"You gotta let me borrow this shirt some day, Ephram," Jig said looking at a Slayers T-shirt Ephram had been given. A few hours had passed and everyone had gone home, save Desi and Jig. Ephram sighed.
"Jig, you gave me that shirt!" he told her. She smiled.
"I know, so can I borrow it?" she asked him. Ephram rolled his eyes.
"Fine, but just don't stretch it out," he warned her.
"I couldn't if I wanted to," she said. Desi smiled.
"Did you like your gifts Ephram?" Desi asked him. He nodded.
"The ones I'll actually get to keep," he said. Jig stuck her tongue out at him. Desi laughed.
"You two become such children sometimes," Desi told them.
"No we don't," they said in unison. Desi laughed.
"You know, you can't say that stuff to Ephram anymore. He's 16 now," Jig told her.
"Oh yea, I'm dating an older man!" Desi said and the two girls laughed.
"Okay, okay, leave the birthday boy alone. Do any of you want some more cake?" Dr. Brown asked walking into the living room. The three of them replied in the negative. Dr. Brown stood in the middle of the living room and looked around him.
"Well this is a mess," he said.
"Well, I'd help you Dad, but it's my birthday," Ephram told him.
"And I'd help, really, but I was only assigned the decorations," Jig said. Desi sighed.
"I'll help you, Dr. Brown, seeing as how I'm the only other decent human being here," Desi said getting off of the couch.
"A hand for the decent human beings!" Ephram said and he and Jig started clapping. Desi grinned and kicked Ephram in the shin slightly.
"Thanks for helping," Dr. Brown told her. Desi waved it off.
"No problem."
Unusually, immediately after Star and Cory left, the little bit of snow melted and the streets and roof tops dried. Ephram lay on the roof above his front porch and Jig lay next to him. Desi had another lead to follow. Evidently, the girl in the Senior play had been recast due to possible pregnancy. Big news. It was late at night now and Ephram and Jig lay there silently looking up at the stars. Neither of them had ever seen so many stars before, both of them growing up in big cities where stars were rare. This, this was mesmerizing. When push came to shove, neither of them minded moving to Everwood. The reasons behind their moving were what they minded. But if the causes had been different, moving to Everwood would have been perfect. They were both happy, something for a time they had both given up on. Jig sighed.
"Where do you think we'll be in twenty years?" she asked him. Ephram sighed.
"Oh I don't know."
"I bet you'll be here, a doctor just like your dad," Jig said. Ephram laughed at the pure absurdity of the idea.
"Just what the world needs, another Dr. Brown," he said. Jig nodded.
"The more the better."
"What? More men who are always too busy for their family? I never want to be like that…" Ephram said.
"I'll make you a deal, then. You and I will still be friends, in twenty years, right?"
"Right."
"Right. So, I, as you best friend now and probably forever, promise that if I ever think you're neglecting your wife and children, will smack you in the back of your head and call you a 'damn moron,'" Jig promised him. Ephram glanced at her.
"Thanks…" he said with little enthusiasm. She smiled.
"Of course if you become a gynecologist your wife won't let you work late," Jig said and Ephram laughed.
"You ever wonder why the word 'gynecologist' begins with the sound 'guy?'" Ephram asked her. Jig broke out into laughter.
"I can't say that I have!" she said.
"That's how weird I am. Things like that actually occur to me!" Ephram told her.
"Well I wouldn't like you if you were normal Ephram," Jig told him. He nodded.
"Where do you think you'll be in twenty years Jig?" he asked her. Jig sighed.
"Oh I don't know…"
"I'm estimating that you marry Isaac and the two of you tour the globe together," Ephram said and Jig laughed.
"Isaac? No, he's a sweet guy but he's just, too much to handle now," Jig explained.
"Well we're not talking now, we're talking twenty years from now," Ephram reminded her.
"Isaac gets progressively harder to handle as time goes by," she informed him.
"Oh," he said nodding. Jig smiled.
"So what are you and Desi going to name your children?" Jig asked him.
"Jig! We're only fifteen!" he told her.
"Uh! Uh! Sixteen! You're sixteen now lover boy!" Jig reminded him. He nodded.
"Okay, you got me."
"You can drive now, Ephram…" she reminded him.
"I can get my permit."
"Yea well, this is like a milestone if a kid's life though, right? You're sixteen. Freaky."
"You'll be sixteen this year too."
"Yea, but it's one thing being sixteen yourself, it's another having friends who are sixteen."
"You're weird, Jig."
"Well you wouldn't be my friend if I was normal," she said with a grin. Ephram scoffed.
"How do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Have every single thing you say lead back to something you said earlier. You're always doing that!" he replied. Jig shrugged.
"It just seems to be the way the world works."
"Your world maybe," Ephram said gazing again at the stars. Jig propped herself up on her elbows and looked down at Ephram, smiling.
"You'll make a great father, Ephram. Don't worry about it," Jig reassured him. Ephram looked up at her surprised, but not unpleasantly so. Jig sighed.
"And I'm sure Desi will make a great wife and mother as well," she said. Ephram let out a slight chuckle.
"You really want me to marry Desi, don't you?"
"Don't you?"
"It's a little early for me. Besides, no one finds the person they're supposed to marry in high school."
"Oh I'm sure some people do," Jig said. Ephram nodded, figuring she was probably right about that.
"Well I'm not one of them," he said. Jig smirked.
"We'll talk about that again in twenty years," she said.
Dr. Brown said alone in the kitchen, casually eating a piece of vanilla cake. He let out a long sigh and took a sip from a glass of wine. He knew that Ephram's birthday was Ephram's big day, but Dr. Brown and Julia always celebrated it by themselves too. Today was the sixteenth anniversary of the day Dr. Brown and Julia became parents. Dr. Brown had been a father now for sixteen years. Well, on paper anyway. If you had measured Dr. Brown to what a father should be, he knew he would always come up short. But he was trying. Dr. Brown vowed that by the seventeenth anniversary of his parenthood he would be considered a father across the board.
"Okay, I have one. A pirate walks into a bar," Jig started. The two were still up on the porch roof and Ephram sighed in anticipation of what this joke might consist of. Jig slapped him.
"No, listen. A pirate walks into a bar, and the bartender says 'hey, do you know you have a steering wheel in your pants?' and the pirate goes, 'yar, I know, it's driving me nuts!'" Jig said and Ephram laughed slightly, shaking his head.
"That was horrible Jig."
"Wasn't it though?" Jig asked laughing.
"Okay, okay here. Jig, I have a question. True or false? All's fair in love and war," he asked her. Jig thought about it.
"False," she ended up replying. Ephram looked at her surprised.
"Really?" he asked her. She nodded.
"Nothing's fair in war," she replied grinning. Ephram smiled and shook his head.
"Right of course not."
"Okay, now my turn. Ephram. How many roads, must a man walk down, before he's considered a man?" she asked him. He thought about it for a few moments.
"As many as it takes for him to give up and ask for directions," Ephram replied and Jig broke out into laughter, leaning on Ephram's shoulder for support.
"Okay! Okay! You win! Making fun of your own gender! You win!" she told him. He nodded.
"I'd win anyway, it's my birthday," he told her, grinning. She glanced at her watch.
"Oh, no way man. It's past midnight, not your birthday anymore," she told him. He looked at her watch like he didn't believe her completely. He then looked up at her.
"So I guess you're sleeping over…" he said. She smiled.
"I guess so!"
Delia sat at the kitchen table early Sunday morning. She was trying to finish a drawing for art class, but there was a rhythmic sound coming from the room next to the kitchen. Eventually she sighed and walked out of the kitchen and into the room. She walked over to the couch where Jig lay asleep, snoring.
"Jig," Delia said. Jig continued sleeping. Delia placed her hands on Jig's arm and started shaking her.
"Jig!" Delia yelled again. Ephram walked into the kitchen and stopped.
"What's that sound?" he asked looking over at Delia. Delia sighed and Jig continued snoring.
"It's Jig…" Delia told him. Ephram walked over to her and laughed seeing Jig.
"I've never heard that sound before," Ephram asked her, Delia smiled. Dr. Brown walked into the kitchen and stopped, just as his son had.
"Is somebody snow blowing?" he asked and Delia and Ephram started laughing.
