A/N — this was supposed to be an installment in All the Ways It Could Have Happened but it ran long (to the tune of 8,000 words) so I'm posting it separately. I will update with a chapter every few days since these are short. Hope that you enjoy! xoxo — kals
x
1990
Kara Foster was five years old the first time she remembered meeting nine-year-old Danny Green. They might have met before then at the annual camping trip that their families attended, a tradition started before either one was born, but neither one could recall if that was the case. And, of course, at five and even at nine, neither one understood why their fathers dragged them to this camp every single year to get together with a group of people they wouldn't see again for the next fifty-one weeks. It was only later, after joining the military themselves, that they began to appreciate the importance of this annual retreat. The one time a year when their fathers and the other dozen or so men who joined them each year, all Vietnam veterans, could spend time with people who understood what they had been through.
But, at five, Kara was merely annoyed that her father was off fishing and that her mother refused to let Kara go to the pond with the older kids. She might be the youngest kid here, but there was no way that Kara was going to stay at the campsite with the moms. Thankfully, as an only child, Kara was used to playing alone and soon she was jumping from tree to tree, pretending to be a pink ninja. She was so caught up in her game that Kara almost tripped over the sandy-haired boy hiding behind a bush with his knees pulled up to his chest.
He scowled at her, and she scowled back.
"Why aren't you swimming?" she asked.
He held up an arm, covered in a bright white cast with names and pictures written all over it. "Can't swim with a cast."
"How did you break it?" Kara asked.
"I fell out of bed," he replied sulkily.
That didn't quite make sense to Kara. She had fallen off her bed a ton of times and never broken her arm. "Did your brother push you?"
Danny looked mad, like he was going to yell at her, before slumping back against the tree. "Yes. But don't tell my dad. He would be so mad."
That was something Kara understood. "I won't tell anyone."
"Thanks," Danny mumbled.
Kara almost asked him why he didn't go to the pond even if he couldn't swim, but she knew the answer to that. Sitting on the beach watching other people swim wasn't any fun at all. Kara was about to walk away when she remembered what her best friend Jennifer's mom always said about being kind. "I'm playing ninjas if you want to play too."
She thought that he was going to say no, but then he stood up. "Can I do that with a cast?"
"Sure," Kara replied, thinking about how she might need to change the game. No climbing trees, for one. "We're hiding from our mothers. You just have to be really quiet. And don't let anyone see you. You can be the blue ninja."
"I can do that," he said, and then he smiled at her. "I'm Danny."
"Kara," she replied, thinking that he looked much nicer when he smiled. "Now be quiet. We're ninjas and ninjas are stealthy."