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“He’s a boy from my school,” Cole whispered back. “He lives in the trailer park. A lot of the kids pick on him ’cause he lives there.”
“That’s not right.” I felt a punch in my gut. Kids were horrible at times, and to make fun of where he lived was crap. It was hardly his fault. “Do you know him well?”
“No. His name’s Mark Lopez. He’s not in my class, and he’s pretty quiet. I don’t know much about him, really. I think he’s a year younger than me.”
We heard Abby mumble something about dry clothes. Cole quickly headed for the dryer and pulled out a hoodie, a t-shirt, and a pair of jeans without even a second thought. He handed them to her when she came into the mud room. Cole put a finger to his mouth and shook his head to let her know he didn’t want us to be seen by Mark. She kissed his forehead and smiled down at the clothes then went back into the kitchen. I patted his shoulder, proud of his decision.
“Here.” Abigail kept her voice matter of fact. I saw the boy’s eyes widen at the things she held out to him, and he hesitated as though afraid she wasn’t serious. Then he smiled at her and reached for them. He was obviously happy but uneasy at the same time. He thanked her as he held the clothes tight under his arm. She directed him to the restroom to try them on. As soon as he closed the door, Abigail went straight to work preparing him a bowl of soup and a few dinner rolls.
“Maybe we should go say hi?” I suggested.
“No,” Cole didn’t budge, “he’ll get embarrassed, and he’s had enough of that already. I’ll talk to him at school, neutral ground.”
I tried to hide my amusement at his answer. For seven, he was awfully wise.
“All right, let’s give them some privacy and get back to the work.” I grabbed a dry hat from a peg on the wall as I held the door open for him. He looked up me with sadness in his eyes. It wasn’t pity; I knew him better than that. He wanted to help.
“You know Abby, she’ll look after him, make sure he gets home all right.”
“I know.” He avoided the puddle and Todd as we approached his father.
Daniel glanced at us as we reached the henhouse, and I gave him a thumbs up that everything was fine. He shrugged and didn’t ask questions. We all concentrated on our tasks, and soon the henhouse was better than it had been in a while, and we had everything put away.
I could tell the boy’s visit was weighing on Cole. I knew he wouldn’t let it go. He wasn’t one to ignore someone when they obviously needed help. Once again, I felt pride in my grandson. He was going to be someone to be reckoned with one day. I could feel it in my bones.
“You boys must be frozen!” Sue stood ankle deep in a mudpuddle as she struggled with a large umbrella.
“It could be worse,” Cole commented, and she smiled at me.
“As soon as Abigail gets back, dinner’s ready.”
“She went out in this weather, Mom?” We all knew Abby didn’t venture out much. She was a homebody. “Should she?”
“She didn’t go far,” Sue assured him. “Ed, Meg’s on her way over.”
“Just a couple more nails and we’re done.” Daniel kissed her cheek. “We’ll be right in.”
“All right.” She patted a chicken that came to say hello. “Gosh, it’s freezing out here.” She shivered and headed back inside.
I met Cole’s eyes and nodded. We both figured where Abby had gone. I knew she’d question Cole about the boy when we got to the table later.
We cleaned up and gathered around the dinner table. The smell of fresh rolls and chicken soup filled the kitchen as we thanked Abby profusely then dove in.
“How was your day?” I asked Sue as I buttered my roll and looked around at everyone. I loved how we were a family that prided ourselves on family dinners.
“Well, we had a visitor tonight.” Abby glanced at Cole, who looked to be deep in thought. “A young boy around Cole’s age who looked entirely too thin and not dressed for this weather.”
“Really?” Daniel’s face was full of concern. “Where did he come from?”
Cole spoke up. “The trailer park. He goes to my school.”
“So, you know him?” Daniel glanced at me, no doubt wondering why I hadn’t shared this story earlier.
“No, not really, but I think I should.”
“I gave him some clothes and fed him.” Abby glanced at Cole and paused, overcome with emotion. “That poor boy was sure hungry. I don’t believe he gets much food. It was why he knocked on our door in the first place. I drove him home with some leftovers.”
“That poor child.” Meg looked at Abby. “We need to find out more about him.”
