Page 5 of Something New

"Yeah, well, I've only had like one hour of sleep, so I really need a nap. I want to take one."

"Why do you have those kind?"

"What do you mean?"

"Those kind is too big."

"Are you talking about my glasses?"

"What kind is that?" he asked, nodding.

"These are my cool-kid sunglasses, little man."

He let out a laugh and then he touched them again, right on the lenses.

I let him do it without flinching or telling him to stop. I was being extra patient because these were twelve hundred dollar glasses. They were my babies, and I didn't make a habit of letting little kids get their grubby little Cheeto fingers on the lenses.

"Cool kids?"

"Yeah."

"What is that?"

"You know, cool. Like being cool. Cool is what you should want to be. I wear these to work, and they make me look cool."

"You work at Trader Joe's?" he asked.

I laughed. It was cute the way he said 'Trader Joe's', and I couldn't help it. "No, I don't. You can't get these at Trader Joe's or even the mall. You have to go to New York or Tokyo, or somewhere like that. They're special glasses."

He stared at me, checking them out with amazement. He was adorable, and I softened to him now that I wasn't so asleep. My brothers were not back yet, and they were only supposed to be gone for a couple of hours, so I knew I had barely slept. I needed rest, but it was impossible to be rude to this little guy, with his adorable big brown eyes.

"What's your name?"

I listened, and it sounded like he said Eden Jane. He was definitely a little boy, so I figured I might have misheard him. The name of the place I was at was Camp Eden, so I thought maybe he was named for the location.

"That's a cool name," I said, not repeating it back to him. I watched to see what he would do, but he just stood there staring at me like he expected me to say something else. "My name is Sadie," I added. "And a bunch of people call me Shy."

He laughed, so I knew he had heard that word in a different context.

"Why are you sleeping on Nana's rocks?"

"You know that tunnel over there? My brothers are building that."

The little boy looked in the direction of the rounded wooden tunnel. These people were just about to move into this house, and it was currently having construction done. My brothers had been out here, working on this tunnel in the woods for weeks. The owners had a lot of construction going on at the main house also. I heard my brothers talking about the owners moving in soon. I figured the little boy must belong to them.

"Where's your brothers?" he asked me.

"They had to go to the store to get some more supplies."

"Why didn't you go with them?"

"Because they're mad at me right now, so they're not being very nice. Plus, I'm too tired. I actually need a few hours of sleep right now. I worked all night, and then I got into a car accident and had to go with my friend to the hospital and to… other places, so I haven't had any sleep."

"They're mad at you?" he asked.

"Who, my brothers?"

He nodded.

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