Gifted At Counting

(My sister lives in another country with her husband and their young son. It’s my nephew’s seventh birthday and I’m on the phone talking to him after he’s back home from his birthday party.)

Me: “So, how was the party? Did all your friends enjoy it?”

Nephew: *slightly dejected* “Yeah.”

Me: “What’s wrong?”

Nephew: “Two of them couldn’t make it because of the rain.”

Me: “Aw, that’s all right. You can see them on Monday and tell them all about the party. Are you really close to them? Is that why you’re upset?”

Nephew: “What? No way! Now I only got 16 presents! I was supposed to get 18 if they all came!”

(Turns out he’d been keeping track of the amount of gifts he was supposed to get for weeks before his birthday. Must have been a pretty hard blow for him to realise he was getting two less than he’d thought!)