Chapter 3

I chanced on him one day again

And eventually he became my friend

Secrets shared and dreams we knew

Through the years our friendship grew

Then on Friday of the second week my Biology teacher called me aside. She said that she had noticed I seemed to be a little ahead of most of the students, that I was picking up things pretty quickly. She wondered if I would like to change in a slightly more advanced section. Ms Green's section had mostly more advanced students and would probably move a little faster and cover some additional things she would not be able to get to.

I had felt a little, maybe not really bored, but more just held back somewhat. I told her I liked her as a teacher but if I could I thought I probably would enjoy the other section. She said she certainly didn't mind although she did enjoy having a student like me. She arranged that on Monday I would go to Ms Green's class instead. It met at the same time so there was no scheduling problem.

Monday when I walked into the class I nearly froze just inside the door. There at one of the tables sat the boy from the park. I probably only stood still for a few seconds even though it seemed much longer but when I went over to Ms Green and introduced myself she didn't seem to notice anything odd.

She welcomed me to the class and pulled out her seating chart. The room had tables instead of desks with two students seated at each. She looked down the chart and found one table with only one person assigned and quickly wrote my name in the vacant place. Then she pointed to the table and my heart seemed to flip again as I saw the vacant place - now my place - was next to the boy from the park.

I moved over and sat down and then turned to the boy as he did to me. "Hi. I'm Karen Shepard. They just moved me here from Ms Harvard's class."

He smiled a very friendly smile back and replied, "Hi. I'm Erik Wilder. Welcome to our world of green and wiggly things."

I gave a little laugh and just then the bell rang and Ms Green started class.

Over the next four days we spoke to each other just a little. Mostly we were busy listening as this class did seem to move a little more quickly than others I had taken. I didn't mind this and actually like the heightened pace. I did notice that Erik also appeared to thrive on the greater challenge. When we did speak, however, I quickly discovered he had a sharp wit and a good sense of humor. I suspected he was probably quite bright. (This was confirmed some two weeks later when we got back the first test and he beat me by three points.)

On Friday of that week we had lab and I discovered that the two people at each table would work as partners. On Thursday we had been told that this lab would be about using the microscope. The microscopes available were not binocular and we were told repeatedly that while we would only look with one eye we should not shut the other one tightly closed.

I got to class a little ahead of Erik and was already examining the microscope on our table when he came up beside me. I turned and burst out laughing. He had a black patch over one eye and was holding a tiny toy cutlass. "Arggg. I'm not expecting trouble with using just the one eye, Mate." As I have said, he had an interesting sense of humor.

I couldn't help myself and laughed even harder as did a couple of other nearby students. Erik joined us and then as class started he removed the patch and put the toy away. He changed instantly from pirate to serious student and we spent the next forty minutes learning to focus and otherwise operate the device in front of us.

Over the next three weeks we found that we worked well together. Our minds seemed to think alike and we never had difficulty settling on an approach to a problem or sharing tasks. Outside of class I only saw him occasionally in the halls or across the room at lunch time but I had found myself quite comfortable with him.

One Saturday morning I woke to find a clear sky of blue so intense it almost hurt to look at it. The temperature was warm for mid October - a high of seventy two predicted with only a very slight breeze. Perfect fall weather. I did have a novel to finish for English class but otherwise the day was open and I gave intense consideration to deciding how to spend it. I could put the novel off until tomorrow. I could get it out of the way. I could sit inside and watch a movie or something. I could take the novel and maybe something else to read and head out into our woods and enjoy this perfect fall day. This intense consideration took all of about two and a half seconds and I immediately headed downstairs.

After a quick breakfast I decided to pack a lunch and just eat outside. Mom and Dad had someplace they were going anyway so I just told them I'd be out in the woods and would be back by supper time. Then I stuffed the lunch, a couple of water bottles, and the novel, as well as some other reading material intended just for my own enjoyment into a small back pack and headed out back.

When we had first moved here the three of us had walked the boundaries so I knew where our land ended and someone else's started even though there was only more woods surrounding ours. Now I just headed out, following the stream for a ways, watching for a likely place to just sit comfortably and settle down to my reading. Several hundred yards back I was getting near the edge of our property when I saw a large tree with a couple of branches about seven feet off the ground. These branches formed a fork that looked just right to settle into. (I said I still climbed trees.) It wasn't difficult to get up there and I found I had been right. When I settled on the fork and leaned back against the trunk everything seemed to fit against me as though it had been designed to do so. I did have a blanket with me and I folded this behind my back leaving me resting as easily as in an upholstered chair.

I pulled out the novel and began to work my way through the remaining portion. A couple of times I stopped for a short time to eat a little snack and drink some water, but mostly I just kept going. The temperature was perfect, the breeze only enough to make a slight rustling sound in the brightly colored autumn leaves. There were occasional sounds of squirrels or other small animals rushing around gathering nuts or something and probably storing them for winter. We had already had enough cool nights that most of the bugs were history and nothing was left to disturb me.

I finished the required reading and I think I may have even dozed off slightly for a few minutes. I was just beginning to consider seeing about lunch when I heard someone moving through the leaves nearby. It sounded like just a single person, moving slowly, probably just enjoying the fine weather as I was myself. I leaned over and peered through the vale of leaves still remaining on the trees. To my total surprise I saw that the pilgrim moving slowly in my direction was none other than Erik, my lab partner.

He was some twenty feet from my tree and obviously hadn't noticed me when I called out, "Hi. What are you doing out here?"

He looked up with a totally startled expression on his face. It took him just a couple of seconds to recognize me through the leafy shroud. Then he replied, "Hi, yourself. I could ask you the same question. But perhaps it's just that you think you are a bird or something."

I laughed and began to swing down to the ground. "No, I just found a comfortable place to read. Just finished that novel for English next week. As to what I'm doing here, I live here."

He slowly looked around then said, "And all this time I thought you lived in a house like other people."

Again I laughed and said, "Well, I do but the house is just a short way in that direction." I pointed and added, "Now you know why I'm here, so tell me just why are you?"

He shook his head back and forth. "You really live here? I'm here because my house is just a short way in that direction." He then pointed in the direction almost directly opposite the way I had.

Both of us were lost in the surprise. I realized that in the time I had lived here I had never been around to the road on which his house was located and neither of us had discussed where we lived. He had a small pack with his lunch also and we quickly spread the blanket below the tree where I had been perched and sat down. We ended up sharing each other's lunch and talking. I found that he lived on the place adjoining ours along one side, some sixty or so acres. He had decided to just walk upstream a little today to see where the creek came from before it flowed onto his parents' land.