowing. "No, Riley, please enlighten me."
Riley turned the paper around and put it down next to Ben, smiling triumphantly and pointing to a line halfway down the list. "1947. 'An object that the Army Air Force later said was a weather balloon crashed near Roswell, New Mexico. Eyewitness accounts gave rise to speculation it might have been an alien spacecraft.' Speculation!"
Ben made his way down the list, looking at the various historical events. "Fascinating. And in 1961—"
"Ernest Hemingway commited suicide!" Riley spat out, cutting him off. "I win!"
"You already read that, Riley."
"But I said it before you did and that's all that matters. I win."
Ben laughed softly and wiped his mouth with a napkin. Let the kid have his fun.