Escaping to the valley

(Chapter 5: Social anxiety, and a fear of bugs)

In my slightly grumpy mood, I was once again, not watching where I was going, and almost tripped over someone... Which is quite a feat, because I'm not very tall. I looked down, only to see a little boy with pinkish hair. "Oh, a stranger! My name's Vincent. Momma says not to talk to strangers... But you seem okay." The boy said, before waving to his friend to come over. "This is Jas. She doesn't talk much." He said, pointing to a little girl with purple hair, wearing a big green bow. "... Hi..." The girl said quietly, hiding behind Vincent.

I waved at the kids, before writing "I'm not much of a talker either. I guess Jas and I have something in common."

The kids took a moment to read what I wrote, before Jas whispered "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers..." to which Vincent responded by saying "He just said he doesn't talk. You don't need to talk to him."

I quietly chuckled at the accidental misgendering, before writing "I'm not a boy, kiddo!" with an awkward smile.

Vincent paused for a moment, before saying "You've got short hair for a girl then." to which I shook my head, and wrote "I'm not a boy, or a girl. I'm nonbinary! But you can just call me Willow."

The children just looked at me as if I said something they couldn't believe, before Vincent smiled and said "Cool! So you're like a mushroom!" I couldn't help but snort after hearing that. I knew mushrooms apparently had... A lot of different genders... But I've never been compared to one before, so I just nodded awkwardly.

"I guess that explains why you smell like grass... And fish..." The shy little girl whispered, plugging her nose.

At this point, I figured I should get going before these kids make me laugh too much, so I wrote a little goodbye message, then went on my way.

However, I didn't get very far before almost running into someone else. "I am SO sorry. A- are these children bothering you?" said a woman with short red hair.

I quickly shook my head, and wrote "No, ma'am. In fact, they were giving me quite a laugh. This is the first time anyone's ever compared me to a mushroom." with a quiet chuckle. The woman just tilted her head, and looked down at the two kids, and mumbled "What on earth did you say to this person?" before looking back at me, and saying "These children. Sometimes I just don't know how to deal with them. But I swear they're good kids."

"Are they yours, by any chance?" I wrote, curiously.

"Oh! No, um. I'm just their teacher, Penny... I'm tutoring them... They're a handful, but it's nice to make a difference in someone's life. We don't have a school here but I'm doing my best to give Vincent and Jas a proper education. Every child deserves a chance to be successful. Jas is very good at math and reading. Vincent is good at... well, he has an active imagination."

"Well, that's very nice of you to do that for them." I wrote with a friendly smile.

"Thank you! Oh, speaking of which, I better get back to doing just that. I- I'll see you around, I guess." Penny said, walking with the kids towards what looked to be a library.

"Let's see if I can avoid accidentally bumping into someone else." I thought, continuing my walk.

As I passed Pierre's, I happened to glance at the calendar on the wall. "Oh! I didn't notice it was that kid's birthday tomorrow. I guess it's a good thing I met him today... Hm... What would a little boy like as a present? Eh. I'm sure I'll find something by tomorrow." I thought with a shrug, as I continued walking.

(Later that night)

Luckily, I was able to find something for Vincent before I made my way home for the night, because of a quick trip to the saloon.