Hello again. I had an outline for this chapter and it completely went off the rails, but I think it still turned out okay.

We'll see.

Hope you enjoy!

Will was a special child, Naomi Solace knew this. Now, she may be biased, but she could just see that he was different than all the other kids his age. He was smart, curious, expressive, determined, sensitive, empathetic, generous, and so kind. He may only be 4 (almost 5) years old now, but she knew he was destined to do amazing things one day.

"Whatcha drawing there hon?" She asked the hyper-focused boy.

Will held up a finger in a just a sec gesture as he meticulously put the finishing touches on his work of art. His tongue was sticking out a little in concentration, a trait he got from his mother that she found adorable. Naomi told him a while ago that she would give the same respect to him that he gave to her when she told him to wait just a moment, so she waited patiently for him to finish.

"Aaaannd done! What do you think Mama?" he asked, holding up a drawing of a butterfly that he obviously spent a lot of time on.

"Wow! I think it may be your best work yet,"

"Really?!" he lit up with his mother's praise. Naomi loved that she could make him feel this way with just a few words. She was not looking forward to the moody teenage years when her opinion would be shrugged off, but she still had quite a few more years of the adorable boy who always wanted to be close before then.

"Absolutely. So, you want to tell me what it's for?" Normally she would just assume the answer to be "for fun", but she knew it must be important because Will was usually in the middle of at least 3 activities, not having the attention span to stick with just one, but also dedicated to finishing them all. Will hated leaving anything unfinished.

Will scrunched his face and pursed his lips to one side, dawning what she had deemed his pensive face™, "Liza."

"Is Liza a girl in your class?"

Will nodded his head, "Yes, and she's my friend, and she likes butterflies. Another boy was mean to her, and she was sad. I'm going to give her this so then she won't be sad anymore,"

Naomi surged forward and enveloped her beautiful boy in a bear hug. Will giggled and she scooped him up, giving him a big kiss on his cheek. "I love you my little ray of sunshine,"

"I love you too mama," Will said in that extremely genuine way only a child can. The way that makes you feel stupid for ever doubting it, the way that makes it sound like a permenant fact. Will gasped suddenly, and started flailing a little in her arms, "Mama, it's you! On the radio!"

He was right, it was the song that she sang to him when he was a baby and wouldn't sleep. She has been told by her best friend Mary that it had been among the top 10 picks for wedding songs that year. Naomi thought this was funny since it was about her instant and ever growing love for her son, "Yeah, it is baby,"

"You sing it better," he stated. This made her laugh because it was her singing, just a recording with music instead of raw like he was used to.

"Well, maybe if you're quick in the bathtub I will sing it for you before you go to bed."

"Deal!" He jumped down from her arms and ran towards the stairs, presumably to start the bath. She didn't know how she got so lucky as to have the best son in the world.

"He what?" Naomi asked into the phone. She was sitting in her very basic home studio where she had been messing around with a melody she had had stuck in her head when she got a call from the pre-school.

"Yes, he got into… a confrontation with a few other kids in his class. Religion was brought up. We think it's best if you come in and we all talk about what happened."

"Of course, I will be there in about 20 minutes," Naomi hung up the phone as she thought about what her sweet little boy could have possibly said to warrant a call from the school.

She was not overly religious, but her parents were. When she was growing up, they were quite strict about going to church every sunday, and saying grace before every meal. None of that had bothered her at the time, it was what every family they knew did, and it still didn't bother her, but she didn't want to force that upon Will. He was baptized, they would go to church on holidays, and have sunday dinner with her parents most weeks. Will loved saying grace. Shortly after he started talking, her father was about to say grace when Will shouted, "GRACE!" and proceeded to bite into the roll he was holding. They had all had a good laugh at that. But she couldn't imagine him getting into a confrontation with other kids about religion.

Two Weeks Ago

"No, stop!" Will yelled at Aaron, the boy his age who was about to kick over an ant hill.

"No!" Aaron yelled back, then thought about it and asked, "Why?"

"Because they didn't do anything to you!"

"But I'm bigger than them,"

"That doesn't matter. Being bigger isn't more important. It doesn't mean that you can hurt them."

"Why not? More bigger is more power,"

"Maybe, but we aren't gods. They aren't toys. Being bigger doesn't mean we can control them. They are alive, like us! What if they have families too! They are minding their own business and your foot happens and they don't have a home anymore." Will pleaded with him.

Aaron thought about this, but didn't look convinced.

"Dinosaurs are bigger than us. How would you feel if they destroyed your home?" Will asked.

Aarons eyes went wide, "But dinosaurs aren't real,"

"But your foot is real, and it's a dinosaur to the ants," Will could see that this had put things in perspective for Aaron as he backed up from the ant hill.

"Sorry," He said, "Want to play ball?"

"Sure!" And just like that, Will had unknowingly prevented a kid from becoming a bully, and made a new friend.

An Hour Ago

"No, you can't touch its wings!"

Matilda, or Mrs. Tilly to ker kids, was overseeing her pre-k class at the playground for their usual hour outside before the "big kids" came out to play and they would have nap/quiet time. She looked forward to quiet time. She loved her kids, but they were non-stop and one person did not have the mental capacity to babysit fifteen 4-5 year olds for six straight hours. Add in the fact that it was May and she had been doing this for the better part of nine months, she was in need of a well earned hour or peace. Which is why she groaned when she saw the impending altercation by the playhouse.

"I just want to hold it!" Todd yelled at Liza who looked like she was about to cry. Will was comforting her and Aaron looked like he was going to punch Todd, well, as much as a five year old could look like they were going to punch someone.

"Bu-but if you touch the wings it won't be able to fly anymore!" Liza had now started to cry.

"You aren't god! You can't hurt things because you are bigger. You're not important!" Aaron yelled at Todd.

Well, this seemed like as good a time as any to get involved. Tilly started walking over to the group who was forming a crowd.

"I am too important! My mommy says that God is looking out for me specially," Todd yells back as he makes a grab for what Tilly can now see is the reason for this whole debacle: a butterfly trapped in the playhouse.

"No! Stop!" Liza and Will chorused at the same time as Aaron grabbed Todd's arm to pull it away from the butterfly. Todd let go of the butterfly he had now semi-crushed, and it fluttered to the ground.

"Okay, kids that's enough!" She said sternly. They all deflated a little at being caught and she thought the whole thing was over when Todd swung his arm at Aaron and Will jumped in front of him, absorbing the very weak blow.

"TODD! Stop that right now!" Tilly yelled at the boy just as she made her way through the entire class that had amassed around the group.

Todd had the nerve to look smug and say, "I didn't do anything Mrs. Tilly! They were bullying me! Aaron said that God doesn't care about me!" He then started with the crocodile tears.

"That's not what happened!" Liza cried.

"All right kids, line up behind Matthew," she called to her students as she bent down to console Todd, who was shedding crocodile tears.

"Can you take the rest of the kids back to my classroom and watch them for a little bit? I am going to take these four to Veronica?" Tilly asked Margaret, the guidance counselor who had just shown up to see what all the chaos was about.

That is how Tilly ended up in the vice principals office with two students and their concerned parents, recounting the events that had occurred earlier. Liza was allowed to return to class when she calmed down after Tilly had promised her they would nurse the butterfly back to health. Todd was in the nurse's office waiting for his parents, though Tilly knew he was perfectly fine.

"Are they being punished?" Aarons father asked.

"Well, there is a no-tolerance policy for violence, so Aaron and Todd will be suspended for the rest of the week, although I don't think this need go on their permanent record," Veronica, the vice principal, told the parents.

"Me too!" Will said, "It was my fault too, I should be punished as well!"

"You didn't put your hands on anybody Will, so I can't punish you," Veronica told him.

"But-"

"Will, why don't we get out of here and we can talk more about this at home?" Naomi interjected. Will looked down and nodded.

He said goodbye and thank you to Aaron and then came up to Tilly, "Thank you Miss Tilly, I'm sorry for causing trouble."

She bent down to his level, "It's okay Will, you were just helping a friend," She stood back up and addressed Naomi, "You've got a really good one here,"

Naomi smiled and looked lovingly at her boy, "Don't I know it."

After his compelling argument, Naomi let Will stay home for the rest of the week in solidarity. Will had told her what he had said to Aaron a few weeks before and she was blown away by his wisdom and awareness of the world. In just under 5 years of life, Will had already realized something that some grown-ups don't seem to understand: all life is precious. She had been trying to teach him that everyone deserves a fair chance in life, but he had already decided that everything deserved a fair shot at life. He was brave, and selfless, and loyal, and kind, and so wise. She loved him more than she ever thought possible, and she was more proud every day by the person he was becoming. He was destined for amazing things indeed.