Watch this,” Cameron Sutton said to his brothers Kyrius and Seth. “Wheaties in the basket for two points.” Cameron took aim, holding the cereal box above his head as if it were a basketball. He focused, tensed like a coiled spring, and let go. The Wheaties flew across the aisle. The box landed squarely in the grocery basket with a thunk!

His mom whirled around just as Cameron hollered “Woo-hoo!” pumping the air with his fist. “I hope you boys aren’t throwing things,” she said, eyeing her three sons. Cameron pulled a box of Raisin Bran off the shelf and pretended to read the back. His youngest brother, Seth stared at the tile floor, but Kyrius, as usual, had an explanation. “We were just putting some more cereal in the basket, Mom.”

“We already have three boxes,” their mother said. Cameron could tell she was trying hard to remain tough, but a smile played at the corners of her mouth. “That’s not enough,” Kyrius said, “I can eat a whole box by myself in a week.” His mom sighed as she looked at the full basket. “Growing boys need to eat, Mom,” Cameron teased.

His mom bent down to pick up a bag of flour. Cameron tossed the cereal over her head and onto the cart where it made a perfect landing. “Dad would’ve loved to see that,” he whispered as he elbowed Kyrius. “Yeah, right. You made that shot from what, two feet out? Anybody could make that.”

Cameron grinned. Of course Kyrius couldn’t let him celebrate something that easy for too long. One of the good things about having brothers was that they didn’t let him get too full of himself. On the first meeting, no one believed the three of them were brothers, since they didn’t look a thing alike and only used half the same last name. Their parents hadn’t wanted them to lose their identities or heritage when they were adopted, so they had kept their own last names, and added Sutton to the end.