I'd like to dedicate this story to The Guest Reviewer and BTR and Kittens. The Guest Reviewer inspired the idea, and his gentle encouragement and endless patience have supported me while writing; and BTR and Kittens also deserves a "Technical Advisor" credit and I thank him for answering my plethora of questions and never growing tired of helping me. Any technical errors I may have written are all my fault, and anything I get right is due to his advice and expertise.
"James! Wanna race? JAMES! Wanna race? Hey, Jaaaaaaaames!" Four year old Kendall Knight was trying to get the attention of his friend James, who was currently walking in the midst of a group of kindergarten girls.
Kendall was in the morning program at his school's Pre-K, and James, due to having a birthday that made him five years old by the September first cut-off, was already in kindergarten, despite being born in the same year as Kendall. They had been friends for a couple of years, their moms brought them to the same Gymboree when they were "little".
Morning recess was the only recess the Pre-K kids shared with the older kids, who were all in full day programs. Their school had classrooms starting with the half day Pre-K through sixth grade. It was the first week of school, and Kendall would be in the morning program till spring, when he would flip to the afternoon program.
Usually James was more than willing to race, he had a competitive streak about as wide as Kendall's, but since entering kindergarten he had become entranced with some of the young ladies in the class, and was just as interested in hearing about their purple and glittery accessories-everything from barrettes to backpacks-as he was in trying to beat Kendall at various activities.
Kendall was running past the group now, trying to entice James with his speedy prowess. He turned around and was running backwards when he got all the way past them, still trying to get James to bite. James ignored him and turned with the girls to walk to another part of the playground.
"Jayyyyyy-oof!" Kendall's breath was cut off as he lost his balance for a second when he slammed into something behind him that he couldn't see. That something was a little boy who had come walking around the corner of the school, and he hadn't been watching where he was going because he was too busy examining a wooly caterpillar that he had balanced on a brick he was carrying. The collision with the taller boy made him drop the brick and it landed corner first on his foot and then flipped over onto the ground.
Kendall got his balance back right at the last second, and so avoided not only falling, but dragging the other boy down with him.
"Hey! I'm sorry, I didn't see you there!" he apologized.
The other kid was looking down at his brick, his mind already telling him what he was going to find when he picked it up. The other boy was faster though.
"Is that your brick? Let me get that for you…" Kendall picked it up and flipped it over, seeing the smushed guts of the caterpillar smeared on the side that had landed on the ground. He looked at the other boy, horrified at what he had done. He noticed the shorter kid had tears in his big brown eyes behind his big round glasses. "Oh, hey, don't cry! I didn't mean to…I'll find you another bug…" Kendall instinctively reached out to smooth the boy's tears away with the thumb of his right hand (his left hand still held the brick). Kendall left a smudge of dirt and red brick dust on the other boy's face.
"I'm not crying, I don't cry," the other boy said stoically. If there's one thing Logan Mitchell was not, it was a crybaby. He might be one of the shortest, slightest boys in the entire kindergarten, and one of the oddest with his quick intelligence and ability to read already, but he wasn't a crybaby. "My foot smarts from where the brick landed on it." He sort of didn't mind the other boy touching his face though. That was actually comforting. "And, it's not a bug, it was a caterpillar, a wooly caterpillar."
"I'm very sorry I squished your wooly caterpillar," Kendall said.
"You didn't, the brick did. I should've been watching where I was going, instead of trying to count his segments before I had put him down and taken out my notes," Logan was willing to share responsibility. Logan slung off his backpack and pulled out a blank three by five notecard and scraped up the remains of the caterpillar that were on the hardtop where the brick had landed. Then he took the brick from Kendall and placed the card face down over the remains on the brick.
"We should bury him, we owe him that much," Logan said seriously.
Kendall's face brightened, he could help with this. He ran to the edge of the playground and yelled through the chain link fence to the janitor who was emptying rolling bins of recyclables into their proper dumpster, "Mr. Streeter? Can you please bring me a shovel?"
The janitor looked up and smiled and waved to Kendall. From the first day of school, the smiling blond boy with the dimples had been a favorite with everyone, introducing himself and asking what jobs they did at the school. "I'll be there in a minute, Kendall."
Mr. Streeter walked over to his side of the fence and asked Kendall what he needed a shovel for. When Kendall explained, Mr. Streeter assured him he had just the thing, and to wait for him there. He came out of the building on the playground side of the fence a minute later, carrying a small garden trowel. He led the boys over to the edge of the hardtop, where the grass began. He dug a small hole a couple of inches deep, and Logan scraped the remains of the caterpillar into it, using the note card, then he placed the card itself into the hole, and Mr. Streeter took the brick from him and placed the end with the remains stuck to it into the ground and left the other end sticking out as he shoveled and packed the dirt back in, so it looked a bit like a headstone.
"You boys want to say a few words?" Mr. Streeter asked.
"I don't know what you're supposed to say," Logan said. Kendall nodded, he didn't know either.
"Oh, uh, well," Mr. Streeter cleared his throat. "Um, we gather here today to say farewell to, uh, Wooly Caterpillar. We hope he had a good life. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust."
"Goodbye, Wooly Caterpillar," Logan whispered.
"Bye," Kendall said, sadly.
"Okay, then. Good job, boys, you've done right by him." Mr. Streeter was a big believer in closure. "Who's your friend, Kendall?"
"Oh! I don't know! He's not in my class. I'm Kendall Knight, who are you?" Kendall asked in his outgoing way.
The other boy wasn't so outgoing, and he was sort of intimidated by the big janitor, but he had been so nice and helped them bury the caterpillar, and he worked at the school and the other boy knew him so it wasn't like he was a stranger, who Logan knew never to talk to…
"Um, kid? Who are you?" Kendall asked again. Logan tended to do that, get lost in thought.
"I'm Logan Mitchell. I'm in Mrs. Perry's kindergarten class." Kendall was impressed. All the other pre-K and kindergarten teachers went by "Miss" and then their first name, except for Mr. Luke, who still went by his first name, but everyone knew Mrs. Perry was "old school", whatever that meant, and insisted on being called by her last name. All the smartest kids were in Mrs. Perry's class. James was in Miss Debbie's class.
"Hi, Logan!" Kendall smiled brightly, his dimples slowly bringing out a set of Logan's own. "This is Mr. Streeter."
"Nice to meet you," Logan said shyly.
"You boys have about five minutes left of recess," Mr. Streeter informed them, looking at his watch. "I've got to get back to work."
"Logan, that's a nice name. I never met a Logan before," Kendall said. "Do you think we have time to find another wooly caterpillar?"
Logan nodded eagerly and the boys took off towards the trees, where Logan had found the first caterpillar. After the recess bell rang and all the kids were back inside, another janitor found the brick sticking up at the edge of the berm and pulled it up so it wouldn't trip a kid or foul up a lawnmower.
When Kendall's mom picked him up at school that day, he was brimming with the news.
"Mom! I made a friend! His name is Logan and he's in kindergarten in Mrs. Perry's class and he wears glasses and he has a Batman backpack and…"
"Okay, Kendall, okay! I can't wait to hear all about him, but how about a hug for me first?" Jennifer Knight smiled down at her son as she finally got across the crosswalk to him-he had been yelling to her across the street. On their walk home, Kendall told her everything he had learned about Logan that day.
"Would you like to have him come over after school sometime?" she asked, when he finally ran out of intel to report.
"I can DO that?" Kendall asked, his eyes as wide as saucers.
"Well, of course, you have James over sometimes, why not Logan too?"
"How would we get him there?" Kendall asked.
Jennifer had to stifle a giggle. "We'll ask him over, just like we do with James."
"But you ask James' mom, we don't know Logan's mom!" Kendall was beginning to get upset. Suddenly the only thing in the world he wanted was Logan at his house, but he had no idea how to make it happen.
"What's his last name?" Jennifer asked.
Kendall thought. "I forget!" he wailed.
"Kendall, calm down, it's okay. We'll just walk back to school at the end of the day and maybe one of his parents will be there for parent pick up, or even if he takes the bus, I can ask Mrs. Perry his name." Kendall had remembered which class Logan was in.
At three o'clock, when they went back to the school, sure enough, Logan was penned up with the other walkers. The buses were released first, and then the walkers got to go, some with their parents or a caretaker, and some were deemed big enough to go home on their own, but that was usually just third graders and up. As Jennifer and Kendall approached, they saw Logan greeting a pretty brunette woman. Jennifer smiled at her and said, "You must be Logan's mom?"
Kendall and Logan were happily greeting each other.
"Yes, I am. Pamela Mitchell, and you are?"
"Jennifer Knight, and this is my son Kendall."
Kendall smiled up at Logan's mom. "Hello!" he said brightly.
"Well, hello to you too, nice to meet you!" Pamela said.
"It seems the boys met today, and hit it off," Jennifer explained. "We were wondering if Logan could come over and visit Kendall someday, and of course, you're welcome to come on over too."
Logan lit up. He shyly tugged on his mom's hand. "Can we, Mom?" he whispered, his eyes big and pleading behind their lenses.
"That sounds very nice, thank you. We'd love to come visit someti…"
"Woooo!" Kendall interrupted her. "Come on, Logan!" He grabbed the shorter boy's hand and started off down the sidewalk.
"Kendall, wait one minute! Mrs. Mitchell didn't say today…" Jennifer was trying to reign in her enthusiastic son.
"Please, call me Pam. And, we don't actually have any plans today, but if you meant we should do it another time…"
"Oh, we'd love to have you over right now-no time like the present, and I can see Kendall would rather not have to wait," Jennifer laughed. They walked back to the Knight's house and Pam told Jennifer they were just three blocks over.
When they got to his house, Kendall wasted no time in dragging Logan upstairs to his room ("This is my room!"), which had blue walls and a Spiderman comforter on the bed, then down to the finished basement to show him his play area ("These are my Legos!"), then outside to the backyard ("That's the swing set, it has a fort!"), and then back inside to the living room ("That's our TV!") before Jennifer could finally nab him by his jacket.
"Kendall, slow down and let Logan catch his breath. You don't need to show him everything at once. Would you boys like a snack?" Kendall answered with a loud yes, and Logan nodded his head shyly, after a glance at his mom.
Jennifer turned to Pam. "Is Logan allergic to anything? And is there anything you'd rather he didn't have? I have apple slices and baby carrots, and Kendall usually likes to dip them in peanut butter, but if Logan can't have that, he'll understand."
"Logan doesn't have any food allergies, and there's nothing we don't want him having. We let him have snacks, even less wholesome ones, but if you prefer Kendall to stick to fruit and vegetables, we can stick to that."
"Oh no, we don't forbid anything for Kendall either. I was just trying to make a good first impression. But lots of times we're doing c-h-i-p-s and c-o-o-k-i-e-s and things like that for after school snacks."
Logan looked puzzled. "Mrs. Knight," he said softly, raising his hand like he was in class, "why did you spell chips and cookies?"
Kendall was impressed. "You can spell already?" Logan just looked down at his sneakers. "You're only in kindergarten and you're spelling?" Kendall was delighted. He didn't know such things were possible. James couldn't spell anything but his name.
"Logan's a little shy about it, Kendall, but, yes, he can spell and he can read," Pam told him.
"Cool! You can read to me…"
"Snacks first, young man," Jennifer interjected.
The boys enjoyed the apple slices and the carrots and the peanut butter with a cup of milk, and their moms had coffee and got to know each other a bit. After the snack (and a reminder from Jennifer that Logan was his guest), Kendall asked Logan what he'd like to do.
"Can we go see your fort?" Logan asked. It was the thing he was the most curious to see.
"Of course!" And off they went and spent a good hour climbing around the accessories of the swing set and fort, swinging and sliding and hiding out in the fort. They talked and talked, Kendall never ran out of topics, and Logan was happy to discuss things with him.
"Do you play hockey? Are you gonna go out for Mites? I am, maybe we'll get on the same team!"
"That would be great, but, I've never played hockey before…"
"That's what Mites is for! To start! I'll make sure my mom tells your mom when to sign up." Kendall considered that matter settled.
"Do you have any pets? Do you have a dog? I've always wanted a dog, but my mom's allergic." Kendall had grown up thinking his dad had made a noble sacrifice in marrying his mom anyway; he'd never pick a wife over a dog.
"I don't have a dog, but I have a guinea pig. His name is Bruce Wayne," Logan told Kendall.
"Cool! Have you ever been to Disney World? I haven't, but someday we'll go, my grandma promised me…"
They spent the afternoon comparing lives. Logan hadn't been to Disney World either.
When they got back inside, Jennifer informed them that the Mitchells were staying for supper too, and that Logan's dad would join them. Kendall's dad got home and met Pam and Logan, and then went to fire up the grill, he had baby back ribs marinating in the refrigerator in his own secret recipe sauce.
"I can make chicken nuggets and mac and cheese for the boys if Logan doesn't like barbeque ribs," Jennifer told Pam.
"No need-Logan loves barbeque, and the spicier and smokier the better. When I was carrying him I craved hot sauce on everything, and that was all him," Pam laughed.
"Kendall loves his dad's barbeque too," Jennifer said.
"Can I do anything to help?" Pam asked.
"Nope, everything's all ready to go. I made potato salad while Kendall was at school, and I baked cornbread last night."
Dr. Mitchell arrived right at six, and they all sat down and enjoyed the delicious meal. Kendall and Logan had sauce smeared all over their faces and fingers and were enjoying themselves immensely. The grown-ups talked about grown up stuff-Dr. Mitchell's orthopedic surgery practice, the fact that Donald Knight worked for a company that designed sports equipment and that he was an engineer working on playing surfaces made out of recycled materials, Pam told them how she was a real estate agent who scaled back to part time hours to work around Logan's school schedule, and Jennifer had an accounting degree but these days just did some freelance work from home and worked part time during tax season and her plan was to go for her CPA once Kendall was older.
"And what's in this rib sauce, Don?" Logan's father asked after all that job stuff was discussed.
"That's a secret I intend to pass on to Kendall when he turns twenty-one. Gotta keep it in the family," Kendall's dad laughed.
The moms deemed that the boys should wash up before they had dessert, and the dads cleared the table. They all reconvened for lemon and lime sherbet and then the grown-ups were going to have coffee in the living room.
"Can me and Logan go downstairs and play?" Kendall asked.
"'Logan and I' and do you have homework?" Jennifer asked back.
"I have to draw a picture of a leaf," Kendall said.
"I have a worksheet, it's in my backpack," Logan said.
"Okay, do those first and then you may play," Jennifer said, looking to Pam to be sure that was all right by her. Pam nodded.
Logan found his backpack where Kendall had thrown it in his bedroom when he had taken it from Logan earlier that afternoon, and then they made their way back downstairs to the basement where Kendall had a little work table for drawing and doing puzzles and finger painting and Legos and stuff. Kendall dug out his washable markers and some paper from a cubby and Logan got out his worksheet and number two pencil. Kendall moved one of the chairs around the table so he and Logan would be side by side. He drew his leaf pretty quickly, he'd been watching hockey on TV his whole life with his dad and could draw a maple leaf with his eyes closed. He colored it in and deemed it finished. Then he got interested in Logan's work.
The worksheet had outline drawings of animals and objects, and underneath there were letters on top of lines, and each set of lines had a letter missing. At the top of the paper the letters a, e, i, o, and u were preprinted.
"Whatcha doing?" Kendall asked, interestedly.
"I have to fill in the missing vowel in each word," Logan said.
"What's a vowel?"
"It's these letters printed at the top, and sometimes y, but not on this sheet."
"Why sometimes y?" Kendall wanted to know.
"I don't know, they haven't taught us that yet," Logan said. "I just heard that along the way on my own, not in school."
Logan got to work, and quickly finished the sheet. Cat, cup, dog, bell, and ink were all filled in correctly. The boys trudged upstairs to show their parents their work.
"Good job, Logan," Logan's parents said as they both looked at the sheet.
"Nice maple leaf, Kendall," Kendall's dad told him, smiling because he knew why Kendall picked that particular type of leaf to draw.
"But don't forget to put your name on it," Kendall's mom reminded him.
"Oh yeah. Logan, can I borrow your pencil?"
The boys went downstairs again, Kendall scrawled "Kendall K" at the bottom of his drawing, and then they put their papers into their respective backpacks.
"What would you like to do now?" Kendall asked his little guest.
"Well, usually at home, I read after I do my homework," Logan said shyly. He didn't know if Kendall would rather do something more active.
"What do you read?" Kendall asked.
Logan pulled a book out of his backpack. It was a Magic Tree House book. Kendall's eyes got wide. "You can read chapter books?" Logan nodded shyly. "Can you read it to me?"
Half an hour later, Jennifer and Pam went down to the basement and found the boys each sprawled on a kid sized mini-beanbag, Logan reading aloud to an enraptured Kendall. They let him get to the end of a page, and then Pam called softly, "Logan. Come on, honey, it's time to go home."
Both boys groaned. "Already?" Kendall asked.
"It's almost eight o'clock, we're going to have to hustle to get you to bed on time," Jennifer told him.
Upstairs, as everyone was pulling on jackets and they were saying their goodbyes, Dr. Mitchell told the Knights they had to let him repay the favor and come over to their house for grilled steaks. "I just got a new Jenn-Air grill this summer. Thing cooks like a dream-you've got to see it, Don."
"Sure, Jeff, anytime," Donald smiled.
"How about tomorrow night?" Logan's dad said.
"YES!" Kendall and Logan shouted.
"Now, boys, we don't want to impose…" Jennifer started to say, looking at Pam.
"It's no imposition! It's a Friday night, we were planning on grilling anyway, you should come over!" Jeff insisted.
"Sounds good to me," Donald Knight said.
Pam chimed in, "We'd love to have you-I wanted to ask to have Kendall over soon anyway."
"If you're sure," Jennifer said. She had enjoyed meeting the other couple, it'd be fun to spend more time with them. "What can I bring, and what time do you want us over?"
"How about six?" Jeff said. Kendall and Logan's faces fell.
"Or, how about you and Kendall come over after school, and the guys will join us whenever they get out of work, like today?" Pam said. Two little faces beamed their approval.
"If you're sure it's no imposition…" Jennifer began.
"None whatsoever. Meet us when Logan gets out at three, and we can all walk to our house together," Pam said warmly.
A little while later, when Jennifer and Donald were tucking Kendall in for the night, Jennifer said, "You found a good friend today, Kendall."
"I love him," Kendall replied truthfully and happily, his little round face smiling.