Welcome to Gaia! ::

The day Delia Colt spotted Ainsley walking around the neighborhood she was overjoyed. There weren’t that many children around her son’s age in the Downtown area; local playmates were often hard to come by. It was the one thing she didn’t like about the neighborhood; there were more old couples than young ones. The Colts bought their brownstone from Delia’s parents when they moved to a milder climate; it made fiscal sense at the time. But, the lack of many other young children made her regret the purchase sometimes. Their home was beautiful and more than comfortable for their small family, but she often felt Samson was missing out.

Ainsley was a rare find, even better that she attended the same school as Samson. Mrs. Colt spent some time phoning around to find out more about the girl: who she was, what grade she was in, and who to contact to set up a potential meeting. She had a few connections at school, it didn’t take long before she was on the phone with Bell McMahon.

As it turned out, the Colts lived not too far from the McMahon’s, just a few streets over and two blocks up. Mrs. Colt couldn’t get over the idea of such a young, pretty girl walking to and from school by herself. Not that the area was dangerous, but she felt that it would be best, for both kids, if Samson escorted Ainsley. Mrs. Colt was more than willing to drive them both, but her own hectic work schedule often prevented that. It was a shame that they weren’t the same age or in the same grade, but it would do. Delia was just glad that there at least one child nearby.

On Monday morning, Mrs. Colt arranged for Samson to meet Ainsley at the McMahon’s and walk with her to Knightside Elementary. Her silver Jetta pulled up to the old fashioned house. Before letting Samson out of the car, his mother ran a comb through his dark grey-blue hair. Licking the tips of her fingers, she rubbed a miscellaneous smudge off his cheek. When he looked his best, Mrs. Colt gave him a quick kiss on the head before he scooted out the door. Then she was off, the silver car disappeared as it drove down the street.

Sam walked up towards the McMahon’s door, grumbling to himself. This was not how he had wanted to start his day. He would have liked to sleep in a bit and bike to school. Walking meant getting up earlier and who knew what this girl was like. A girl, pfft. Who wanted to walk with a girl? Sam kicked up a stray pebble as he approached the door. After ringing the bell, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his navy blue coat. His twisted his foot on the spot while he waited.

Sam heard the click in the door and immediately titled his head to watch it open. His brown-sugar colored eyes scanned over the girl as she came out into view. Her uniform was the same as his, she had the same bright teal shoes he did and hair bows to match. So far, so good. Ainsley seemed to be normal enough. She couldn't have been that much younger than him. Samson was thankful she wasn't a mutant, or obviously uncool. God forbid if he had to walk with a weirdo.

"Ainsley," he repeated. Taking his hands out of his pockets, he pointed towards himself, "Sam." He gave her a weak, sleepy smile. It was too early in the day to care about giving a proper introduction.

The smile turned into a light smirk at the stuffed animal's introduction. "Octavian Oswald, huh? Kinda a weird name for a rabbit." The boy stifled a giggle, trying to be polite. "Nice to meet you both."

"Oh..." Sam reached around to his black backpack, giving it some slack and pulling it down on his arm. One hand held the bag steady, the other unzipped it to root around. Gingerly, he pulled out a small white cardboard box with robin egg blue ribbon tied around it. The ribbon had the word 'Delish', the name of Mrs. Colt's eatery and catering service, printed on it. The box had Mrs. Colt's handwriting on it: Hello McMahons! Inside the box were freshly baked mini muffins of various flavors. It smelled like sugary heaven.

Sam held the box out to Ainsley. "Mom wanted you guys to have this."

“Ready when you are.” Sam adjusted his bag, making sure it was secure on his shoulders. Moving into a parallel position to Ainsley, he started to walk down the street. Each step was light, but having longer legs, Sam took wider steps than the girl. He had to consciously slow himself down, to make sure he didn’t walk too far ahead of her.

At first, Sam didn’t say anything. He was content to walk in silence; it was almost like walking alone. But, in the back of his mind was his mother’s nagging voice. She had lectured Sam the previous night about this. She told to him to make an effort and be nice.

Glancing to his side, Sam watched Ainsley closely. She looked almost exactly like a doll with her hair tied up in bows and her porcelain skin. He had to admit to himself that she looked pretty, though maybe too pristine. They were certainly opposites in appearance. Sam’s coat was slightly stained with patches of dirt and mud. His slacks were clean and pressed, but only because it was still too early in the day. His shoes were lightly scuffed, whereas Ainsley’s shoes looked perfectly polished.

‘Definitely like a doll’, he thought and wondered if anyone played with her. Did she ever get dirty and play in the mud like he did? Be nice, he reminded himself. After a minute of walking in silence, Sam finally spoke up.

“Who's you’re teacher? I have Mrs. Bancroft, in 5th.”

“Whitesmith huh? I had him. He’s okay, I guess. Fifth is a lot better, we do fun stuff. Mrs. Bancroft is really nice. We’re learning about Ancient Greece right now. And about the environment in Science class.” Sam was trying hard not to be harsh on the third grade. He had to fight the temptation to call their subjects baby subjects. The boy was in the fifth grade after-all, the third grade in comparison seemed so lame.

As the kept walking, Sam was struggling to find things to say about the fifth grade. He was never much of a conversationalist. When they stopped at a street corner, Sam went to press the button for the lights. He pressed it hard repeatedly, as tried to carry on talking as he did so. “Depends on the classes you like. English is kind of boring. I like Science much better; we’re working on dioramas and models of the earth. Whatcha doing in Whitesmith’s class?”

“ Not a math problem. Ancient Greece is like regular Greece, it’s a country only it’s really really old and far away. They invented Democracy, or something.” Sam nodded his head like this all made perfect sense. The pair kept walking together. The lights of the cross walk had flashed and they safely crossed. Sam kept a look out for cars at each intersection, making sure to check before crossing.

“I like math! It’s easy once you figure it out. If you get stuck you just have to remember how to add.” When the two children approached the school Sam walked Ainsley through the front door. In the large foyer Sam moved to go down the hallway where his class was. Before he did that, he looked back to smile at Ainsley. “Meet you here after school kay? I’ll walk you home.”

Then Sam disappeared, dashing off down the hall and around a corner.