Episode 913: Mean

“I’m always glad when I can make your day a little happier, I owe you for more than I can ever pay back, kid.”

“You don’t owe me anything,” she said, “that’s what friends are for. I need to go inside now.”

“Maybe I’ll come in for a few minutes, you said most of the animals love to be petted and fussed over and-”

“They have baths today so it’s not a good visiting day, too messy.”

“Oh. Some other time then.” He wrapped an arm around her and squeezed. “Don’t be such a stranger, let’s get back to talking more. That’s what friends are for, right?”

“You don’t really like talking,” she pointed out.

“I like talking to you.”

They shared another hug and goodbyes and finally Tansy breathed a bit easier as he walked around the corner out of sight. She still had to wait a few minutes just to be sure she was in the clear, but once that was done she felt infinitely lighter setting off away from the animal shelter around the corner to-

He waited there for her, obviously he’d guessed that she wasn’t really volunteering and he’d decided to catch her in the act. It was pretty devious but she knew he wouldn’t mean it that way, he cared about her.

“What’s going on, Tans? Let’s have one of those talks, huh?”

They walked slowly, side by side.

“Why are you avoiding the animal shelter?” He asked. “You loved it, you loved the animals and you loved having a friend your own age. Did something happen with Enid that’s upset you?”

After a long while Tansy nodded.

“You don’t have to tell me specifics if you don’t want to,” he said. “But you do need to tell me if whatever happened hurt you, if you felt pressured or scared because that’s not okay.”

Tansy said, “I wasn’t scared like that. Enid has always been nice to me.”

“I thought so, I just wanted to be sure. So you’re scared like, unsure, and uncomfortable, and maybe confused?”

After another long while, Tansy nodded again. “The kids at school,” she teared up, “they’ve been mean to me about this for so long. I thought they didn’t know me. I thought maybe they were wrong. But maybe they were right. Maybe that’s who I am. But I don’t know. And if I am, does it mean people will tease me and be mean to me forever?”

Episode 914: Fashion