The angel was waiting when he got there. She didn’t look bored, even though she was alone—she just sat there on the top rungs of the climbing frame, kicking her chubby legs back and forth and humming to herself. When he came out from behind the tree, she smiled, as if she knew him from somewhere.
“Hullo,” he said.
“Hi.” Her voice was sweet, and her cheeks dimpled. “Do you wanna play with me?”
He shrugged. “I guess. What do you wanna play?”
“We could swing,” she said, pointing at the rusty swingset on the other side of the sandbox.
“Okay.” He watched her climb carefully down to the ground. Her dress was white and simple, and came to her knees. “Are you an angel?” he asked.
“No,” she said.
“Oh.”
She hoisted herself into one of the swings. “Push me!” she shouted.
He pushed her as high as he could, until she was out of reach, and she giggled and squealed. He got in the other swing, but he couldn’t make himself go as high as she did, no matter how hard he pumped his legs.
I’m too heavy, he thought.
When she was tired of swinging, they dug holes in the sandbox with their hands.
“This is a lake,” she announced, her fingers swirling the sand in one of the holes she had dug. “With fish.”
“This is the Pacific Ocean,” he said, digging the biggest, deepest hole he could. The damp grit tried to trickle back in, and he pushed it up into hills around the edge.
She watched him for a moment, and then said, “My mom’ll be here soon. She always comes just before dark. Where’s your mom?”
“When I left, she was arguing with her boyfriend again.” He shoved in the sides of the Pacific Ocean, burying it again under the sand. “Maybe he’ll move out,” he said hopefully.
She sat back on her heels. “Let’s climb the bars and wait for my mom.”
He followed her up the climbing frame. She perched at the top and began to sing quietly, a sad song he didn’t know.
“I learned a song in school,” he told her. “It has four verses, and we learned all four.”
He sang it for her, the whole thing, and then he taught her the first two verses. When they were done singing, the sun was setting.
He sighed. “I should probably go home.”
“Okay,” she said.
“When’s your mom coming? It’s getting dark.”
“She’ll be here soon.” She tipped her head back and looked through the tops of the trees to where the sky was turning a deep, purplish blue.
“See you later,” he said.
“Bye!” She smiled at him, and he smiled back.
He climbed carefully down to the ground, rung by rung, and then walked away. When he was almost to the street, he looked back and saw a brilliant star fall from the sky and disappear behind the trees.
Her mother, he thought. He made a quick wish, and then turned and wandered home, where his mother (but maybe not her boyfriend) was waiting.
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