Comic Timing

(My friends and I are hanging out for one of my friends’ 21st birthday. Since we are on a bus, we’re trying to be respectful of those around us.)

Friend: “Happy birthday! I got you some adult literature since you are turning 21.”

(She hands him a paper bag that looks like it is holding a book. Since my friends are as likely to do a dramatic reading of a poem by Sappho as watch Spongebob, I wasn’t sure if she was being funny or serious.)

Me: “Oh, no, I didn’t think we were buying you presents.”

Birthday Boy: “You aren’t. [Friend] is just being insistent. I told [Friend] not to buy me anything!”

Me: “So, what is it? Or should you unwrap it later?”

Birthday Boy: “Let’s see.”

(He unwrapped it. It was a comic book tie-in for a popular children’s cartoon.)