“Alright boys and girls, we have about twenty minutes until recess begins, so will you all take a seat on the magic carpet, so I can read to you the wonderful story of ‘Goldilocks and the Three Little Bears’,” said Mrs.Blakey to her kindergarten class.
Cassidy was finishing up gluing together a card she had made for Simone. She added the final touches of glitter and left it on the counter to dry. Her friends Rachel and Shelley came over.
“Hey Cassidy you’re card is really nice,” Rachel said.
“Thanks. I like the clay sculpture you made of a polar bear. What did you make Shelley?” she asked.
“I drew a picture of the beach. I go there with my dad every summer because my parents are divorced and I don’t see him a lot.” Shelley said frowning.
“What’s a divorce?” Cassidy asked. She had never heard of it before.
“It’s when your parents stop being married because they can’t work out the problems anymore. And they are tired of fighting so they stop living with each other, but never stop loving their kids. At least, that’s what my mommy told me,” Shelley explained.
“Girls, please take a seat and join the class,” Mrs.Blakey said, waiting for the girls to sit down before continuing, “Alright, there we go. Now, this story is about three bears- a papa bear, a mama bear, and a baby bear- who go out for a walk one day, and a little girl named Goldilocks stops by their house when they’re gone…”
Cassidy tried her hardest to focus on what Mrs.Blakey was saying, but she was so anxious for recess to begin, where she could play with Justin. Lately they had been spending so much time together that it made it harder for them to be separated.
Several minutes later, the recess bell rang. Cassidy was the first one out the door.
Searching all over the playground for a girl wearing a floral sundress, Justin was getting worried.
“Don’t worry Justin, she’s here somewhere,” Trace said, “There she is, with her friends over by the water fountain.”
Finally spotting Justin and Trace near the basketball court, Cassidy excused herself from the discussion her group of friends were having and walked over to them.
“Hey Jus, hey Trace.” She greeted them warmly.
“There you are. How is class going so far?” Justin said.
“First we sang a song about the days of the week, then we talked about being nice to each other and sharing, then we did arts and crafts. I made a card for my Grandma, and then Mrs.Blakey read us a story called ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’. What did you do?
“We practiced our handwriting, and then did some addition and subtraction,” Trace said, “Do you guys want to go play catch in the grass?”
“Sure.” Justin and Cassidy said in unison.
“Justin, are you going to my house today after school?” Cassidy asked.
“Yeah, my mom and dad won’t be home until later so I have to stay with you.” Justin said.
“How come you guys are always at each others’ houses? Do you like each other or something?” Traced teased.
“No! We’re just friends, and that’s all.” Cassidy said trying to defend her and Justin.
“Yeah, see? Trace, just shut up and pass the ball over.” Justin said trying to change the subject.
“Uh huh, whatever you say,” he said, bouncing the big red ball over to Justin.
“Who wants more cookies?” Simone asked, walking into the living room with a tray of freshly baked cookies.
“I do! I do!” Justin and Cassidy said.
Simone set the tray down and took a seat on the sofa.
“Justin, I just called your mom about you sleeping over, and she said it was fine since there is no school tomorrow. She said that she’ll drop off your clothes later tonight,” she told him.
“Okay, thank you,” Justin said, with a mouthful of cookies. At least he was being partially polite, right?
“Ohh, Gramma, I have something for you. I made it at school, my friends said it was pretty,” Cassidy said hopping off the couch to search through her pink Barbie backpack. She pulled out some sparkly purple object and held it out to Simone. It was the card she made her in class that morning.
“Aww, Cassidy, thank you,” she said gratefully, “It’s very pretty.”
The card consisted of a folded piece of lavender construction paper, with a lopsided heart drawn on the front, outlined with purple glitter, in the bottom right-hand corner it read: “To Gramma. Love, Cassidy”.
Simone opened up the card and saw a picture of what seemed to be her and Cassidy in her garden. She could recognize it easily by the tree house, and the roses and lilies, the orchids. The sun was shining down on them, and they were watering the daises.
“See, Gramma? That’s you and me in your garden. We’re watering the flowers together,” Cassidy pointed out.
“Yes, I see that dear. I love your card, thank you so much,” Simone said, pulling her into a hug.
Cassidy loved it when her grandmother hugged her. She loved the tenderness of it all, hearing her steady breathing, her arms wrapped around her, the scent of vanilla that seemed to always linger on her clothing.
“Hey, I’ll tell you what,” Simone said pulling away, “Would you and Justin like to help me in the yard today?”
Cassidy and Justin nodded, then got up and ran outside into the backyard. The backyard was one of Cassidy’s favorite places to be because it reminded her of a secret garden she would see in her dreams where fairies would fly around and be forever happy. Her backyard had a dark oak fence bordering the entire thing, the grass was greener than en emerald, there were bright red roses lining against the against, tiny bushes with bright pink flowers lined the walls of the house, in the far corner of the space was Simone’s garden filled with white roses, daises, lilies, orchids, and plumerias, a tall deep chocolate colored tree, with a tree house Darrin and his father had built together the previous year. There was an old oak shed used for storage, and next to it was a trampoline that Cassidy loved to play on.
For about an hour, the trio planted new flowers, trimmed the bushes, and raked leaves. Cassidy enjoyed the feeling of helping her grandmother with her garden. In fact, she loved doing just about anything with Simon. She loved her so much because she was the one who took care of her while her parents were away at work, which was a good portion of the time.
As the sky was turning a different color, Simone was finishing up planting the last of a new batch of orchids. She looked over at Justin and Cassidy, covered head to toe with dirt, patting down some soil. Chuckling at this scene, Simone thought of something that was less messy for them to do than their current task.
“Justin could you and Cassidy please go fill the water can and water the lilies?” Simone asked, adjusting the straw sun hat on her head.
“Alright!” Justin said, taking off. He ran to the side of the house and picked up the green watering can, bringing it to the water hose. He called Cassidy over to help him fill it up.
“Hey Cass, can you help me fill this thing up? Your Grandma wants us to water the lilies.”
She walked over to where Justin was and turned the small knob that started the water.
“Okay, that’s enough,” Justin said as the water was almost full to the rim.
Cassidy turned the knob in the opposite direction to turn the water off, but the water continued spilling out of the hose. Panicking, she swiftly turn it the other direction, and still the water came, only stronger this time.
“Cass, I said turn it off! Stop! Stop!” Justin exclaimed trying to control all the water bursting out.
“I’m trying but it won’t shut off!” She explained.
“What do you mean? This is your hose don’t you know how to turn it off?”
“Yeah, but I don’t know what’s wrong with it!”
Justin left the head of the hose hanging over the rim of the watering can and tried to assist Cassidy. He too, turned the knob every which way, but nothing seemed to work.
“Maybe we should turn it this way,” he said.
The water gushed out even harder. Simone heard Cassidy scream and turned her head in the direction of her voice. Justin was trying to control the hose, only making the water spray everywhere, and Cassidy was turning the knob on the hose left and right. Both children were already soaking wet. She rushed over to stop the chaos.
“What happened!” she asked, taking the hose from Justin.
“We were just filling in the watering can and then when I tried to turn it off, it wouldn’t stop!” Cassidy explained.
Simone pinched the tip of the rubbery hose, and walked through the now muddy ground beneath her feet, making sloshing noises as she moved. However, just as she was about to step onto the concrete, she slipped and released the hose, causing it to move on its own like a snake slithering its way out of a basket.
After a long struggle, Simone finally got to her feet and turned the knob vigorously until the water finally shut off. Taking deep breaths, she leaned up against the wall and closed her eyes.
Justin and Cassidy watched, waiting for her to yell at them, but were surprised when her reaction was otherwise.
“That,” Simone said, trying to catch her breath, “was a lot of fun.”
The children looked at each other in confusion. Were they hearing her correctly?
“Look at us,” Simone said, “if your mothers would see us now, they would have thought we were mud wrestling or something.”
“You’re… you’re not mad?” Justin asked.
“Mad? Darling, no,” She said smiling, “Wait here, I’ll get you some towels to dry off.” Simone walked into the house, making sure to not leave any mud tracks as she moved. Checking the clock, it was 5PM, one hour until Jim was home. She reached into the cabinet where the towels were, and pulled out three towels, one for Justin, one for Cassidy, and one for herself.
She slid open the screen door that lead to the backyard and handed a towel to each of them. “Alright kiddos,” she said, “let’s get you cleaned up before Jim gets home.”
“So, what were you guys up to today?” Joyce asked at dinner later that night.
Simone, Cassidy, and Justin all looked at each other before responding.
“Watched TV.” “Baked cookies.” “Nothing.” All three said at the same time. Quickly realizing the slip-up, each of them changed what they had said, and once again said the same phrases.
“So which one is it?” Jim asked.
“Nothing.” Simone said quickly. After that, no one spoke of it again.
“Hey dad, I think you need to check the sprinklers. The window and the wall from the backyard are all wet. And the grass is really muddy.” Darrin said, playing with the carrots on his plate.
“That’s weird; we never had a problem with the sprinklers before. I’ll check it out tomorrow,” Jim said, resting his chin on his hand.
Justin looked down, trying to hide the laugh that was coming up.
“So, Justin, your mom told me that you’re going to be singing at the community festival coming up October?” Joyce said, taking a seat next to Jim.
“Yes, ma’am. I’m going to do a few songs by myself but mama said it’d be good if I could do a duet with someone.” He said.
“Well, I have an idea, why don’t you and Cassidy sing together?” Everyone turned their attention to Simone. “C’mon, it’d be good for the both of you. You two are naturals at performing. Do you wanna do it Casssidy?”
“Yeah Cass! Say yes! I mean you can just do the duet with me but I think you should do some songs on your own too.” Just said.
“You mean I have to sing in front of a lot of people?” she asked.
“Yeah, but it’s a lot of fun. Plus, I’ll be there too so you’re not going to be by yourself,” Justin said, trying to comfort her.
“Well… I don’t know. I don’t sing in front of people a lot,” she said, looking down.
“Honey I think that you should try it. I mean, you have a great voice and it’ll be fun,” Jim said.
“Cassidy I know how much you enjoy singing, if you do this little performance you’ll feel better about being in front of people so much.” Simone said, reaching for her hand.
“Yeah, just imagine everyone in their underwear.” Darrin said. Every adult looked at him and gave him the evil eye. “What? It’s just a suggestion.” He shrugged.
“So c’mon Cass, what do you say? Please?” Justin said, pouting.
After thinking about it for a little while Cassidy finally agreed to perform at the festival.
“Now that that’s settled, Jim and I have some important news for you all,” Joyce said turning to everyone, than back at Jim.
“Well, I’ve been feeling kind of sick for a while, and I went to the doctor’s the other week and well…” she left them hanging, “I’m pregnant!” she said excitedly, clapping her hands.
“Honey, that’s wonderful,” Simone said, getting up to hug them both.
“Congratulations, Mama Joyce,” Justin said smiling.
“Cool,” Darrin said, “I hope it’s another boy!”
“You mean I’m going to have a little brother or sister?” Cassidy asked.
“Mm hmm. Aren’t you excited?” Jim asked.
“Yeah, I guess. I hear kids at school talking about their baby brothers and sisters all the time. They said they cry all the time, and poop, and eat and sleep.” She said, making a face.
“All babies are like that, Cass. Alright, everyone done?” Joyce said.
Later that night, Cassidy and Justin went to the tree house to watch the stars. The beauty of the night was so attracting, the stars in the sky resembled diamonds that looked as if they were strewn across the dark midnight sky, although the moon was distant, it shone that night with a creamy glow, the air was crisp and stung your cheeks with a temporary icy chill.
“Hey Cass, do you believe in angels?” Justin asked.
“Yeah, why?” she asked.
“Well, I don’t know… sometimes at night I look at the sky from my window and try to picture what Heaven is like.”
“Gramma tells me all the time that Heaven is where everyone goes to after they die and they become angels. And when they get there they stay there forever with God but they are very happy because in Heaven there is no suffering.”
“Really?”
“Yup. It’s the happiest place ever. Like Disneyland.”
“Can the angels see us right now if they’re up there in Heaven?”
“Yup, I think so. Do you think so?”
“Yeah.” A long period of silence fell over them.
“Hey, Justin?”
“Yeah?”
“We’re still gonna be friends no matter what, right?”
“Duhh. Why are you asking me that?” he said as he wrapped the orange blanket around them tighter.
“I don’t know. Sometimes I think about it because you are older than I am. We don’t see each other as much as we used to. I get kinda scared sometimes cause you’re my best friend, and I don’t wanna lose you.”
“Cass, just because we’re not the same age doesn’t mean we’re not gonna be friends. I’m always gonna be there for you, okay?”
“Okay. Me too.”
“Hey Justin, what’s a divorce? Rachel was talking to me about it today at school.”
“A divorce is when parents stop being married because they fight all the time. I heard this kid Billy talking about it. He has two homes, one with his mom and one with his dad. He said his parents always yelled at each other until one day, his dad left. He said his mom cried every night because she was scared. Then they went to court and got divorced.”
“Court? You mean like a basket ball court?”
“I’m not sure. But whatever a divorce is, it sounds scary.” She leaned her head on his shoulder.
“Yeah, it does. I’m glad my parents aren’t divorced.”
“Me too.” He paused before speaking again, “hey Cass, what’s love?”
“I’m not sure. I think it’s when you like someone so much that you would do anything for them. My mom says people do crazy things when they are in love.”
“Have you ever been in love?”
“I don’t think so. Have you?”
“No. But maybe one day I’ll fall in love with some one. I wonder what its like to fall in love.”
“Me too.”
“I bet it’s the best feeling in the world.”
“Mm hmm,” she murmured.
“Hey Cass, when I fall in love, I just want to let you know you’re still going to be my best friend, okay? Just because I might not spend as much time with you anymore doesn’t mean that I forgot about you. But when you fall in love, you can’t forget about me either, okay?” There was no answer. “Cass?”
Justin tilted his head down to look at Cassidy, who was sleeping peacefully upon his left shoulder. He wrapped the blanket up around them tighter, and adjusted himself to a more comfortable position, making sure not to wake her. He looked up at the sky one more time before closing his eyes and whispering, “Goodnight, Angels. Goodnight, stars. Goodnight, Cass.”
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