My eldest son Oscar phoned last night
He's been studying at a university in the city for over a year now.
"I need you to talk with this guy about synthesisers," he began.
Of course I agreed, but it seemed unusual. "Is there a reason why?"
"It'll settle a bet," said my son.
Now I was interested. "What's at stake? Is there money involved?"
"No," he said. "Just my pride. I need you to talk to prove that we don't sound alike."
A memory flashed through my head of being a bit younger than he is now and answering the phone in my father's house.
My father's friend mistook me for him and asked an embarrassing question. "Want to make it three nights in a row?"
I remember smiling broadly, saying "This is Jason" and savouring the deflated tone of the request to get my father.
However, this was a different conversation and I still couldn't help but be amused how some things haven't changed.
"Pretend to be Oscar," whispered his mother to me as she smiled across the room.
A new voice came on the line and said "Okay" as though it were an introduction.
I smiled and pitched my voice up a semitone, then animated it in the way I have heard Oscar talk.
"Hello there! How is your evening, good fellow?"
There were a few laughs over the shoulder of the caller and smiles in the room where I stood.
"Can I interest you in a synthesiser? I have more than enough and would be happy to acquaint you."
By now the laughs were overlapping and giggles had begun to echo around me.
"I think I can hear it," said the voice on the line.
Then I heard Oscar's friend Lily in the background.
She had called a couple of times and mistaken me for him, then sounded embarrassed when I said I'd get my son for her.
"Thanks Jason," she said through a smile big enough to be heard across a room and down a phone line.
I think Oscar lost the bet and I hope his pride isn't hurt.
