Page 65 of No Man Left Behind

“A sleeping lion.”

Owen shook his head with a grin.

“A lion chewing a peanut butter sandwich.”

The kid shook his head and bounced down the path. “Nope.”

“A stuffed toy lion.”

“Nope, but that’s a good guess.”

“How about the kid lion from The Lion King?”

“No way. He’s got a big roar like this.” Owen’s roar had everyone laughing. “Do you give up yet?”

Marcus frowned hard at the kid, but it only made him laugh harder. “Yeah, I give up.”

“You can’t find them this time of year, but they’re here in Vermont.”

“We don’t have lions in Vermont. Well, we do have some mountain lions, but they do roar. You got me with this one, bud.”

The boy threw his hands in the air like Rocky at the top of the steps. He did a couple of cartwheels along the path and then ran to grab his puppy’s leash from his mom.

Owen and Flups bounced to Marcus. “It’s a dandelion. Get it? Dandelion? It can’t roar but it’s gotlionin its name.”

Marcus laughed along with the boy. “That’s a good one. Make sure Elina and Piper add it to the list.”

The endless ball of energy kept bouncing over to Elina. “Can Finch walk with me? He’s good, and he won’t run away. He and Flups like each other. Can I?”

Rachel laughed. “Did you somehow sneak in sugar for lunch? Like a whole bag of sugar?”

Owen shook his whole body like he’d been zapped by lightning. “How’d you guess?”

Rachel shook her head. “You’re a wack-a-doodle.”

He nodded. “That’s me? Can I take Finch, Elina?”

Elina grinned and handed over the leash. “But you need to be calm if you’re in charge of the dogs. Don’t get them all riled up. Finch doesn’t know his way out here, and we don’t want him spooked.”

Like a light switch, Owen’s demeanor softened. He patted the Dane’s massive head. “We won’t let you get lost, Finch. I’m always careful with Flups. You guys can check out the smells in the leaves that already fell.”

The trio wandered to the edge of the path, and sauntered along, the dogs’ noses in the leaves and the boy’s quiet voice chattering to them.

Marcus turned to Rachel. “You think he’s going to end up on stage?”

Rachel smiled fondly at her boy. “Or in the circus. He can be an acrobat or a clown. Other days, I think he’s going to be a veterinarian. He’s fascinated by what Kimi does, and he’s gentle with the animals. He loves them.”

Marcus patted her shoulder. “Not surprising at all. He’s a great kid, and he’s got a huge heart.”

Rachel’s skin flushed. “Thanks. I think he’s awesome.”

Elina nodded. “He is. You two were the first people I met when I got here. You were both so nice. It convinced me to spend some time in Phail.”

Marcus had even more reason to like the boy.

On the next post, they added a fact about the Phail family who had founded the town over a hundred and fifty years ago. Owen had fun figuring out how long of a time that was. If his mom lived her life fifty times over. And if Owen did it three times more than that.

Marcus thought the boy’s eyes were going to bug out of his head as he worked out that number.

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