Unexpected

Aunt Tanya and Uncle Jeff rocked on the porch, old school; it had been a weekend of The Unexpected. "Smart kid," Tanya whispered, assuming that they were both grinding their brain pans to dust on the same subject, and being right as right can be. "Yes, and ...," Jeff continued, "... also just a kid, so impulse control is at zero most of the time." "So, we got ourselves the perfect balance of genius and generally untrustworthy," Tanya clarified (because she had a knack for putting things plainly). Jeff laughed. The kid (their nephew) had approached them privately, presented his research confidently and directly, and then sat back to observe them and wait for a response. "Called us out as assassins on a Saturday morning," Tanya continued, "knowing full well he'd be dead by dinner if he was: a) correct, and b) wrong in setting his baseline level of danger estimation and risk tolerance. It was a whole thing." Jeff nodded. "And now it's our move, because he's still alive and he's gonna take that as validation. On the one hand, nobody else has paid attention to their surroundings at that level and caught on, making him ipso facto the sharpest knife in our family drawer. On the other hand, there goes our cover ... to someone who got his driving permit a month ago." They sat in silence for a bit, sipping their coffee. "I haven't had to overthink a damn thing for ages," Tanya eventually whispered. "It's felt like a slump ... and now this." "I know," Jeff responded without delay. "For a Monday, the mayhem quality is marvelous."