I sighed. “America could take some notes.”
As Oliver and I colored with a small group of children, we heard a loud voice echo through the room. “KNOX!”
I turned toward the door, spotting a little boy of about ten sprint to where Knox was reading to two little girls. The boy leaped onto Knox, knocking him over into the nest of pillows.
“Who is that?” I asked Oliver.
Oliver’s smile reached his ears. “That’s Archer.”
“Is he related to Knox?”
Oliver chuckled. “That depends on who you ask,” heanswered. “A few years ago, Knox and I were visiting the pediatric wing at the local hospital. Archer had just had surgery to have his tonsils removed. Apparently, chocolate pudding was the only thing that Archer would eat while recovering, but the staff had just given out the last one. Knox tracked down another one for him and achieved hero status in Archer’s eyes.
“Long story short, Knox went back to visit the next day and got to know his family a bit. Archer and his siblings live with their aunt and uncle; their parents haven’t been in the picture since Archer was about five.
“Something about it hit Knox hard. He started by just sending chocolate pudding to Archer and his siblings. Then Knox happened to volunteer at a summer rugby camp Archer was attending. Since then, Archer’s been like a little brother to him. He always makes sure the family has what they need, and at the beginning of the school year he helps them with their school supplies and new clothes.”
“Wow. That’s amazing.” My eyes returned to Knox, who now had five kids, including Archer, around him. They were all captivated by the book he was reading.
“Yeah, he’s a great guy.” Oliver smiled, clearly proud of his friend.
“Who would have known that the porcupine would have a gummy bear center,” I mused quietly.
After a few hours, Oliver left to assist with the food drive and hand out boxes of food to families. I was sitting on the floor building a tower of blocks with a little boy named Hunter, when a girl with tight black curls came to stand next to me, watching us play. She couldn’t have been any older than six.
“Hi, do you want to play with us?” I asked.
She nodded.
“You can sit here. I’ll get us another box of blocks.” I stood and grabbed another tub and settled back down on the floor between her and Hunter. As I pulled the blocks out, Archer ran over to our group.
“Hi!” he greeted, his head of disheveled black hair going in every direction. “Can I play with you guys?”
“Of course. This is Hunter, and this is…I’m sorry, sweetie, I haven’t asked your name.”
“Her name is Belle. She’s my neighbor,” Archer answered.
“Oh. Well, cool. I’m Birdie.” I waved to Archer and Belle.
“Birdie. I love birds. Did you know that ninety percent of birds are monogamous but only three to five percent of mammals are monogamous and mate for life?”
“I had no idea.” I grinned at him, surprised to hear words like “monogamous” coming out of the mouth of a ten-year-old.
“Archer, are you bombarding your friends with random information again?” Knox had approached and was now standing over us, his hands in his pockets.
“I’m not bombarding, her name is Birdie, and it reminded me of a cool bird fact.”
“Hey, I would rather be given some cool facts than be debated with.” I winked at Archer. Knox’s face remained stony.
“Knox, sit down. We can build a cool racetrack!” Archer looked up at Knox as he sat down with us. “Did you know the first purpose-built motor racing track was built in Australia in 1905?”
“You know a lot of really fun things, Archer,” I said.
“I like to read and know stuff. Knox always brings me books when he comes over to my house.”
“That’s really kind of him.” I smiled at Knox, trying to make eye contact with him. The way he was still avoiding my gazereminded me of how tense his body had been when he showed me how to carve at the woodshop.Does he not want me here?
Hunter leaped up, running to his mom as she arrived to pick him up.
