Page 40 of Schooling Little Sage

“He’s naughty, Daddy.”

“Yes, love, it appears that way.”

“I’m a good boy.”

“That you are and that’s why Daddy planned this special day for you. Shall we let Roman continue?”

“Yes, please.”

“Such a polite boy you have,” Roman told Daddy. “The tools you see here are the ones used by the original miners but have been retired. They pulled sapphires the size of your fists out of here.”

“Whoa.”

“Whoa is right. In the cabinet across the room are the buckets you get to sift through.”

Just then the boy who’d been using the machine with his Big giggled and ran over to us. “Look at all the jewels we found. We’re rich!”

His Big smiled and shook his head. “Sorry, he’s a bit excited.”

“I’m Dempsey, who are you?”

“I’m Sage and this is my Daddy,” I held our hands up.

“This is my Daddy, Burke. Daddy, can Sage and his Daddy come to the arcade with us later?”

“I’m Burke,” Dempsey’s Daddy held his hand out to mine.

“Warner, nice to meet you.”

“Well, seems my boy made a new friend. Would you and Sage like to join us later for Pizza and games?”

“What do you say, Sage?” Daddy asked me.

I wanted a new friend that lived here so bad. Well, at least I hoped Dempsey did. “Yes, please. Can we, Daddy?”

“I think that can be arranged.” Daddy and Burke exchanged numbers and set it all up.

“Look at all the pretty stones,” Dempsey opened his hand for me to see. “I bet you get some really neat ones too. We can make trades later if you want.”

I wasn’t sure I’d want to give any of mine up, but it would be fun to see all of them together. “Maybe.”

“Sorry, we’re new here and Dempsey’s excited to have a friend,” Dempsey’s Daddy said.

“We’re both fairly new here too. We work in the barn with the horses,” Daddy told him.

“Dempsey works in the cafeteria washing dishes and cleaning tables. I joined the maintenance team. Come on, Dempsey, let’s clean up the table so Sage can use it next. Then we’ll visit the shop and see if we can find a special container for your treasures.”

“I’m gonna get a treasure chest for my booty.” I giggled. “Booty is such a funny word.”

Dempsey giggled too. “That might be fun, then we could play pirates together.” I nodded then Dempsey gave me a big hug. “See you tonight, Sage. Bye, Sage’s Daddy.”

They ran off to clean up so we could have our turn digging. The naughty boy and his Daddy left while we were talking. He didn’t get any treasure cause he was bad.

“Which bucket would you like to try, Sage?” Roman asked.

“Mmm…” There was a red one, a green one, a yellow one and a… “Blue, please. It’s my favorite color.”

Roman put the bucket on the rack beside the water table and handed me a mini shovel. “Take one scoop at a time and put it on the screen then move it back and forth so the water washes away the mud and reveals your treasure. Good luck, Sage.”