Under the Apple Tree
"My daddy does a very impor... special job," Tommy says with that same proud smile he always wears when he talks about his family—and he talks about them a lot. "He fixes things like cars and tables—he even fixed my tricycle once, 'cause it had a broken wheel... what does your daddy do?"
Maisie had been asked the same question yesterday. Miss Taylor had gathered the first-graders around the whiteboard and told the class about jobs. Maisie had sat at the edge of the group, with Patch on her lap. She hadn't said a word.
She's standing now in front of Tommy in the organised chaos of the queue for their ten o'clock snacks. She opens her mouth to answer him but stops herself before she can say anything because, if she's honest, she isn't sure. All she knows is that it's an important job, so Mommy always says. "My daddy does an im-port-ant job too," Maisie settles for, and decides to ask Mommy more about Daddy's job later.
Tommy nods in understanding, and they talk about other things ("I wish we could paint the walls a different colour," Tommy says wistfully, looking around, and Maisie frowns a little because she likes the red). Before long Maisie has reached the front of the queue and Miss Taylor hands her a carton of milk and a cookie. Maisie clears her throat and, with a good-natured eye roll, Miss Taylor hands her a second cookie.
"Patch says thanks," Maisie tells her. She doesn't wait for Tommy to get his milk and cookie. She wanders the familiar route from classroom to playground, sipping at her milk as she goes. She stops on the way to put on her pink raincoat because Mommy wouldn't be happy if she didn't wear it. Maisie and Patch emerge into the Fall sunshine and make a beeline for the blue bench.
The bright blue bench is next to an apple tree that was planted back when the school first opened. After various extensions to the school over the years, the outermost branches of the tree now brush against the wall. It's on this bench that Maisie and Patch sit to have their ten minute break in the mornings, and it's under this three that Perry stands every day, come rain or shine.
The teachers know about the man Maisie's daddy sends to stand under the apple tree every day—the other children know he's there too, but he looks a bit boring in his black suit and his bland tie and his permanent frown, so they rarely acknowledge his presence. Maisie often wonders what Perry stands under the tree for—if he's waiting for the apples to grow, or if he's some sort of scarecrow.
As she always does, Maisie walks over to the blue bench, ready to give Perry his daily cookie (which he would grudgingly accept, before muttering something like: "Don't you got friends to play with, kid?"), when she notices that it isn't Perry who's standing under the apple tree today.
The new man is taller and has more hair than Perry does, and his tie is a nice shade of blue. He doesn't seem to be frowning either, just concentrating on something really hard. As she gets closer, Maisie realises he's talking to himself—something about finches. Maisie does wonder for a moment where Perry is, but she is too busy looking for birds in the tree, squinting against the sun.
"I can't see any finches," she says suddenly, disappointed, and the man her daddy sent startles a little and blinks down at her. He taps his ear—maybe he can't hear very well, like Auntie Lydia. She reaches into one of her pockets and pulls out the extra cookie. "Would you like a cookie?" she asks louder, holding it out for him.
"Isn't that yours?" he questions, and his voice is a lot nicer than Perry's, smoother.
"No, it's for Patch, but he says you can have it," Maisie replies. With a little help, Patch nods his head in agreement. "He's my dog," she adds in case this man makes the same mistake that Perry does no matter how many times Maisie corrects him and calls Patch a teddy bear.
The man's lips curve into a lopsided smile. "He's a nice dog," he says. He glances around the playground, at the children of various ages who were running around or climbing something they probably shouldn't or just talking in huddles. He takes the offered cookie. "Thank you for the cookie, Patch," he tells the dog, and shakes his paw.
"I'm Maisie," she introduces herself, sitting down on the bench at an angle so she can speak to the new man more easily. She arranges Patch so he's facing the man too. "What's your name?" she asks politely.
"John," he says after swallowing a mouthful of cookie.
They're both silent for a few minutes; Maisie fiddles with the wrapper on her cookie and John munches, relaxed but somehow alert at the same time—like Perry. Maisie keeps glancing at him, waiting for the mutterings about her not playing with any of her friends, but none seem forthcoming. So she waits until he's finished his cookie before she asks him another question.
"Do you have superpowers?" She has been wondering for a while, and she thinks John might just answer her.
He looks down at her, obviously surprised. "Superpowers?" he repeats.
"Yeah, 'cause you stand there all day." She sips up the last of her milk. "My feet would hurt. I tried standing there once, but Miss Taylor got cross and sent someone to fetch me because I was missing my math class. And I know how to write numbers already."
Before she asked the question John had looked clam, but now he looks a little panicked. "I, uh..." He looks down, taps his ear again. Maisie opens her mouth to repeat the question because she'd forgotten about his bad hearing, but then he says, "...I wear thousand dollar shoes." He looks surprised that he even said it, so it must be a really big secret.
"Oh." Maisie's shoulders slump a little, but only for a moment. "I have three quarters," she tells him proudly. "I'm gonna save up a big number and then I'll have super shoes like yours except they'll be pink and sparkly with sequins and then I can be a super statue and I'll be able to see everything like you!"
He half-smiles, says, "Yeah, that sounds like a plan."
The school bell rings, signalling the end of the ten o'clock break. "I'd better go," Maisie says sadly, sliding off the blue bench and collecting Patch. "See you later."
"See you guys around," John says with a nod.
She takes a few steps towards the door, and then she turns around. "I'm glad Daddy sent you."
He looks quite happy about that too, Maisie thinks as she runs back to her classroom. She's the last one in, as usual.
The next day, as always, Maisie gets the extra cookie and runs outside—today with more speed than usual because she wants to show John her new super pink sparkly shoes that arrived in the mail this morning. But John isn't standing under the apple tree, Perry is. She's a little disappointed.
When she gets closer she gasps in shock because one half of his forehead is a vibrant shade of purple. Tommy tried to paint the classroom a similar shade of purple this morning, but Perry hadn't been there, so—
"What happened to your face?" she asks instead of saying hello.
Perry grunts, the frown on his round face never wavering. "I was on holiday in a closet."
"Oh," Maisie says. That doesn't sound like a fun place to go on holiday.
Perry takes his cookie without thanking Patch, and she sits down on the blue bench with Patch to do some watching. Now that she has her super shoes, maybe with some practise she can be as good at it as Perry and John.
...But it is a little boring, actually, so instead she asks Perry, "Were you playing hide and seek in the closet?"
Perry snorts and almost chokes on a piece of cookie.
THE END