New Friends for Serggie

         Swooooosh…. Swoooosh…

         The spruce trees swayed back and forth in the cold mountain breeze, dropping a portion of their collected load of new-fallen snow on the head of the unsuspecting boy running on the path below.

         “Hey! Stop that!” Serggie cried, looking around.

         Seeing no one, he looked up just as another breeze shook the trees.  Even the trees don’t like me.  Shaking the snow from his hair, he tightened the straps of his backpack and continued toward home.

         The front door swung open as Serggie stomped the snow from his boots.  “Where have you been?”

         Serggie looked up and tears filled his eyes.  “It happened again, Mama,” he began.

         Mama smoothed her apron and held the door wide for her son.  “Let’s talk about it,” she soothed.

         “Nobody likes me,” he explained.  “The other kids tease me and throw snow at me.  They chased me partway into the woods before they finally left to go home, and then the trees threw snow on me!”

         Mama stirred the hot cocoa thoughtfully.  “Maybe they wanted you to play,” she suggested.

         Serggie shook his head.  “No, they hate me,” he said, convinced.

         “Did they say anything to you?”

         “They said, ‘Hey, come back,’ when I ran away.”

         Mama smiled.  “Next time, why don’t you go back and see what they want?”

         Serggie sulked.  “I don’t want to know what they want.  I hate being the new kid.”

         Wrapping her arms around her young son’s shoulders Mama comforted, “It’s only your first week, Serggie, give it time.”

         Scratch… scratchity scratch scratch…

         Serggie looked out the window.  There were so many unfamiliar sounds in the new house; the huge oak outside his window scratched its brittle branches against the side of the house, awakening him.  I’m glad tomorrow is Saturday. 

         Even though he had looked forward to sleeping late, Serggie awakened early.  Noises coming from the front yard greeted him but he pulled the pillow over his head.  I’m not going to look.  It’s just all the other kids having fun, he told himself.

         Serggie tried to ignore the joyful shouts but finally threw back the covers and peeked out the corner of the window.  He rubbed his eyes and looked again, not believing what he had seen.

         “Can you come out and play?” was spelled out across his yard using pinecones lined up end to end.  A snowman stood beside the message along with four of his classmates.

         “Mama!” Serggie called, running into the hallway.  “Mama, they want me to play.”

         “You need to get dressed first,” Mama teased, pulling the hat from his head.

         Serggie blushed, looked down at his pajamas, and giggled.  He raced back to his room and threw on his warmest clothes.

         Tap, tap, tap…

         The light breeze was just enough to hit the tree branches against the window.  Serggie listened for a moment, imagining it was a secret code from his new friends, then ran back down to the kitchen.

         “Mmmm.”  Serggie licked his lips as the aroma of baking cookies tickled his nose.

         Mama helped Serggie with his mittens.  “I’ll bring out some cookies and hot cocoa as soon as they’re ready,” she promised.

         Serggie smiled and even though Mama couldn’t see it under his scarf, she recognized the familiar twinkle in his eyes.  “Have fun, sweetie,” she said, opening the door.

         Serggie stepped out on the back porch and breathed in the cold air.  Scrunch... scrunch... scrunch...  His boots crunched in the frozen snow as he ran to the shed for a shovel and sled.  The dry leaves hanging on the oak tree rustled gently like the sound of Mama’s skirt brushing against his sheets when she tucked him in at night.

         Rounding the corner, Serggie was met by a barrage of snowballs.  This time, instead of running away, he laughed, picked up a handful of snow, and threw it back.

         “Hooray!” the others cheered, throwing snow at each other.  “We only wanted you to play,” one of the other boys explained.

         “I thought you didn’t like me because I was the new kid,” Serggie explained.

         The others laughed and introduced themselves.  “Let’s build another snowman,” Pete suggested. 

         Serggie nodded, excited to have new friends to play with.  He looked back at the footprints in the snow.  Instead of the single set of tracks he usually saw, there were so many tracks you couldn’t tell whose were whose or which direction they were going.  For the first time, he was starting to feel at home.

         Maybe being the new kid isn’t so bad after all, Serggie concluded.  As he joined the others, the breeze swooshed through the trees, creating a soft symphony of sounds to accompany the laughter of the children at their feet.


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