In the Beginning

It was a Monday morning at Edison Street School. There was still about a half hour left before the start of the school day, and the playground was nearly empty except for the students who had arrived on the first bus. On the cement steps, one of those students, a little girl with brown pigtails, sat crying. Her distress did not go unnoticed by the blonde girl who had just gotten off bus number thirty-seven. She ran over to her friend, dropping her backpack on the pavement next to the steps.

"Sara, what's the matter?"

Sara sniffed. "I was s'posed to bring something blue today, an' I forgot."

The blonde girl put on her most serious expression, then sat on the step next to her friend and wrapped her arms around her, comforting her. "It's okay. Everyone makes mistakes," she said, quoting one of her mother's favorite sayings.

"I know, Cathy. But..." Sara was about to say something about not wanting to make her teacher angry by forgetting her homework, but she was cut off by the noise of two boys coming off bus number thirty-eight.

"It's the Twins," Cathy whispered. The two boys weren't related, but their inseparability caused people to joke that they might as well be twins, as well as inspiring their rhyming nicknames. They were called Nicky and Ricky by everyone except each other, preferring the more "grown-up" names Nick and Rick, and their teacher, who insisted on using their "proper" names, Nicholas and Warrick.

"Nicky, Ricky, stop it!" Cathy shrieked, as the first boy darted past her. Nicky was scrawny, even for a five-year-old, but very athletic. He was soon followed by his playmate, a brown-haired, dark-skinned boy who was slightly bigger than Nicky, and looked like he could probably win a wrestling match with his friend, although the smaller boy would most likely put up a good fight. Right now, though, both boys were somewhat winded from their sprint, and stopped to catch their breath.

"I'm gonna get you," said the second boy to Nicky.

"Don't 'entourage' him, Ricky," Cathy ordered, quoting her mother again. She looked over at Sara and was pleased to see that she was smiling at the boys' antics, having forgotten her homework crisis for the time being. She was grinning, revealing the gap between her front teeth.

"I beat Nick at basketball yesterday," Ricky boasted. "Two times."

"Yeah, 'cause you cheat!" snapped Nicky.

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Liar!" Ricky shot back.

"Stuuuupid!" Nicky retorted.

"Poop-head!"

"Double-poop-head!"

"Stop iiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!!!!" Cathy cried, putting her hands over her ears. "You're givin' me a headache!"

"Everybody just be QUIET!" yelled Sara, who had said nothing up until that point. "Look," she said, "Bus thirty-nine is coming." Everyone turned to look down the road as the school bus approached.

"Bus thirty-nine is the weird kidses bus," said Ricky.

"Yeah, those weird kids ride that bus," echoed Nicky. Cathy and Sara both knew which kids they were talking about.

"You're so mean," said Sara.

"But they ARE weird," said Nicky.

"Yeah, WEIRD," Ricky repeated. Cathy and Sara were beginning to tire of the two boys' repetitive use of the word "Weird." Ricky continued, "Gil's the weirdest. He doesn't like basketball or football or G.I. Joe or ANYTHING. And he told me he wants a 'chemistary' set for his birthday."

"What's a 'chemistary' set anyway?" Cathy inquired.

Pleased to be in the position of knowing something that his friends did not, Ricky explained, "It's this thing where you mix stuff together and make stuff."

"Yeah," Nicky added, "weird stuff." "Weird" and "stuff" were two of Ricky and Nicky's favorite words.

"Like poison?" asked Cathy.

"Probably!" responded Ricky.

"Maybe," said Nicky, "Gil's a witch!"

"Don't be stupid," said Sara. "Boys can't be witches."

"Can too," said Ricky, kicking off another argument.

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yuh-huh!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Don't fight, you two, or I'll tell Miss Kendall!" Cathy threatened, and Sara and Nicky calmed down, not wanting to be reported to their teacher.

"Hey, look," said Ricky. "There they are." He pointed across the playground to where two dark-haired boys were sitting on a bench. The taller of the two boys was holding a large book open on his lap. Next to him was a smaller child, leaning over to look at the book. Both were neatly dressed, wearing clean, white button-down shirts and black pants rather than the superhero t-shirts and jeans that Ricky and Nicky had on. The Twins started across the playground toward the two boys, with Sara and Cathy following.

"Hey, Gil and Greg," Nicky called, "watcha doin'?"

"We're reading," Gil replied coolly.

"Readin' WHAT?" Ricky snatched the book from Gil's lap, causing Greg to cry out in protest. Studying the yellow lettering on the blue cover, he read, "'Fun... For... Kids...' I can't read these big words!"

"Fun SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS For Kids," replied Gil and Greg in unison.

"Me an' Gil's gonna try to make a pickle light up," Greg added.

"Looks like some weird stuff to me," said Nicky, using his two favorite words again.

"Yeah," said Ricky, "Weird stuff."

"You guys," whined Sara, "don't be mean to them!"

"I'm not staying here with weird guys like them," said Nicky. "C'mon Rick, let's go play on the swings." The two boys began to walk away, inviting Cathy and Sara to come with them. Cathy followed, but Sara stayed behind.

"Sorry my friends were so mean," she said, when the others had gone.

"It's okay," said Gil. "My dad always says, 'Sticks and stones can break your bones but words can never hurt you.'"

"Wanna see what I brang for homework?" offered Greg. "I had to bring somethin' red." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a long, hollow red object with a paper-like texture. "Here," he said, "put your fingers in it." Trusting Greg, Sara did so, expecting some miraculous reaction. Nothing happened.

"What does it do?"

"Pull your fingers out," Greg said. Sara wondered why he had her put her fingers in the silly thing, just to take them out again and have nothing happen in between, but when she tried to free herself from the device, she found that they were stuck fast. Surprised, she began to panic.

"Eek, help!" she squealed.

"Hold still," said Greg. He reached up and took hold of the strange object, easing it off of Sara's fingers.

"Neat!" Sara exclaimed, no longer frightened now that she was free from the thing. "What is that?"

"It's a Chinese finger trap. I won it at a fair."

"Cool!"

Gil, meanwhile, had unzipped his backpack and removed his homework, something smallish and colored bright yellow. "Here," he said, "wanna see mine?" Sara held out her hand, palm up, to receive the object, but shrieked when she realized that Gil had handed her a very lifelike plastic spider.

"Eeeeeeeeeeew!!!!" Sara shook her hand wildly, flinging the spider to the ground. Gil scrambled to pick up his treasure and brush the dust off of it.

"You didn't have to throw it," he said. "It's not gonna bite you. It's not even real."

"Spiders are yucky," said Sara, "even fake ones."

"They're not yucky," said Gil, looking offended, as though Sara had called HIM yucky. "They're really cool, and they eat other bugs. And they don't even bite unless you try to squish 'em." He held out the plastic spider again, and Sara reached out timidly and took it. "See? It's not yucky."

"Yeah, I guess not," Sara agreed. She held the spider in her hand for a moment, even pretending to pet it, which made Gil smile, before handing it back to him.

"Gil and Sara, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" The three children looked up to see a classmate approaching them.

"Oh no," murmered Greg. "It's Conrad..."

"Is that your GIRLFRIEND, Gil?" the boy teased. He was dressed similarly to Gil and Greg, except for a dark green bow tie around his neck. Under his arm he carried a large black book. Like Gil and Greg, he was considered "weird" by most of his classmates, but he was by no means friendly with the two. Gil and Greg had concluded that Conrad Ecklie didn't have any friends.

"She's NOT my GIRLFRIEND, Conrad," Gil said firmly. "Now please leave us alone."

Conrad ignored Gil's request. Instead, he held up his book for his classmates to see. The cover was mostly black with gold letters and a picture of a planet on the front. "Look at this," he boasted. "My grandfather gave me this for my birthday. It's all about outer space."

Greg feigned disinterest, but Gil couldn't hide his curiosity. "Can I see?"

His nemesis sneered. "My mother says I'm not allowed to let anyone else touch it."

"Mean," Greg muttered.

Conrad most likely heard, but he didn't respond. He continued to pester the boys. "Did you two do your homework?" The question was asked like a father would ask two of his children who had a history of forgetting such things, although Gil and Greg were both diligent students. Greg held out his finger trap, Gil his spider.

"What'd you get for a color?" Greg inquired.

"I got green," said Conrad, lifting his head up to call attention to his green bow tie. "See? It's my father's, but he let me wear it, just for today."

"Neat," said Greg. Gil agreed, but neither of them sounded as though they really thought it was neat.

Conrad suddenly looked at Sara and asked, "What did YOU bring?"

Sara's heart sank and tears began to form in her eyes as she was once again forced to face her dilemma. "Blue," she said, "only... I forgot to bring anything." Gil frowned, pitying Sara for her misfortune.

Conrad just laughed. "Ha ha! You forgot, and Miss Kendall is going to be mad!"

"Shut up, Conrad," snapped Gil.

"Blue?" Greg was looking at the "Fun Science Experiments For Kids" book, which Gil was holding under his arm. Gil looked down, and his face brightened.

"My book is blue! Here." He held the book out, and Sara took it, grinning from ear to ear.

"Thank you so, so, so, so much! Now Miss Kendall won't be mad!" Gil and Greg were smiling too, happy to have made Sara happy. Conrad, meanwhile, looked almost disappointed that he wasn't going to see his classmate get scolded.

There was a sudden clamor as the schoolbell rang and students rushed toward the building. Conrad walked away quickly without saying goodbye. Gil and Greg stood up slowly, in no rush. Sara lingered with them.

A teacher called, "Gil, Greg, Sara! Hurry up!" The three friends obeyed, running to catch up with their classmates.

Cathy and the Twins had waited for Sara at the steps of the school building. The Twins were quick to ask, "What were you doing over there with the weird kids?"

"They're not THAT weird!" Sara insisted. "They're my FRIENDS."

"Which one," asked Ricky, "is your BOYFRIEND?" He and Nicky laughed, and even Cathy giggled a little, much to Sara's dismay. Instead of objecting, she simply marched past them into the school.

For Sara, show and tell just couldn't come fast enough. Finally, the time came, and the students sat in a circle on the rug as each one shared what they had brought for homework.

"This is a red Chinese finger trap. If you put your fingers in like this..."

"This is a yellow spider. Spiders spin webs and eat bugs..."

"This is my green bow tie. It's my father's, but he said I could wear it, and he said not to take it off, because I might lose it, and I can't get it dirty..."

"This is a blue book, and it's called 'Fun Science Experiments For Kids.' And it's not really mine, it belongs to my friend, Gil Grissom." There were a few giggles throughout the circle, and Nicky muttered, "We-eird," but Sara didn't react, and Gil and Greg just grinned.

"That's very nice, Sara," said Miss Kendall. "I'm sure it's a very interesting book, and it was very nice of Gil to share it with you."

A soft chanting of "Gil and Sara sittin' in a tree..." began, but was halted when Miss Kendall gave Conrad a warning look.

After show and tell came recess. The students formed an orderly line at the door to march out to the playground. Before leaving, Sara walked up to Gil to return his book.

"Thanks," he said, as she handed it back to him. "Um... Sara?"

"What?"

"If your mom says it's okay... do you wanna come over tomorrow? We could try an' get the pickle to light up."

Sara grinned. She had visited Cathy, Nicky and Ricky at their homes many times, but she had never had Gil invite her over before. "Sure!"

"Okay, I'll ask my mom."

"Gil, Sara, you need to come out to recess," called the teacher's aide.

"Sara?"