After spending an hour walking through the streets and alleyways, Sequoya and Aaron finally arrived at the park. Sequoya noticed the fences that divided the park into two different sections. One side of the park was bigger than the other side. As they walked along the sidewalk by the larger section of the park, Sequoya noticed the sign at the entrance that read, For Humans Only. She stopped and looked at the sign. Flashbacks of the old pictures resurfaced in her mind when she was in history class. Photos of the frontier days when Native Americans were banned from going into certain places. The signs that would often read: No Indians Allowed. It was one of the things she hated about history. The white man's slaughter and oppression of her ancestors, and in Aaron's case, it was the human race.

They reach the other side of the park, where a few Poleepkwa lingered about. Sequoya looked for any signs to ensure that it was okay for her to enter. Unfortunately, there was only a sign showing a symbol of a Poleepkwa with no words. Sequoya stopped at the entrance as soon as Aaron ran through with much excitement. He turned to look at Sequoya and waited for her to follow him. She decided to risk it and enter Poleepkwan park. She eyed the Poleepkwa in the corner of the park and hoped they wouldn't try anything to drive her out. After all, she was in their territory.

"Humans are allowed in all of the parks," Aaron said while taking Sequoya's hand and leading her toward the playground. "We are only allowed on this side."

"You mean, humans can come on this side of the park, even though it's for the Poleepkwa?"

"Yes, but humans are afraid to come on this side."

"I don't think it's fair that they didn't divide the park in half. The Poleepkwa should have the same privileges as the humans."

"But we don't."

"Doesn't that make you angry?"

Aaron looked up to meet Sequoya's gaze and said, "I don't think about it."

She gave him a puzzled look and asked, "Why not?"

"Why should I? I would rather be happy. I don't want to be angry all the time. At least we should be thankful for some of the things we get. This park is big enough for us."

"You're right, but …" she paused for a moment after thinking about Aaron's words. He wanted to be happy, and she didn't want to persist and take that away from him. She knew how much he wanted to come here, to have fun and forget about reality. She wanted to do the same. The reality she had back at home couldn't possibly be any worse than Aaron's.

"Can you push me on the swing?" Aaron asked excitedly, pointing at the set of swings in the playground.

"Sure." She said.

Aaron happily sat on the swing while Sequoya set the paper bag on the ground, grabbed the seat, and slowly stepped back, pulling him high.

"Are you ready?"

Aaron chirped happily and nodded his head. She gently pushed him as he swung back and forth. She giggled at the little sounds Aaron would make every time she pushed him a little higher.

"Higher, higher!" Aaron called out.

Sequoya pushed him as high as he could go. Once he reached the highest point, he quickly turned around in a crouching position on the seat. He saw the puzzled look on Sequoya's face when he came swinging back at her. He leaped from the swing onto Sequoya's shoulders when he got close enough. She caught him and staggered back, hitting the fence behind her. She turned her head to check on Aaron, ensuring he didn't hit his face on the fence.

"I scared you, didn't I." He said with a smirk.

She chuckled a little and replied, "Don't scare me like that."

"I made you smile."

"Yeah! And I made you smile too."

She watched Aaron's antennas twitch with delight. He rested his head on her left shoulder, and he wrapped his arms around her neck, hugging her. She leaned forward to set him down, but he clung to her like glue, refusing to let go. Finally, she straightened out her posture and rubbed her hand on his back.

"What's the matter, Aaron? Don't you wanna go play." She spoke softly to him.

Aaron lifted his head to look at her and replied, "I do, but …." He looked away and stared off into the distance in deep thought.

"But what?"

"I'm supposed to be in school."

"Why didn't you say something before? I would've waited for you."

"I couldn't wait to see you."

"Well, next time, let me know. Then, we can plan around your schedule."

"What about your schedule?"

"Me? I don't have one. I'm free any time of the day. So whenever you have free time, we can get together and hang out."

"Okay!"

"So, what do you wanna do next?"

Aaron looked around the playground. He noticed a Poleepkwa standing under a tree, staring at them. The other Poleepkwa that were there before had left. They were alone in the park with another Poleepkwa who didn't seem to be doing anything but watching them. Aaron didn't know whether he knew him or not. The dark shade from the tree concealed the Poleepkwa's features. Aaron decided to ignore him and thought that maybe he was just intrigued to find a human with a little Poleepkwan.

"Let's go to the merry go round. You can make it spin fast."

"Okay."

Sequoya set Aaron down and followed him to the merry-go-round. They spent a short time after that Sequoya's arms grew tired after spinning the merry-go-round many times. They spent hours it seemed to play in the playground. They went through the giant slide and climbed all over the monkey bars. Sequoya felt like a kid again. She had worn herself out trying to catch Aaron while they played tag. He was incredibly fast and easily evaded her touch. She couldn't seem to catch him as they ran around the playground and around the trees. Finally, she settled down on the grass in the shade of a tree, stretching out her legs and panting. Aaron ran near the tree and stood beside her.

"You give up!"

"You're too fast for me." She panted.

"I can slow down for you."

"No, that's okay. I think it's time we had our lunch."

They went to the bench that had the most shade and sat down. Sequoya let Aaron sit on her lap. The food that she had brought consisted of apples, peanuts, and a tuna sandwich split in half. She watched him devour the tuna sandwich in a matter of seconds. She chuckled at the mess of bread crumbs that clung to his little mandibles.

"Here." She said, pulling out a napkin and handing it to him. "You got crumbs on your face."

He wiped off the crumbs and began chewing on the napkin.

"No. That's not for eating." She said and took the napkin from him.

"But my brother lets me chew on the rag." He whined.

"Aaron, it's not a rag. It's a napkin. You don't chew on them."

"I know."

He grabbed an apple and took a huge bite. He then watched Sequoya taking small bites out of her sandwich. He thought it was kind of funny that he practically sucked down his food, and she was taking her time to eat hers. He wondered how different the Shoshone humans were from the rest of the human race.

"Sequoya, do you remember when you promised to tell me about the Shoshones?"

"Yeah!" she said after taking a small bite from her sandwich. "Do you want me to tell you?"

Aaron nodded his head eagerly to hear an interesting, exciting story.

"I'll try to explain it in a way you can understand. The Shoshones are divided into three nations. There are Northern Shoshones, Western Shoshones, and Eastern Shoshones. I belong to the Eastern Shoshone people. We were called sheep eaters and snake Indians. Other tribes have known us for our legends of the little people."

"Little people?" Aaron asked curiously.

"Yeah, little people. They stand two feet tall and live somewhere deep within the Rocky Mountains. No one has ever seen them after the white man came into our lands long ago. But, honestly, I don't know much about the stories of the Little People. I have just been told that they took part in our ceremonies and rituals."

"Do you have Shoshone friends at home?"

"Just one. I don't know if having a cousin as a friend would count, but we're more like sisters than friends."

"What is her name?"

"Alexandria, but everyone calls her Dria. We're a year apart, and I'm the older one."

"How old is Dria?"

"She's nineteen."

"Does that mean you're twenty?"

"Yup." She replied abruptly and finished the last pieces of her tuna sandwich. "Why don't you tell me more about your people? Do the Poleepkwa have different cultures or religions?"

"I only know that many Poleepkwa come from different lands of our home planet. Some come from the grasslands, the coastline, the mountains, the forest lands. And some come from the desert. But the Poleepkwan elders never talk about any religions, only that we were all connected in a Utopian society."

"Really? That's interesting. So do these different lands, let's say the grassland Poleepkwans, do they have different customs from the mountain Poleepkwa? Or would you know about that?"

"I don't know. My brother might know."

Sequoya stuffed several peanuts in her mouth before Aaron asked, "What lands do the Shoshones come from?"

"Well," she said, still chewing on the peanuts, "The Shoshone tribe moved with the changing seasons, so …" she paused to swallow, "I really don't know. It could be anywhere in the North American continent. I don't know which land we came from. Nowadays, there are no full-blooded Shoshones; we have mixed blood of other tribes and other races. We, natives, are often mistaken to be these other brown-skinned races like the Hispanics and Asians."

Aaron ate the rest of his apple and listened contently. He had no idea what she was talking about. Hispanics? Asians? What were they, he wondered? He knew that the human race came in different colors, but to have even more differences within the same colored group of humans were beginning to confuse him.

"I have other tribes in my background that I know little about. For example, my mother is Eastern Shoshone, Crow, and Southern Cheyenne. My father is Eastern Shoshone, Northern Arapaho, and Sioux. Is it the same with you? Do you come from different backgrounds of Poleepkwa?"

Aaron shrugged his shoulders and answered, "Maybe."

Sequoya stuffed more peanuts in her mouth and chewed on them vigorously. "We are orphans, but we have family to take care of us." She said. "I've got my aunt and uncle, and you've got your big brother."

"But you are old enough to take care of yourself now. I'm still a youngling."

"Yeah! You're right."

Aaron placed his arms around her slender waist and hugged her. Sequoya gently wrapped her arms around Aaron's small form and returned the affectionate hug.

"Thank you!" he said.

"For what?" she asked.

"For being my friend. You tell me that I'm right, even if I might be wrong. David always tells me I'm wrong and that he is always right. He never gives me a chance to talk sometimes, and he expects me not to interrupt him when he's talking, but he always interrupts me when I'm talking."

"Your brother sounds like a jerk."

Aaron laughed in a series of clicks, "Yes, he is." No one had called David a jerk before, not even his friends. If only it could be said to his face without any physical altercation.

"He is always angry after work. His boss mistreats him and pays him little money. I told him to get a better job, but he yelled at me. I am afraid of him when he is angry. He tells me to stay out of his way, but sometimes I don't know when I'm in the way. I feel like I'm in his way all the time. He makes me feel like everything is my fault."

"How can everything be your fault when he is the one who shouldn't be taking his anger out on you? I don't think it's fair to you. David needs to reason with his boss, change his attitude, or get another job! Just because people treat him bad, it doesn't mean he can treat others bad."

Aaron nodded his head in agreement and pressed himself closer to Sequoya. He never thought that a human could be so caring and understanding. Sequoya held him close, caressing his back. She had hoped to meet David before, but now the idea of meeting an unstable, angry Poleepkwa seems highly unlikely.

They stayed at the park a while longer talking. Aaron talked about Christopher and Oliver and how they became good friends. Aaron's father had been good friends with Christopher. He also talked about the stories of his home planet and how he wished to see it one day. Sequoya spoke about the foods she ate back at home and wanted to introduce Aaron to her Grandma's famous frybread, the best bread Native Americans ever invented. She also talked about her older cousin named Aaron and told him that her cousin wasn't as charming as he was. Her compliment flattered and embarrassed him at the same time. A human had never complimented him. He often would get rude remarks and insults from the Nigerians and the MNU, but never a compliment.

After talking for hours, they decided to leave the park when they noticed it was almost sundown. Unfortunately, Aaron hadn't forgotten about his curfew and let Sequoya know that he had to be home before sunset.

"Why the early curfew?" she asked once they left the park.

"The Poleepkwan gang members come out. David told me that they mingle with the Nigerians and are very dangerous. They come out when it gets very dark, but David told me that it is safer to come home early to avoid them."

"Well, at least he cares for your safety."

They walked through the streets and alleyways back toward District 9. By the time they got to the barbed wire fence, the sun had already settled into the horizon. Aaron didn't worry too much about it since it was shorter from here to Christopher's place.

"What time do you get out of school?" she asked.

"Sometime in the afternoon." He answered.

"Okay, I'm guessing that would be around three o'clock. So I'll be here waiting for you."

"Okay!" he replied cheerfully and walked through the open gaps of the fence. He turned to look back at Sequoya, who waved at him. He waved back at her.

"I'll see you tomorrow." She called out as she walked away.

Aaron continued onwards through the heaps of junk piles.

Somewhere within the outskirts of District 9. A Poleepkwa watches them part ways from the borderline that kept his people separate from the human race. He had been watching them the entire time in the park. He thought he'd recognized the youngling but couldn't remember his name. As for the woman, he saw her as potential prey. After all, he was part of the Poleepkwan gang, where they were known to kidnap young women who were violated and murdered.