Page 56 of Reeves

Benjy holds my gaze for a few seconds, then seems satisfied that I’m not particularly mysterious.

"You went to LSU?"

"I did. Purple and gold are my favorite colors."

He points back toward the hole he left in the sand.

“I’m building a trap,” he announces, ready to move on just like that.

“For what?” I ask before I can stop myself.

“Pirates.”

He says it with complete confidence and goes back to digging.

I crouch down a few feet away from him. Close enough to see what he's doing, far enough not to crowd him.

“Now that’s cool.”

This time, he looks up. Those green eyes study my face with careful attention. Not shy. Not scared. Just curious.

"My pirate trap disappeared."

He says it with the seriousness of someone reporting a crime.

"Is that so?"

"I dug a really deep hole yesterday. Way deeper than this one." He gestures to the shallow depression in front of him. "I put sticks across the bottom and covered it with seaweed so pirates would fall in if they tried to steal treasure."

His hands move as he talks, sketching the dimensions in the air.

"But it's gone now. The whole thing."

I glance toward the waterline.

"Maybe the tide filled it in?"

"No." He shakes his head firmly. "Pirates found it. They probably had spies watching me build it. Then they came back at night and took it apart."

The logic is flawless in his five-year-old mind. I find myself nodding along.

"How do you think the spies spotted it?"

"Pirates are really smart. They probably sent scouts to watch the beach first." His eyes light up. "The scouts probably hid behind those rocks over there and took notes."

He points toward a cluster of weathered stones near the dunes.

"That's good reconnaissance."

The word slips out before I think about it. Benjy latches onto it immediately.

"What's reconnaissance?"

"Gathering information, like we do in the military. Watching and learning before you make a move."

"That's exactly what they did." He brightens. "So I need to build a better one."

He struggles with the word and I can't help but smile at how his brain put it together.