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“Miss Kate?”
“Yes, Jonathan?”
Kate bent down so she came to his eye level and laid her hands upon his shoulders to give him her undivided attention. His little lips trembled, and his big brown eyes were red rimmed. He glanced sideways and promptly narrowed his eyes. She followed his line of sight to Donovan, who was towering over them.
“Who is he?” Jonathan suspiciously eyed Donovan up and down.
“I’m her boyfriend. Who are you?” Donovan asked with a jerk of his chin.
Kate gasped at Donovan’s bold answer. Jonathan was only five years old and practically in tears. Jonathan straightened his shoulders and puffed out his small chest. “I’m Miss Kate’s friend. I’m the only one who brings her flowers at school. Didn’t know Miss Kate had a boyfriend. Do you kiss her?Eww.”
She glanced up at Donovan, who tried hard to hold back his laughter. But then he surprised her by kneeling down on one knee and looking Jonathan straight in the eye.
“Good. You look after my girl when she’s here, okay? And I’ll look after her when she’s not in school, okay, kid?”
Jonathan looked from Donovan to a smiling Kate and must’ve figured she was okay with it all because he nodded. A big sigh escaped him, and his shoulders slumped again.
“What is it, Jonathan?” Kate asked.
“I don’t wanna go up there.” He pointed to the backstage curtain.
“Why not? You’ll make a great Columbus,” Kate said encouragingly.
“I don’t wanna.” Jonathan vigorously shook his head.
“Hey, kid. You know what my brother Brennan told me once when I was little? I was scared of going to school because I had to do a presentation—”
“A what?” Jonathan scrunched up his nose and furrowed his little brows.
Donovan grinned and said, “I had to stand in front of the entire class and talk about earthquakes.”
“Why?” Jonathan wasn’t sold on Donovan’s story.
Donovan smirked and continued, “Because I had to. The teacher told me to.”
“You didn’t have Miss Kate as teacher?” he looked from Donovan to Kate.
Donovan chuckled and ruffled his chestnut hair. “No, thank fu—I mean, no. I had Mr. Ford, and he was old and very strict. And I was so scared to stand in front of the class to tell my story. But do you know what my brother said to me?”
“No?” Jonathan stuck out his bottom lip.
Donovan leaned in as if to tell Jonathan a secret. “He told me that everybody shits.”
“Donovan!” Kate gasped while slapping his chest.
Jonathan laughed so hard, it took a few moments for his giggles to slowly wind down. Donovan grinned at Kate as he continued his story.
“You see, Jonathan, we’re all the same. We’re all human. We all find some things we have to do difficult or even scary. And at the end of the day, we all go to the toilet to take a dump.”
Jonathan let out a big gasp and, again, burst out laughing. Kate narrowed her eyes at Donovan and tried to save this situation. She couldn’t have Jonathan’s parents coming to her for an explanation as to why Miss Kate’s boyfriend talked about shit and taking a dump with their child.
She cleared her throat and started, “What my friend’s trying to tell you, Jonathan—”
Donovan deadpanned, “Boyfriend.”
She rolled her eyes at Donovan’s interruption and continued, “What he wanted to say in not such nice words….”
Jonathan lost interest and looked around. He must’ve noticed the rest of his class getting ready for the play. Some kids already had their costumes on, and some were standing against the back of the room with the same frightened face as he had mere moments ago.
