Spiderman

The mailman handed me a large, flat box at the front door early that afternoon. I knew what it was.

“Yali, come here. This is for you.”

He grinned and joined me in the kitchen where I split the box open with a carving knife.

“Close your eyes.”

He squinted them shut.

“Okay,” I lifted the article out of the box. “Open them now.”

He may not know how to communicate with big words yet, but the deep belly laugh of being absolutely tickled, made up for it. A Spiderman costume. Just in time for Halloween.

He didn’t take it off until bedtime.

After school, it was time for homework in Hans’ room like every Tuesday. Yali was already practically snoring in a beanbag chair, he was so exhausted from his impromptu 4:30 wake-up call that morning.

Meanwhile, Annie-Grace’s mom stopped in to ask about Oxbear winning Globalhack over the weekend.

“You have enough for a downpayment for a mansion,” Annie-Grace suggested.

Then Heidi’s eyes lit up. “Or enough to get me a baby brother or sister like you did with Yali.”

Tear your heart out.

“Well, Heidi… you still kind of have Yali. He’s your godbrother, so that counts for something, you know.”

Heidi just grinned and walked over to his little chubbiness snoozing behind Hans’ desk. “He’s my baby.”

On the drive home, Puck sat shotgun as usual. But instead of requesting his normal playlist for the short route, he waxed contemplative for a few moments.

“I can’t believe I’m in 4th grade now… Where have the years gone by, Mom?”

Where, indeed.

Things were a little less thoughtful a couple of hours and many soft tacos later as Puck threw himself back into his remaining homework and Yali did his best to interrupt as much as possible. Finally, Puck had had enough.

“Yali, cut that out!” He turned back to his textbook with a sigh. “Psychopasm.”