Nathan’s joy at his son’s birth was interrupted when his mother handed him a note, insisting he open it after the baby arrived. Hours later, he held his newborn boy and unfolded the paper. Shock washed over him as he read the exact measurements of his son: nine pounds, ten ounces, and nineteen inches long.
“How did you know?” Nathan asked, calling his mother.
“It’s a family tradition,” she replied. “Every firstborn son has those measurements. That’s why you must name him Oscar, after my grandfather.”
Nathan was stunned. He and Jenna had already chosen the name Matthew after her late father. When he told Jenna, she was furious. “We agreed on Matthew,” she said, eyes blazing.
Before they could resolve it, Nathan’s mother arrived. “Name him Oscar, or he won’t see any of the family fortune,” she demanded.
Caught between tradition and his wife’s wishes, Nathan offered a compromise: “Matthew Oscar.” Jenna, though upset, agreed.
As Nathan looked at his son, an uneasy feeling remained. His family’s strange traditions felt more ominous than ever.