Outside Atlanta
Today was your fourth day at the camp, and you played tag with us.
I saw you watching. You were sitting outside your tent with one of Dale's books, but you weren't reading it. Eliza was it, and it was freeze tag – I like normal better, but Sophia got to choose this time – and she had tagged Louis already and was after just me and Sophia now. Only, she must have seen you then. I know if your dad or uncle had been around, she wouldn't have gone near you. Everybody in the camp gives them their space. But you're just a kid. Even if you're different from us, you are just a kid, and people can't say to steer clear of a kid. So I guess Eliza thought you could play, too. So she tagged you, and yelled "Freeze!" and ran away, and you looked like you didn't understand what had happened. I knew you did, though, because everyone knows freeze tag. Eliza ran off after Sophia. She didn't see me hiding over by the RV. So I ran over and touched your shoulder. That meant you were unfrozen, but you kind of moved away when I did it, so I told you out loud. You said you knew what it meant, but you'd never asked to play.
"Well, do you want to?"
It took you a long time to answer, but you did.
"Fine."
And you jumped up, boom, and just started running after Eliza. You're a fast runner. And it made me think that maybe you aren't so different from us after all.
But then, later, you sat down to eat with your dad and your uncle, and you didn't look my way once. I really don't get you.