Page 10 of Keeping Penny

Bowie’s nose scrunched up as if she was reconsidering him for friendship. But then she said, “That’s okay. I can give you my tomatoes and you can give me your pickles. But only dill pickles. Not sweet ones.”

“That’s not how it works, honey,” Penny said dryly.

“It’s fine. She can have all my pickles and I’ll gladly take her tomatoes. Do you like spaghetti?”

“Sketti? Yes! I love it! But we haven’t had it in forever.”

Pyro was going to explain that spaghetti sauce was made from tomatoes, but as if she could read his mind, Penny frantically shook her head. He grinned and nodded.

“Did you get a bag of free stuff too?” Bowie asked.

“Nope. I think we were cheated,” Chaos joked.

All of a sudden, Bowie let go of her mom’s hand and turned to quickly rush back toward their cots.

Pyro frowned. What was she doing? And shouldn’t her mom go with her, since she couldn’t see where she was going?

“She’s fine,” Penny said, reading his thoughts again. “She counts steps. Counted how many it took to get to where we’re standing. She’ll just walk the same number back to our cots,” Penny explained, watching her daughter fondly.

Sure enough, Bowie stopped close to where she and her mom had been sitting. She reached her arms out and shuffled forward until she came into contact with the cot once more. She felt around on top of the sheet and blanket and picked up the bag that hadn’t been opened yet. Then she turned and headed back toward the four adults. It was almost hard to believe the child was blind.

“Here, Bowie,” Penny said quietly, as her daughter veered a little off course. The girl immediately corrected her trajectory and walked straight for them.

“That’s really amazing,” Edge said. “How her hearing compensates for her lack of eyesight.”

“It really is,” Penny agreed.

Bowie reached them and said, “Mr. Chaos?”

“Just Chaos, Bowie,” his friend corrected gently.

“Here,” the little girl said, holding up the bag. “You can have mine, since you didn’t get one. Mommy and I can share. She says it’s good to share, that the secret to being happy isn’t what you get or what you receive, but what you share with others who need it more than you. And it’s not fair that you didn’t get a goodie bag when you got here. So you can have this one.”

Pyro was speechless. His friends looked just as shocked.

All three of them stood there with incredulous looks on their faces, staring at the little girl wearing a huge smile, holding up a bag with the few items they’d been given since they were evacuated with literally nothing but the clothes on their backs.

“It’s okay,” Bowie said, when no one took the bag from her. “You can have it.”

Pyro went to his knees in front of the girl and put his hand over hers on the handle of the plastic bag. He lowered her arm. “It’s so kind of you to share,” he said carefully, not wanting the girl to feel as if her gift was being rejected. “But I don’t think the shirt or pants will fit any of us. How about instead of us taking your gift, we go to whoever’s in charge and ask that they give us our own? That way, you can keep yours, and we’ll get one too.”

Bowie seemed to think about that for a moment before saying, “Okay. But if you don’t get one, you can still have mine.”

“You’re sweet, little Bowie. Thank you.”

The girl beamed.

“It’s getting late, sweetheart. Time to get ready for bed. Why don’t you go back to our cots. I’ll be there in a moment, and we can go brush our teeth together.”

“Okay, Mommy.” Then she lurched forward and gave Pyro another long hug. Her little arms around his neck made Pyro’s throat feel tight. She was open and honest, and he’d never felt so…loved.

When was the last time he’d had a hug? Pyro couldn’t remember. As a foster kid, he didn’t get a lot of affection growing up, and once he’d joined the Army, hugs were definitely in short supply.

Bowie smiled in the direction of Edge and Chaos, then turned to walk back toward her and her mom’s cots, the plastic bag in her small fist swinging at her side.

“She’s amazing,” Pyro told Penny softly, once she was back at the cots safely.

“She is,” Penny said.