Little Boy Blue,
come blow your horn.
The sheep's in the meadow,
the cow's in the corn.
Where is that boy
who looks after the sheep?
Under the haystack,
fast asleep.
Will you wake him?
Oh no, not I.
For if I do,
he will surely cry.


Little Boy Blue

II.

He tells her about the fairy tales and he knows she doesn't believe it (he can see it in the way she rolls her eyes, he can hear it in the sound of her voice), but at least she's listening. So he keeps talking and she keeps pretending to believe him and he keeps pretending he believes that she believes him.

Henry is good at pretending.

But then she still takes him back to the mayor's house and he begs and pleads with her that it's not too late, she doesn't have to do this. But it is too late and she does have to do this and out runs the mayor, looking so sad that for a second, Henry can't remember which mother she is. (The mayor-mother or the real mother?) And then she is crying and hugging and fawning over him, but she feels so cold and he chokes on the sweetness of her perfume and then he remembers.

He runs upstairs because he is tired and upset and he thinks the occasion warrants a temper tantrum. He listens to the sheriff tell him how very worried his mother was and how he must try not to worry her so much in the future. But she is not his mother, she is the mayor, Henry wants to say, but instead he nods and says, yes, of course, Sheriff Graham, and nods again.

Through his window, he sees her leaving and he is so angry and upset that she pretended to believe him, but he knew she was pretending and he pretended to believe her anyway, so maybe it was his fault too.

Sometimes, Henry is too good at pretending.