Page 109 of The ABCs of You & Me

“Well, you’re welcome,” she says smugly.

“For what?”

“Being the one to do something about it.”

FORTY-EIGHT

SOPHIE

Pete’s playing with something in his pocket in our session on Thursday morning.

“What’s in your pocket today?” I ask from my beanbag.

“A talisman,” he replies slowly.

“Oh?”

“Mr. Walsh gave it to me last night.”

Foster had gone to Pete’s after school for another running practice. I knew what the talisman was, and I knew Pete had been a bit resistant about accepting it.

“Do you mind telling me what it is?”

I watch as he slowly removes his hand. Flipping it over, he unfurls his fingers and reveals a rock with a tortoise carved into it. “It’s a reminder that being slow is okay.”

“Just being slow?”

He shrugs. “And steady.”

“Like the fable of the tortoise and the hare?”

“Yeah. I want to be fast right now, but Mr. Walsh said that everyone gets fast at their own pace.”

“He’s right, everyone is different. We are all good at different things. Sometimes we are good right away, and sometimes it takes a long time and a lot of practice to get good.”

“Are you still practicing things?”

Keeping my house tidy, remembering where I put something, not worrying what someone is thinking about me, tolerating spice… I could go on forever with this list.

“Cooking,” I admit.

He looks at me with judgmental eyes. “That’s a good thing to practice.”

“I agree.”

“Miss Hore?”

I love the way he says my name even when we’re the only ones in the room.

“Yes, Pete?”

“Are you and Mr. Walsh boyfriend-girlfriend?”

The joy that bubbles up from somewhere deep within me leaves me smiling like an idiot at a ten-year-old. “Yeah,” I say. “We are, why?”

“I’m glad.”

“You’re glad that we’re boyfriend and girlfriend?”

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