Skyler was playing checkers with Shankar. It was his last day of first grade, so they got to play and eat all day. The great thing about playing checkers was that they made up new rules every time. His parents never understood the fun in it. They insisted, especially his mom, that you had to stick to the rules. His classmates always understood and participated. Skyler took his king and jumped all of Shankar's pieces, almost at super speed. He was tired of playing checkers.

Shankar didn't get mad but smiled. "What do you want to play now?"

"How about Candy Land?" Skyler asked.

"Yes, I like candy."

They put the checker game back in its box and went over to the 2 girls who were playing Candy Land. The girls weren't playing with it like it was a bored game. They were using the board to pretend to be Princess Lolly and Queen Frostine.

"Can we play now?" Shankar asked for them. "We trade you with checkers."

"We're not done yet," said Bonnie, who acted like she knew as much as a third grader because she had a friend in the third grade.

"It is Skyler's game that he brought to share," Shankar said.

"That's okay," Skyler whispered to Shankar. "We can play something else."

"Who cares?" Bonnie said with her haughty nose in the air. "April and I had it first."

Skyler didn't want to fight, but Shankar wasn't ready to give up. "Give Skyler his game."

"Fine, take your stupid game," she said, knocking it into the floor.

Skyler gasped at all the pieces that were scattered all over the floor. It was almost the end of the day. How was he going to get them all picked up?

Mrs. Duncan saw what was going on and came over, "You children should be ashamed of yourselves. Is that any way to be behaving with our friends?"

"No, ma'am," Bonnie answered.

Mrs. Duncan looked at them all critically. "I want all 4 of you to say you're sorry."

There were 4 echoes of sorry.

"If it wasn't the last day of school, I might be tempted to send you all to the principal's office. Now you all find all of the pieces to Skyler's game. It's almost time to go."

Skyler was embarrassed; he could feel his face turning red. This was the first time he'd gotten into trouble at school like this. Shankar looked embarrassed too. By the time they found all the pieces, the bell rang. They'd made it just in time.

His grandmother had come to Metropolis to pick him up today because his parents were on a stakeout for a story. He was going to have a sleepover at her house. It was the end of first grade and the beginning of his summer with his grandmother. It seemed like it had passed too quickly, but Skyler was looking forward to summer.

He was going to get to spend it with his grandmother and Noel, although he was less excited about the Noel part. She followed him everywhere now that she could walk and shouted Ska-Ska, which was how she said his name. He hadn't minded too much at first because he knew it meant she liked him and looked up to him, at least that's what his parents said, but now it was starting to drive him crazy. He could survive it though.

"Just wait until you see what we're having for supper," his grandmother told him.

Skyler knew what that meant. "Pizza?"

She smiled and then shifted Noel to her other hip. "It might be pizza."

"And there'll be lots and lots of junk food and rented movies," he added.

She laughed. "You're too smart for me."

Noel was trying to wriggle from their grandmother's grasp, so she could get to him. That figured. She probably wanted to pull his hair or bite him.

"Your sister is getting harder and harder to hold all the time. She's getting heavier and becoming a squirmy worm," she said, directing the last part affectionately at Noel.

Noel stopped squirming, and smiling, gave her a baby kiss. "Maw-maw," she said, saying her name for their grandmother.

"She's something, isn't she? I've never seen a baby so good at buttering you up."

Skyler agreed. She could make you mad and be mischievous one minute, and then the next she was a sweet, loving baby again.

"So guess what?" she asked, taking his hand as they got in the parking lot. She always took his hand. She said city people were especially nutty drivers, she should know, and adults should have to hold hands too. "Vacation Bible School is next week."

Skyler smiled. "I know and next month is vacation and a visit from Bobby and--"

"Somebody's excited," she laughed, opening the door to the pickup truck. After he buckled up, he slipped off his sandals and put his bare feet up in the rolled down window. Maybe she would let him ride to Smallville like this.

She shook her head, so he put them down. His mom would have knocked his feet down and his dad would have explained why he couldn't do it. He preferred his grandmother's method. His grandmother looked like she might be a pushover, but she wasn't. She made a good disciplinarian because you didn't want to disappoint someone who was always so nice and loving toward you, and she could be stern which she wanted to be, which thankfully wasn't very often. His grandmother started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot.

"Grandma, can you tell me the story about how you met Grandpa?"

She smiled. "Well, I was in college…"

Skyler smiled. It was going to be a great summer. He could tell.

The End