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She glided gracefully down the steps to meet Jeffrey halfway.
“Oh, how beautiful, Jeffrey,” she said as he eagerly put the bouquet into her hands. “Thank you so much.” She buried her nose in the tiny petals and inhaled deeply.
“I got them for you,” said Jeffrey, beaming, his crooked teeth on display.
“Good morning, Jeffrey,” I said from the porch.
“Morning, Atticus! I got Thais flowers today!”
“I see that,” I said with a nod and a smile. “They’re very nice.”
“Come inside so I can put them in some water.” Thais grabbed Jeffrey’s big hand and pulled him along.
Jeffrey followed happily, ran up the porch steps and gave me a high-five on his way past.
While Thais rummaged the kitchen for something to put the flowers in, Jeffrey went on and on about how he had been helping his Grandpa Esra clean and smoke the fish Jeffrey had caught in the pond yesterday. And when I asked Jeffrey how Esra and June were doing, Jeffrey told us that his grandma and grandpa were doing “good, good” but that June was too tired to leave the treehouse “past day and yesterday and probably tomorrow, too”.
“Is she sick?” Thais asked, concerned.
Jeffrey shook his head. “Just tired,” he answered. “And maybe tomorrow too. She’s so old, Grandma June.”
Then, as if Jeffrey couldn’t hold onto a thought for more than a moment, he went across the living room toward the window overlooking the front porch.
“Mr. Graham said he would make me a rowboat come February,” Jeffrey said. He pressed his childlike face, full of wonder and innocence, against the glass as he tried to get a better look at the skeleton in the rocking chair. “But he’s dead now, so he can’t make me a rowboat.”
Thais and I glanced at one another.
Then I noticed Jeffrey wasn’t in his usual yellow-and-red-striped swimming shorts. “Are you going to swim today?” I asked.
Thais set her flowers in a cup with water on the windowsill next to Jeffrey.
Jeffrey looked down at his baggy blue jeans, then over at me with a look of frustration.
“I…forgot my shorts. Oh no, now we can’t go swimming.” Dramatically, he brought up a hand and ran it over the top of his partially shaved head—hair was growing back in an odd formation, longer in some spots than others.
“That’s okay,” Thais said, taking Jeffrey’s hand again. “We can do other things.”
Jeffrey’s face lit up again. “We can climb trees.” He gripped her hand with excitement. “Or! Or, we can build me a rowboat!” He became animated suddenly, as if the idea that had just come to him was the best idea ever.
He dropped Thais’ hand and smacked his palms together.
Then he looked right at me.
“Can you help build me a rowboat?”
“You know what, Jeffrey”—I pursed my lips in contemplation—“I think I can help you out with a rowboat if you know where to get some supplies.”
Thais beamed, and thanked me with her eyes.
“I get you supplies—I mean us! We can build me a rowboat!” Jeffrey glanced over at Thais. “You can help too,” he said. “If you want.”
“Oh, of course I want to help,” she said right away. “You name it and I’ll do whatever I can.”
Jeffrey smiled with teeth, and turned back.
“Okay,” he said with urgency, “what do I need to get you to build me a rowboat?”
I gave Jeffrey a verbal list of everything I’d need, and although I didn’t expect him to find every item on the list, I told him not to get discouraged, to only bring back what he had, and that I’d still somehow make it work.
