Page 22 of Have a Bear-y Little Christmas

“I don’t get the joke,” Max said, shooting me that puzzled expression he had whenever he was trying to solve something.

“It’s from movies you’re not old enough to watch yet,” I said. While I was aware that some parents would try to cushion such things, or even change the topic entirely, I always had a rule of being as honest with my son as possible when it was appropriate.

“Is it one I can watch when I reach double digits, one of the ones I can watch when I’m a teenager, or one of the ones where I need to be an adult?”

I was also very aware that my son reacted to such things a little differently than many children would have.

“I think somewhere between double digits and teenager. That part will be up to you and when you feel ready for it.”

“Cool!”

“I’m ten,” Addy said, seemingly back to normal after what must have been quite a shock to her system. Poor girl. I couldn’t imagine suddenly discovering that I had a full-fledged phobia in the middle of a huge crowd of people who all had daggers on the bottom of their shoes. Not exactly a calming environment.

Nonetheless, I was glad Max had helped her, and that I’d been able to help Remy. Now that I knew he was a single dad trying to enjoy the holidays and make special memories with his girls, I was even prouder that Max had pitched in to sort of save the day. It was a small thing—a Band-Aid and talking the girl down from her panic—but it didn’t feel small to me, and I was sure it didn’t feel small to Addy or her father.

“Oh really?” I replied, not having to feign my interest. “Max here is right behind you.”

“Yep, I’m nine.”

“I thought you were my age,” Eva said. Perhaps I was mistaken, because she seemed shyer than her older sister, but she sounded disappointed.

Max, ever the optimist, didn’t interpret it that way. “Nope, I’m right smack-dab between the two of you!”

“Then why are you so small? You’re, like, tiny!”

I nearly dropped the drink Remy handed me. He froze. Max, however, was completely unruffled.

“It’s because I had cancer.”

And there it was.

I braced myself for things to get weird, but Eva just tilted her head to the side. “What’s cancer?”

“It’s when a cell or group of cells ignore the body’s signals to stop dividing. That causes uncontrolled growth and spread of those abnormal cells. It can spread through the entire body if left unchecked,” Addy said matter-of-factly. “There are, like, a billion different kinds.”

“Ohh,” Eva said, nodding sagely. “So, are you going to die?”

“Eva!” Remy chided.

Honestly, I kind of wanted to burst into laughter.

“What? Mommy’s sickness killed her.”

“Nah, I ain’t gonna die from cancer,” Max said, sounding pretty amused. “I’m in remission.”

“Re… mission? Like, a mission again?”

“No, it means his cancer has stopped multiplying,” Addy added without even looking at the two, her gaze completely focused on the hot dog being handed to her. Even though I wasn’t her parent, I knew that look well. Girl washungry.

“You know a lot about cancer,” Max said, eagerly taking the pretzel and tater tots Remy handed to him. “Does someone you know have it?”

“No. I read a lot of medical journals when my mom was in the hospital.”

“Gotcha. And your mom’s dead, right?”

Oh my god!

“Max!” I chastised, but then Addy was answering like it was the most normal conversation in the world. Kids were really weird sometimes.