Brother Time

Chapter 2: "His Sign"

At school, Don and his friends rested on a playground bench as their other 5th grade classmates frolicked about around the slides and monkey bars. They ate trail mix and drank apple juice boxes as the heat pounded on them, which Don felt welcoming. (This heat was our passive goat grazing on the desert floor). After Don munched on a few peanuts, he asked one of his friends, "So, how was the subjects test, Janice and Matt?"

Janice was a shy girl who loved to read. She wore thick-rimmed glasses, which didn't make her a genius at all, like others say, because just like any other student she goes to tutorials and asks for help. Her cropped bushy blonde hair and soft grey eyes give her a composed face, while Matt, an optimistic boy with bushy brown hair and matching coffee eyes, was the opposite. These were the first two friends Don made when he first came to America.

"I thought it was easy. I hope I get an A." Janice chimed.

"Dang it! I had a hard time with the history of the Greeks and Romans. Tutoring doesn't help me at all yet Don can help me in five minutes, isn't that right, Janice?" She nodded in agreement.

"Thank you for the compliment, Matt, and I will keep helping you, of course. I have something to confide to you." Don asked them, and they waited for a response, "there's been a young man outside my house last night. I have been walking from Matt's house."

"There's no one in our neighborhood that's shifty." Matt said.

"I do not think he is a family member, but he did look African. I could not tell in the darkness."

"Did you see what he looked like?" Janice asked.

"No, it was too dark. Maybe... it was a family member who wanted to come to my house and could not come in." Don said. He would rather not dwell on this matter too long. He did not want to worry his friends since they lived in the same vicinity as him.

"By the way, Janice, can I have your red M&M's, please?" Matt smiled at Janice.

Janice rolled her eyes, "Take them, Matthew." and gave him her bag empty except for a handful of red M&M's, knowing that he would ask for some anyway.

At the stroke of 3:00, the bell echoed throughout the school grounds, claiming the end of that school day. Every child ranging from tiny toddlers to early teens rushed from the school halls. The day was coming to an end, but Don was waiting to go home, to feel that familiar embrace of the cold sofa giving him a refreshing nap unlike his bed, which struck odd to little Don. As he came out with his friends and the other students en masse to the front of the school, Janice turned to tell Don of something, but then she noticed his facial expression, "I think I know a face when I see one." she said.

"Oh no, I forgot my spiral!" Don exclaimed.

"Buddy, the homework is not due until the day after tomorrow." Matt reassured him.

"Yes, but I like to finish my homework early so I can do other things."  

"Okay, do you want us to come with you and look for it? Do you remember where it was?" she asked.

"I will be fine. I will be right back." Don ran straight back to the doors, excusing a pair of middle school students as they held the door for him. He arrived at his homeroom and searched the cubbies for his spiral. It wasn't there! He was sure, he would always leave things in his cubby when he would remind himself to grab it in the afternoon, "I hope nobody took it." he mused to himself.

He looked around his desk until he found a small piece of silver coil peeking out from underneath a textbook. When he pulled it out, there was a sticky note on it, but he promised himself he would read it later and left the school. He arrived just in time to catch the bus with his friends.

"Looks like you came just in time!" Matt praised as they climbed the stairs of the bus and found a seat for the three of them, with Don near the window, Matt in the middle, and Janice at the end.

"I have." Don smiled. When Matt returned talking with Janice, Don looked out the window, and something caught his eye. There was an African man in tattered clothing, waving at him at the edge of the cluster of trees. Don leaned closer to see, but hit his forehead against the window. He blinked, and it was a mistake because he lost sight of the man, "Was he real?" he thought to himself.

"Hey Don, what's the matter?" Janice asked him with concern.

"I am just hallucinating, do not worry." he smiled. She nodded, and Don joined in with his friends' conversation.

~~~

After finishing the spiral homework, he recalled the note and closed the cover to read it. The writing was simply beautiful cursive, and the ink was so thin he could blow and break the stems if he could:

"Dear Bekelu,

It seems you have forgotten your notebook. You left your classroom in such a hurry, so I brought it for you. Have a nice day.

Oh, and your school is very nice. I wish I went to a school."

'Who could that have been? And how does this person know my real name?' Don wondered. Maybe it was that man who appeared at his house last night. Maybe it was a relative of their family, but he wasn't so sure. At this point, he couldn't think of a plausible explanation for this. He decided to wait for tomorrow to see if the man would appear again.

He finished half of his schoolwork and ate dinner with the Greenes and Juliette.