A sloppy, clearly homemade Rudolph costume flooded his vision, and if it had been any other day, it would've brought a smile to his face. Her antlers hung lopsidedly over a dripping tomato nose, but what held it all together was the fact that the girl was grinning, as if she didn't even realize how ridiculous she looked.
"You make a good reindeer," Andre said, patting a spot on the sidewalk for the nine-year-old to occupy.
"Thank you!" Cat giggled before sobering. "But then why do you still look sad?"
"It's…" Andre started, then stopped. She was staring at him with such tender, trusting eyes that he guiltily looked away.
"You can tell me," she implored softly. "I won't tell anyone—not that I'd really have anyone to tell…"
Andre sighed resignedly. He knew it was true—and even if Cat did tell someone, they probably wouldn't believe her. "It's my grandmother," he said. "She… isn't really here lately."
Cat furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean? I see her at your house all the time."
He bit his lip. He didn't blame Cat for being confused; he'd just been hoping to avoid saying it explicitly. "Not physically. She's just… not there mentally. She thinks objects are out to get her and keeps breaking things and won't speak to anyone but me and freaks out whenever I leave the house."
Andre nearly hit himself on the head when he was done. He knew that his jumbled rant must've only added to his friend's confusion, but he'd had to let it out before he lost the nerve.
When he risked a look at Cat, he found her nodding empathetically. "My brother lost his mind a couple years ago… one of them, anyway. The other was born like that."
Andre gaped at his friend with such shock that you'd think her Rudolph costume had suddenly lifted her into the air. "How can you say that so casually?"
"I can't always," she said almost reassuringly. "A lot of the time, it freaks me out… the idea that my family is never fully there and I'm probably headed down the same path, either by genes or by circumstance. But it doesn't scare me as much when I'm with someone who I know gets it."
He grinned in spite of himself. "We'll have each other, then? No matter what else happens to our families?" A part of him knew it was an idealistic wish, but it was all he had to hold onto.
"Of course," Cat agreed instantly. "Who else is going to put up with me?"
Andre patted her off-balance antlers as he said: "Anyone with a brain would."