ROGER
Annie had baked a cherry pie, but Roger wasn't allowed to eat it. He wasn't even allowed to touch it because Annie knew he was going to stick his fingers in to taste the filling. He sat on the kitchen counter, pouting, as Annie put the finishing touches to it.
"Not fair," he declared, imitating what Maureen usually did as he crossed his arms. He banged his kiddie-sized Adidas' against the cupboards underneath the counter to emphasize his feelings. Annie tsked.
"I promise I'll bake you your own pie later, Rog. This isn't for you." She told him for the millionth time.
"Who's it fow? D'you have anothew little boy?" Roger felt a pang of jealousy. In his four-year-old logic, Annie was only supposed to have eyes for him and not anyone else. If there was another little boy, he was gonna get mad. His nursemaid laughed heartily and planted a kiss on his forehead.
"Where in the world did you get that idea? You're my only little boy, Roger, you know that," Annie replied.
Roger felt slightly better and he allowed his frown to lift a little. At least there wasn't another boy, but he still wasn't getting the pie. "Fow Daddy?"
His Daddy was upstairs in the big room, which Annie called the 'study', behind the giant desk Roger loved to hide in whenever he and Tommy and Maureen played hide-and-seek. He had to be careful whenever he was there though because if his Daddy saw that one of his papers was missing or if the pens were out of place, he'd be mad and yell at Annie.
"No, honey, not for your Daddy. Daddy doesn't like cherries remember?"
Roger shrugged. "I dunno."
Annie finished with the pie and she placed tin foil over it to keep it from getting cold. Roger licked his lips. He wanted to stick his fingers in so badly. He liked sweet things. He liked fruit too. Annie baked the best stuff.
"This is for the family who moved in next door. Remember Mr. And Mrs. O'Reilly moved to California and left their house empty?"
Roger nodded. He remembered. Mr. O'Reilly was the grouchy old person who smelled of tobacco and smoked all the time with his Daddy whenever they had a party, and Mrs. O'Reilly was the woman who loved to pinch his cheeks and give him gingerbread men that were hard as rocks during Christmas. Roger was glad they were gone. One day a truck just came and ate them and all of their stuff up. He'd even drawn a picture of it happening and it was upstairs in his room.
"They have a little boy and a little girl and I baked them the pie to welcome them. If you went somewhere new with your Daddy and lived there it would be a scary thing, right?"
"Are we goin' away?" Roger's lip quivered. He hated going away and leaving Annie and his friends. He'd done it two times already. His Daddy had taken him one time to Disneyland (which he'd liked but it wasn't as fun without Annie or Maureen or Tommy) and the other to Japan (which he'd hated because he'd understood no one and the food had been weird).
"No, I'm just saying that the little boy and girl are probably sad right now because they miss their old house. So we're going to give them a pie to make them feel better," Annie explained patiently.
"When am I going to get my pie to make me feel bettew?" Roger asked bitterly. The mention of the little boy getting Annie's pie got to him. So there was another little boy.
"Oh Roger," Annie kissed him again and lifted him from the counter to lower him to the floor. "Your pie will come later and you can help me do it. For now, you're coming with me next-door to welcome our new neighbors."
"I don't wanna!" Roger declared. He wanted to throw the pie at the new little boy's face and, when that happened, he was going to laugh and laugh. That was for taking his Annie and his pie. He started to bolt for the kitchen door but his nursemaid was too quick. Annie got him by the waist and she carried him towards the coat closet where both father and son kept their outside things. Roger kicked and screamed in protest the whole way.
"Oh c'mon, Roger, it isn't that bad…" Annie crooned to her charge as she forced a windbreaker on the little boy. "Daddy's going to hear you and you know how much he doesn't like noise…"
"I don't care! I'm not goin'!" Roger exclaimed, forcing to keep the windbreaker off. He stomped and clomped and tried to get away from Annie again, but she knew him too well. Before Annie could scold him or anything, a door slammed upstairs and Roger froze.
"Annie…PLEASE keep that boy under control. PLEASE. Not today." His Daddy's voice sounded tired, but it was still loud and strong. "Roger! Do what Annie tells you!"
Mr. Davis didn't come down so Roger didn't see him, but the little boy still nodded automatically. His Daddy rarely called him by his name. In fact, he was rarely called at all.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Davis. Roger and I were just on our way out to meet the new neighbors," Annie called.
"I won't have this screaming in my house. Not a peep, understand?" A door slammed upstairs again and then silence. Roger stood still and nothing could be heard in the whole house but the sound of the giant Grandpa clock tick-tocking softly by the stairs. Was his Daddy gone?
"Yes, sir," Annie whispered before looking back at Roger. "Now see what happened? C'mon, baby, let's just go and give the pie…"
Roger allowed her to help him put his windbreaker on but kept his scowl. Tommy had said once that when he did his face like it, he looked like his Daddy, because Mr. Davis was always frowning, and Roger had liked the remark. He wanted to be like his Daddy when he grew up. Maybe then his Daddy would notice him more.
Annie took his hand, got the pie from the kitchen and led him outside, careful not to slam the heavy wooden front door on their way out. Roger kept his stare straight ahead at the big gray and white house where the new little boy who was gonna get Annie's cherry pie lived. He wished the truck would come and eat the new family and the little boy up like it had with Mr. And Mrs. O'Reilly so he could have Annie back to himself.
Ding-dong!
A woman with yellow hair answered the door with a huge smile on her face. She was in a dress and an apron, like Annie was. Roger wondered if this was the new little boy's nanny.
"Good afternoon, how may I help you?" the woman asked them. She peered down at Roger, still smiling. Roger looked back at her with his frown.
"Hello, you must be the Cohens. I'm Annie Williams from next door…" Annie said. "Welcome to the neighborhood! We brought you a pie."
She offered the pie dish to the woman, who took it graciously. Roger's tummy grumbled.
"Nice to meet you too, Annie! Is this your son…?" she looked down at Roger again.
"Oh no, no, this is my charge, Roger Davis. I'm his nursemaid. He and his father are the ones who own the house…that one right there across the street. I've been taking care of him since he lost his…"
The woman nodded, seeming to understand. Roger wondered what they were talking about. She offered her hand and Annie took it.
"I'm Lisa Cohen. We just moved here from the city. Change of scenery, you might say. No place to raise children, Manhattan," She bent down to Roger's level and got in his face, which made him want to swat her, like he would to an annoying fly. He hated it whenever grown-ups treated him like a baby because he wasn't. He was a big kid. Four was a big kid age.
"Hello Roger, how are you today?" the woman said in a singsong voice. Roger inched away from her.
"Roger, this is Mrs. Cohen. Mind your manners, honey," Annie urged gently.
"I'm fine, thank you, Mrs. Cohen," he answered automatically, his mind still set on the little boy who was going to get his cherry pie.
"That reminds me…I have a son just about your age. How old is Roger, Annie?"
"He's four, Mrs. Cohen. Just turned four this July,"
"My son Mark is five. But he's small for his age…" Roger watched as Mrs. Cohen reached for something behind her and saw as a boy, just as big as he was, emerged. He had short blonde hair and huge glasses on his face. He was wearing brown pants (unlike Roger who was in jeans), a light blue button-down shirt (again, unlike Roger, who had his staple collared shirt on) and clean sneakers (finally they had something in common). His hands were shoved in the pockets of his pants and his lips were pressed tight. Roger gawked at him. This was his competition for Annie's pies? He didn't feel threatened at all.
"Mark's shy," Roger heard Mrs. Cohen whisper to Annie. "Mark, this is Roger, our new neighbor who lives in that house," she pointed, "and this is Annie."
Mark caught Roger's eyes for a second before shyly hanging his head.
"Hello," he muttered.
"Do you want to go and play with Roger while Mommy and Daddy fix up the new house?" Mrs. Cohen offered. "They gave us a pie for dessert later. When you come back I'll give you a slice."
Roger sensed that this kid had no friends and, since he posed no threat to him, he stepped up and studied the boy in front of him. What was his name? Mark?
"I haves fwiends we can play with. They don't live that faw. We can go to the park if you wants," Roger offered slowly, still testing the waters. Mark looked up.
"You'd play with me?" he asked carefully, as if he too was sizing up Roger.
"You like caws (cars)?" Roger asked.
"Yeah."
"You like Legos?"
"Yeah."
Roger looked up at Annie. Finally, a little boy he could play with. Tommy was too much of a big kid sometimes and Maureen was a girl. "Can he come ovew (over), please? We won't make noise, I pwomise."
Annie chuckled. "Not sad about the pie anymore?"
Roger shook his head, the discovery of a kid just like him and who'd most likely be his new friend more exciting to him than the idea of a pie. Well, almost. At least the loss of the pie was bearable now.
"Well, if his mother approves…Mrs. Cohen?"
Mrs. Cohen beamed and gently pushed Mark outside. "Of course, of course." She sighed happily. "You don't know how thankful I am. Mark is…he has a hard time…mingling. His sister, Cindy, is much more people-oriented."
Roger watched Annie smile. "I'm sure he'll be fine."
"C'mon Mahk," Roger took Mark's hand in his and started to lead him down the Cohens' driveway. "I'll haves Annie call Tommy and Mauween over so they can meets you too."
Mark looked excited himself, though he was still pretty shy. But Roger could see a hint of a smile working its way out. "What's inside the pie?"
"Huh?"
"The pie my Mommy said you gave," Mark said. "Is it choc'late?"
"No. Cherry. Why?" Roger asked. He decided not to mention his plan of throwing the pie into his face. He saw as Mark stuck his tongue out like he'd just tasted something bad.
"Yuck. I don't like cherry. I don't like fruit pies. Just choc'late."
Roger beamed. There was no need to worry about him losing Annie's pies after all. He was going to like this kid just fine.
"You're my fwiend now," he slung his arm over Mark's shoulder.
TBC