Demon

Ron

Dinner is ready, but the kids haven’t gotten back from playing with Jonathan. I suppose they’re enjoying seeing him as much as they enjoyed seeing Timothy. I put on my shoes to go down to Jonathan’s house and fetch them.

There’s a knock on the door just as I’m about to leave. I open it, and there is Brad.

“Hey,” he says. “You all married? Congratulations and all that!”

I grin and show him the wedding band on my finger. “Yeah, we totally tied the knot. Again.”

He reaches out to shake my hand, then says, “Well, I’m just here to pick up Jonathan. It’s dinnertime.”

Oh! “I thought they were over at your house,” I say, perplexed. “I was about to go there to get them.”

“Huh,” he says.

“I’ll bet they went to the park,” I tell him. “I’ll walk over there and grab them.”

“I’ll come with,” he says. “You can tell me all about your trip.”

So here I am, walking down to another park, chatting with another dad. This seems to be the pattern today.

When we get there, sure enough all three kids are there, up on the hill on the west side, sitting on the grass and animatedly talking in the fading light from the setting sun. They look up guiltily when we get up there and loom over them.

Natalie purses her lips. “Um, dinnertime?” she guesses.

I point to the fading sunset. “Yes. And nighttime. On a school night. It seems that you kids just can’t stay away from parks today!”

They all look at each other and laugh. Then they jump up, and we head home together.

Stefanie

Jonathan is obviously thrilled that his friends are back again. Last night he scarcely stopped talking for a minute, all the way through dinner and bedtime. It’s nice to see him so happy. Exhausting though. And just to think, in a couple of months there’s going to be two of these kids jabbering away!

I head into his room in the morning to wake him up and get him ready for school. He comes awake immediately and sits up with a smile on his face.

“Good morning,” I tell him. “Oops, look, there’s a spider on your head!”

His eyes grow wide and he reaches up there, and I say “April Fools!”

He laughs, and returns with “Well, there’s a giant scary red demon standing right behind you!” I grin and tousle his head. “Good one, kid. Okay, get dressed!”

Timothy

Guardian wakes me up with “Your father slept all night, with no nightmares. Natalie learned that Demon has returned, and all is well with Jonathan.”

My eyes pop open. Um, really? That’s a whole lot of information to deal with first thing in the morning. “Thanks, Guardian.”

It sounds like what Natalie did with Dad yesterday really helped him. I’m so glad. And now Demon is back? I’d be worried about that, but Guardian said all is well with Jonathan. I don’t know how any of that is possible, but I’ll just have to wait to find out.

While I’m eating breakfast, Mom and Dad are both eating too. That’s unusual. But I guess since Dad got enough sleep last night, he didn’t need to sleep in. They are smiling at each other a lot this morning.

Dad says that he’ll take me to school. That’s also unusual. Normally Mom takes me. I shrug and say okay.

While we’re driving, he tells me, “Just so you know, kid, today is April 1st. Do you know what that means?”

“Oh, right, April Fools Day,” I answer him, unhappily. I remember being confused and upset on April Fools Day before. People kept telling me ridiculous things, and I kept believing them, and they kept laughing at me. Not Natalie of course. But I didn’t understand why anyone would behave this way. I hope it doesn’t happen again this year.

“Right,” he says, pulling the car up in front of the school. “Just remember, don’t believe anything you hear first thing, make sure that you stop and think about whether the person is just making a joke. Most people think it’s really funny, but I know you probably won’t. Just keep it in mind during the day, okay buddy?”

“Um, yeah. Thanks Dad.” He’s giving me advice? That’s nice, I guess.

“Well, have a good day, Timothy. I love you.”

I stare at him.

“You too, Dad.”

I get out of the car, and he pulls away. I check my watch for the time. Natalie gave it back to me yesterday while they were over at my house. I had missed having it all week. I think I looked at my bare wrist about a thousand times.

I realize that it’s still really early. I don’t see Natalie or Gabe or Jonathan here yet, so I walk on to the playground. There aren’t many kids here yet. I look around for a good place to wait for them.

My eyes focus in on the one place we’ve been avoiding all year. The jungle gym. We hadn’t wanted to go there since we thought it might bother Jonathan, after everything that happened there. But, Guardian said that Demon is back, and Jonathan is fine.

And, after yesterday, I know how to climb the thing now.

I decide to go do it. I should practice what my Dad taught me. I put my backpack down next to it, and look at the bars. They are a little different from the one at the park, but the procedure should be the same. I put my hand on the bar right above my head, then my foot on the lowest bar next to the ground.