Hello :)

This story was an idea that SuperFlashman'z gave me awhile back and helped me developed the plot, and I've finally gotten around to write it. So, I hope you like it.


A truck went past the window.

"Oh," Mary said as she looked up from the dishes. "Looks like we're getting new neighbors today."

"I hope they have a kid," her husband murmured from behind the newspaper. "It would be good for Wally to have someone to play with."

"Yes, though sometimes I wonder if Wally can ever find a playmate…" Mary sighed with her eyes fastened on the dishes.

There weren't many kids in the neighborhood around Wally's age and no one on their street. So, she often worried that Wally would have a hard time in kindergarten, because he hadn't really played with other kids his age. So, it would be nice if the new neighbors had a child he could at least get along with. The house next door had been empty for almost a year.


The clouds went by over his head. He was lying on the grass in the backyard staring up at the clouds with skepticism.

His dad had told him, that this was one of his favorite things to do when he was little. Looking for things in the clouds.

His dad had told him that there could be all kinds of things, like animals in the clouds. But so far, he hadn't seen anything.

He didn't know how long he had been lying there, but he was that if there was anything hiding in the clouds, he would have found it by now.

He had to have a talk with his dad about this.

"What are you doing?"

He sat up with a start and looked up at a girl looking down at him from the top of the abandoned house's fence.

"What are you doing?" He asked confused, as the girl seemed to lean back and forth while still holding on to the fence.

The girl smiled brightly. "I asked you first."

Wally made a face. Oh yeah, she did.

"I'm looking for hidden things in the clouds." He said.

The girl made a face at him and looked up at the sky. "There are things hidden in the clouds?"

Wally shrugged. "That's what my dad says."

"Huh," she said and continued looking up at the sky while leaning back and forth on the fence, making it creak. "Wait, I'll help you look."

Suddenly the girl started climbing over the fence. It looked very clumsy but eventually, the girl made it over the fence and hung on the top of the fence by her arms. Then she fell to the ground.

Wally watched her in silence, fully expecting the girl to break out in tears, and that he would have to run and get his mom.

But she didn't.

She landed on her back and laid there silent for a few seconds before she just got up and walked towards him and sat down next to him and looked up at the sky.

Wally followed her line of sight and looked up too, completely forgetting the odd scene he'd just seen.

"I've been looking for a while now, and I still can't find anything." He explained.

"Huh," The girl said again. "Maybe it would help if we knew what we are looking for."

Wally nodded absentmindedly without taking his eyes off the sky. "My dad said he'd sometime see animals in the sky like an elephant or a giraffe."

"Oh..." the girl said. "Like that one?"

Wally followed her pointed finger to a big white cloud.

He narrowed his eyes. "I can't see it."

"The cloud looks like a giraffe."

Wally stared at the cloud. Yeah … he could kind of see how it could look like a giraffe.

"Ahh," He said and nodded. "I seem to have misunderstood this game."

The girl beside looked at him with big blue eyes, like she was confused.

"What does that mean?"

Wally gave her a weird look. What did she mean by that?

"Lia!" A woman yelled from the other side of the fence.

The looked towards the fence, then back at him. "I have to go now." Then she got up and walked towards the fence.

Wally sat still, waiting in amazement for how she was going to get over the fence again.

The girl grabbed hold of the fence, then she put a foot up, but it just slid down the fence, as she tried to hoist herself higher on the fence.

"Lia!" A woman called again.

The girl turned back towards him.

"I'm going to need some help."

Wally got up confused, as the girl waved him towards her.

When he reached her, she pushed him front first against the fence.

Scared he put both his hands out.

As soon as he had done that, she reached up for his shoulders and pushed them down a little bit, still without saying anything.

As he now stood up against the fence with a slightly bent back, she took a good hold of his shoulder and put a foot on his lower back.

Wally jumped in confusion. "What are you doing?"

"Stand still," she just said. And in a very quick motion, she climbed up his back and stood on his shoulders.

Then she took hold of the top of the fence and started hoisting herself over, letting her feet of Wally's shoulders, allowing him to step backwards and watch her fumble to get over the fence and disappear behind it.

"Wally." His mother called from inside the house. "Snack time."


Did you find anything," his dad smiled and put down the newspaper, as Wally climbed onto the kitchen chair.

"I misunderstood the game." The boy said and popped a carrot in his mouth. "But I did see a giraffe."

"Don't talk with your mouth full." His mom said with a smile.

As she walked passed the little boy, she stopped.

"What is that?" She said and reached down and gently pulled at the back of her son's shirt.

Wally froze having no idea what she meant.

His father got up and took a look. "It looks like a shoeprint."

The boy relaxed. "That was the girl."

His parents looked at each other.

"What girl, sweetheart?" His mother asked.

"The girl from the other side of the fence, she stepped on me to get back on the other side," Wally explained and bit into another carrot.

His mom gave his dad a confused look.

"Well," His dad said. "At least we know the new neighbors have a kid."


Next day

There was a knock at the door.

Mary gave the front door a confused look, she wasn't expecting anyone today.

She opened the door to a woman with an odd look of concern on her face and a little girl by the hand.

"Can I help you?" She asked.

The other woman signed. "I'm sorry, we just moved in next door and my daughter told me, that yesterday she climbed over the fence in our backyard and … stepped on your son..."

The woman looked absolutely mortified.

She smiled, but before she could say anything, Wally popped his head out from behind him.

"Look, mom. That's her." He said and pointed at the little girl at the woman's side. "She's the girl that climbed on me yesterday."

The woman seemed to freeze and then bowed her head slightly. "I'm so sorry, I've already scolded her … We came here to apologize..."

"Oh," Mary said and smiled. "There is no need for that."

The woman stopped. "Excuse me."

Mary continued to smile gently, wondering why this woman seemed to be so anxious. She put a hand on Wally's head. "Kids play rough sometimes and it's not the first time Wally got dirt on his clothes."

The woman stared at her for a second before seeming to relax.

"Oh … okay. " Then she smiled relieved. "We've had a lot of problems with Lia being rough with other kids before, so..."

Mary nodded. "Yes, but I think the kids had a fun time."

She looked at Wally, who nodded vehemently.

The woman seemed to relax even further.

"Since you just moved in, why don't you two come in for a cup of tea? We can have a chat, and the kids can get to know each other a little more."

The little girl lit up at Mary's word, but her mother shook her head. "Oh, we'd love to, but we have to get back home now, maybe we can come back tomorrow?"

Mary nodded and she and Wally watched as the mother and daughter walked down their driveway and towards the house next door.

She guided Wally back inside. "Looks like we're having guests tomorrow." She smiled down at her son.


A few days later

Mary put her teacup down.

"You know Clara, I think you and your family moving in was just what Wally needed." She said as the two mothers watched their children play in the backyard.

Clara smiled, as she held on to her teacup. "I think Lia needed this too. We've moved around a lot, so she never had any close friends. But I'm glad that the two of them seem to have clicked."

"Yes, I hope you stay here," Mary said and looked lovingly at the two children playing tag.

"That depends on her father, not me I'm afraid," Clara said and sipped her tea.

"What does he do?" Mary asked.

The other woman seemed to freeze. "Oh you know, he works long hours..."

"Mom, Look!" Wally came running with a worm in his hand.

He showed both the women the big worm, while Lia came running behind him.

"Are we gonna eat it?" She asked.

Wally looked at her confused. "Lia … it's a worm."

"It's big enough for both of us to get a bite." The little girl reasoned.

Mary smiled. "Lia, we can't eat worms."

"Dad says we can," The girl said in a stubborn tone. "He said, we have to sometimes."

Mary looked over at her new friend, who just looked at her daughter in horror.

"Well … we have a pretty big lunch planned, so you should put the worm back."

Both children nodded and went back to playing.

Mary looked at Clara out of the corner of her eye. She seemed relieved.

"You know … you could bring your husband over some time, I'm sure Rudy wouldn't mind having someone to talk to, and it might bring our families closer."

She was getting a little curious about her friend's husband.

Clara gave her a sad smile. "He keeps to himself when he's not working he rarely leaves the house."

Mary signed and sipped her tea. Something seemed off. "Well … we'll just have to wait and see what happens in the future, won't we?"


A month later

"Go high!" Lia said as she threw the ball.

Wally jumped, but the ball still flew over his head. He quickly turned around and ran after the ball.

"Go low!" He yelled back and tried to roll the ball, but the grass stopped it in its tracks.

Lia looked at the ball disappointed. "That was a bad throw."

Wally made a face and picked up the ball again. "It did not go like I thought."

Lia gave him a weird look. A lot of the time she didn't understand what Wally was saying.

"Lia?" Her mother called from somewhere on the other side of the fence.

"Here," She said and caught the ball as Wally threw it to her.

Her mother appeared on the other side of the fence. "Lia … if you want to go play with Wally you just have to ask, you don't have to crawl over the fence.

"But this is faster," Lia smiled at her mother.

"Oh, hello Clara." Wally's mother smiled at her neighbor, then looked at the little girl in her backyard. "Did you climb over the fence again."

The girl nodded enthusiastically, and the two kids continued playing.

Clara gave her a tired smile. "I don't know why she keeps doing this, I wouldn't tell her no if she wanted to go."

Mary returned the smile and watch the two children continue to play. "Don't worry about it, they just want to play. By the way, did you sign Lia up for kindergarten yet?"

Clara lit up. "Yes, they'll be going to school together."

"That's wonderful. Are you going to have the stranger-danger talk with her soon, since they're going to have to walk to school at some point? I was thinking about starting early with Wally, he always questions everything, so the sooner I start the better."


Lia looked over at their mothers. "What are they doing?"

Wally looked over at them. "I don't know, parents can be weird sometimes."

Lia nodded. "Indeed." Then she threw the ball at Wally, who caught it. "Did your mom tell you to go to school?"

Wally made a weird face at her. Lia could sometimes say some weird things too.

"No, school doesn't start yet."

"But when it starts, you have to go?"

Wally threw the ball back at her. "Of course, everybody has to go to school."

Lia held onto the ball. "Can we go to school together?" She looked at him with her big blue sad eyes.

Wally smiled. "Of course."

Lia smiled back and threw the ball back at him. "So, what do you do at a school?"


Half a month later

"Are the two of you ready?" Clara said with a smile, as she looked down at the two children.

Wally pulled at the straps of his backpack and nodded firmly.

"Well," Mary said. "We better get going, we can't be late on your first day of school."

Each of the women grabbed their child by the hand and started walking down the street.

"What if they don't like us?" Lia said.

"Then we'll just play together like we always do," Wally said.

The mothers smiled at each other. The kids hadn't been friends for long, but they were already really close.

"Don't worry little one, everything will be fine," Clara said and patted her daughter's head.

After walking for a bit, the local pre-school came into view.

"See that building over there?" Wally's mother pointed. "That's where you'll be going to school for now."

Wally stretched his neck to see.

"It's not that far from our house," he said. "We could go to there on our own."

Mary signed. "No, you're still too young for that."

Wally gave his mother a firm look. "There isn't any streets to cross."

She nodded at her son. "I know, but the two of you are still too young to be walking around on your own."

"What if someone comes and takes you." Clara made it sound a lot scarier than she meant to.

Both children looked up at her with horror. "Will someone come and take me?" they said, almost in unison.

Clara realized what she had done and looked at Mary for help.

"Isn't there a way we won't get taken?" Wally asked his mother with big fearful eyes.

"Of course, sweetheart. If you're with someone, no one will be able to take you." She said.

Wally quickly let go of his mother's hand and took hold of Lia's hand.

"Like this?" He said with a determined look on his face.

Mary looked at Clara with a smile and shook her head.

"Yes, that's right dear, if the two of you hold hands, no one will be able to come and take you away." She smiled down at her son.

Wally nodded adamantly, then turned towards Lia. "See, we'll be fine like this." She mirrored his nod and adamant expression.

Then he looked up at his mother. "So, we can go to school on our own from now on?"

The two mothers smiled at each other.

"No," Mary said. "You're still a little too young for that."

The children looked at each other and frowned.

Clara signed. "But you can walk ahead of us, as long as we can see you."

Both children light up.

"Come on," Wally smiled at Lia and started running towards the pre-school. Lia matched Wally's pace perfectly and they ran ahead together, with their hands knitted together.

"Aww." Clara smiled as she looked at the two. "Aren't they cute?"

Wally's mother nodded with a smile. "Indeed they are."


So, tell me what you think

I'll try to update every week, but we'll see how it goes.