Vin has a brother named Norman. I asked Norman how old he was and he was quiet for a moment, thinking. "I am going to be 12 in 4 and 1/2 months," he responded seriously. As far as I can tell, Norman does everything seriously. He is the only child of Vin's dad's second marriage, and being 20 years younger than his next closest sibling, he is more like an only child. He is an incredibly thin, straight limbed little boy with big glasses that slide down his nose. He stares over the top of them with big, observing eyes. His mother dresses him for a Utah winter year round, even though they live in Southern California. He came with his father to his sister's wedding rehearsal dinner. She and another brother whisked him inside immediately. They made him take off the long sleeve shirt that he had on under his t-shirt and untuck said t-shirt from his pants. Then they soaked his head in water and styled his hair for him. Then they sent him outside.
There weren't too many kids around, and I felt as out of place as he looked, so I befriended him. I also volunteered to watch his nephew, a three-year old, adorable energizer bunny. We went to explore the enormous backyard where the wedding was held. Through it ran the old trolley tracks of the Pasadena trolley. We followed them through an old train yard until it dead ended in the street. The energizer bunny stomped in a solid line through grass that was waist high for him. When we hit the end of the road, he didn't even pause, just turned around and stomped back. We made it back to the yard and Norman spent a while rolling a ball down a hill to his nephew and then running to get it. Then he let his nephew push the ball down the hill and then Norman would again run to get it. After a while he came panting over to where I stood watching, "Being an uncle is hard work," he said, "but I do my best."
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