"Dear, don't miss us too much while we're away, okay?" Mom said to me in a sad voice.
They were going on vacation together, leaving me behind because I was busy with research.
Grandpa and Uncle Mitchell were also unavailable to take care of me occasionally.
"Your dad's cousin, Lenny Feder, will pick you up soon. Understand?" Mom reminded me.
Yes, that meant staying with my dad's cousin Lenny Feder. I had only heard of him a year ago when my dad mentioned him.
He seems to be a Hollywood movie agent.
I have never met him.
He will pick me up tomorrow, and I will stay at his house for one to two weeks.
Time quickly passed, and the day went by like nothing.
Soon, it was time for Lenny to pick me up.
"Hello, you must be Lenny," I said to the middle-aged man picking me up in his black car.
"Yes, you're Phil's son, Gabriel, right?" he said with a smile. He seemed like a nice man.
I nodded in confirmation.
After that, I got into his car. It looked pretty expensive, similar to Grandpa's.
We drove towards his house.
We didn't talk much while driving; the atmosphere was a bit awkward.
Understandable, as we had never met before.
Luckily, it didn't take long, and we soon arrived at his house.
It was a very large villa.
"This is my house. Rita will show you to your room," Lenny said, then immediately started a phone call.
"Hi, I'm Rita. I'm the nanny. If you need anything, feel free to tell me," a young Asian-looking lady came over and introduced herself.
"Hello, nice to meet you," I greeted her.
"Please come with me. I will show you your room," Rita said.
I nodded and followed her.
The house was very luxurious on the inside.
Rita led me to the second floor and showed me a room.
"This will be your room," Rita said, then went downstairs.
I walked into the room and was stunned.
There was a large bed in the room, as well as a huge TV, a big closet, and a private bathroom.
It seemed to be a guest room.
It looked very luxurious. I put all my things away and organized everything.
Soon, I went downstairs and saw two boys on the couch in the living room.
One seemed to be a teenager, and the other was my age.
"Hello?" I said cautiously.
"Hi, you must be Gabriel. Dad has told us about you. I'm Keithie," the younger one said enthusiastically, while the older one just glanced over.
"Yes, I'm Gabriel," I said, a little shyly.
"Wanna play this game with us? You have to kill as many people on this cruise ship as possible," Keithie said.
"Yeah, the game is amazing. I'm Greg, by the way," the other boy added, speaking for the first time.
"No, thanks. I'll just watch," I said, observing their game, which could easily be described as "brutal."
After about fifteen minutes, I was thirsty and went to look for the kitchen.
"Oh, you must be Gabriel. Nice to meet you. I'm Roxanne," a beautiful middle-aged woman said to me.
"Hi, nice to meet you," I greeted her. She must be Lenny's wife.
"If you need anything, just let me know," Roxanne said, smiling charmingly. She soon walked away to answer a phone call.
I looked at the kitchen table and saw some fruits that I could eat.
I took an apple and started eating it.
"Hi," I heard another voice. This time it was Lenny's daughter. She looked very young.
"Hi, I'm Gabriel. Who are you?" This time, I initiated the introduction.
"I'm Becky. Dad has already told us about you," Becky said in a soft voice.
She seemed pretty cute.
"Nice to meet you, Becky."
"Nice to meet you too," she replied cutely.
After that, I chatted with her a bit, then walked back to Keithie and Greg.
They were still playing that game.
Time passed quickly after that.
I had dinner with them. It was a bit awkward because I didn't know what to talk about.
Luckily, dinner ended soon, and I quickly went to bed.
The next day, I woke up early in the morning.
Only Rita and I were up at the moment.
I finished my morning routine and made breakfast with Rita.
Afterward, Lenny and the others all woke up, and we ate breakfast together. Luckily, the atmosphere wasn't as awkward anymore.
After breakfast, I went to the living room with Keithie and Greg again.
They started playing the game again, and I even joined them for quite some time.
Until I noticed something strange.
"Why is the car driving onto the porch?" I asked Keithie and Greg, confused.
"I don't know," they both answered.
Curiously, we went out to take a look.
Soon after, Lenny came out running.
"Why did you drive the car onto the porch?" Lenny asked Becky, who stepped out of the car. He looked confused and worried.
"I wanted to tell NASA to drive to heaven," Becky said innocently.
Soon, the misunderstanding was cleared up. Lenny's friend and coach had passed away, and the person on the phone had said he went to heaven.
Becky wanted to help her dad and had tried to input "heaven" into the navigation system.
Afterward, Lenny came to talk to me.
"Gabriel, we'll be flying to Massachusetts for a funeral and a little vacation. Do you want to come with us, or should we tell your parents that we can't take you with us?" Lenny asked.
He seemed a little confused and sad, from what I could see.
"I'll come with you," I replied firmly.
"That's good," Lenny said. One less worry for him.