January 25th 2017

Chapter 25
His Guide to the Park

Lucas couldn't say whether the others felt it just as he did, but he didn't know that he had taken time to really appreciate his town in as long as he'd been in it. Now, as they took Maya around and showed her the places that mattered to them, it felt like he'd need to keep a list soon, or he might forget something.

He didn't see the time pass. They had shown Maya anything from stores and restaurants to monuments, with what could only be categorized as 'places where someone got hurt and everyone laughed.' Here was the tree Zay and he had tried to climb only to fall from it. Lucas had gotten out of it with a few cuts and scrapes, while Zay had ended up with a cast on his arm. He'd been ten at the time, and he happily showed the scar he still had. Then there was the hill where Asher had chased after Dylan, on a third grade field trip, only to lose his footing and tumble right by him. Nadine had her own 'war story,' pointing to a bench with a notable hole in the middle.

"Foot got stuck in between, last year. They had to cut around," she'd revealed with a grin. No one could even count the number of places where Dylan had gotten hurt or almost hurt anymore, and they didn't try, though every so often he would point to something and one or more of the others would nod in remembrance.

If Maya was in any way baffled by this tally of injuries, it didn't show. Lucas thought instead that she might have happily listened to each of Dylan's stories.

Eventually, they had found their way to the park. Nadine had told Maya how this was the place where she'd met the four boys. It was the summer before she'd started at school with them. She'd been bored, watching her little sisters play in the sandbox with their grandmother when, as she told it, a basketball had nearly taken her head off. She had picked it up, and when she'd gone to return it, there they'd been. Zay had asked if she wanted to play with them, and that had been the start of it.

"Oh, that was the first time I beat you," she recalled fondly, though Zay claimed he had let her off easy because he'd been the one to throw the ball that had almost knocked her down.

They all went and showed Maya where they often went to sit. They would come here and play, or do homework, sometimes. On good days, the view was better than being stuck around a table, as Dylan told her. Lucas wondered what Maya thought as she looked at that view, the city spread before them. It almost looked like she was trying to memorize it all, to the last detail.

With lunch time rolling in, they'd sat there, Asher and Dylan running off and returning ten minutes later with paper bags filled with food from Asher's uncle's diner. The food was passed and distributed about, and if they had wanted to show Maya why they loved this place, he was confident they had done as much.

The conversation had taken an animated turn when Nadine had asked Maya if she watched Red Planet Diaries. The change had been like a switch being flipped, a spark had lit in her eyes and she'd started at it with Nadine, both of them rattling off their favorite parts. The boys would look on, some of them clueless, others attempting to get a word in but failing to find an in. Lucas wondered if this was taking her back to her best friend in New York. When she'd stopped, there'd been a bit of a wistful smile on her face.

Looking at the time, he knew they needed to get a move on if they were going to hit their big stops before the day was all gone. He mentioned this, and little by little they gathered up their things and walked back through the park to reach the bus stop. Maya thanked Asher for the meal they'd all had, and he told her she would always get a good deal at his uncle's place. He'd told him she was one of his friends, and that was all he needed to know. The gratitude that shone from Maya's eyes when he said this hit Lucas in an unexpected way, making him wonder what kind of life she'd had in New York.

That was just one more item in this whole lot of unknown he was realized still existed around their new friend. He wanted to know more, and at the same time he would wonder how much he did or didn't need to know. It was her business what she did or didn't share. He didn't need all of that for him to know she had become part of their group, their lives. He also knew the value of certain secrets, as he knew there would always be a time and a place for their becoming shared, if Maya felt so inclined. She was his friend; he could wait.

"Where are we going now?" Maya asked them all as they got on the bus and found seats.

"You'll see," Zay told her, once again casting himself as bearer of mystery. The other five of them stared at him in silence, biting back a clear urge to laugh. "What?" he looked from one to the next. "That was good… It was." They said nothing.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners