The boy I met today

“Hey!” he says indignantly and sort of hurt

I turn around to see a very small person with wide brown eyes staring at me.
It seems I have taken his seat and pushed aside his pasta, now he is ready to resume.
“Why don't you sit here” I say not being that good with strangers and even more unsure with tiny ones.
He gladly hops up on the seat next to mine.
He explains that some other boys have been acting strange to him and he bonked one of them, but the strange boy had soup on his tray, so when he bonked him it spilled all over him.
I feel his back, it is true.
I tell him if he is hungry later he can ring out his shirt and eat it. This makes him laugh and I like it.

His name is Jake
He went to cooking camp so he knows how to cut This he shows me during a magic trick.
He likes to play scrabble, but uses “proper names” and sometimes Spanish.
He likes books and his Mom read him one last night that was too scary for before bed.
He is going into 3rd grade, but is only 7.

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