her whispers tickling his ears.

And that is enough for them both.

Other times, they run

walk

explore

play together.

And that is enough for them both.

Until Baby feels the pull of his place with Jewel

and returns to the brown bag and blue blanket

and waits.

Today

Baby watches as the girl walks across the park.

Her head lifts. Her face lights up.

She waves her arm in wide arcs

of happiness.

Baby feels the hug in her eyes.

For the first time, Baby does not wait.

He leaps from the blue blanket

and rockets

to her outstretched arms.

Oh joy!

24

The Homeless Bus

Monday. It’s the first day of school for me, and kindergarten for Dylan. There’s a bus that picks up all of us kids from the shelter and takes us to the different schools. Our school, Olympia Elementary, is only a few blocks away. I said I could walk, but Mama says I have to ride the bus because she’s not too sure how safe the neighborhood is. So far, everybody around here seems okay to me, but I don’t argue.

This is Daddy’s first day too. He got temporary work at a big home improvement store. He doesn’t seem real happy about it—says a monkey could do what he’ll be doing—but it’s honest work.

The bus pulls up and I climb on board. I slide into a seat in the back and drink in the familiar smell—chewing gum, lunchboxes, stinky socks, and gasoline—that makes up a school bus. I never thought the smell of a bus could be comforting, but it is now.

“Hi,” a voice says.

I look up. It’s Karina from my new Firefly troop. I’m super glad to see a familiar face.

I try to smile around my nervous stomach. “Hey,” I say back.

She slides in next to me. Doesn’t ask, just does it.

“Olympia Elementary?” she asks.

“Yes.”

“First day?”

“Yes,” I answer. “I hate starting a new school.”

“Me too,” she says, “but it’s a pretty nice school. What grade?”

“Fifth,” I reply.

“I’m in sixth,” she says.

A bunch of other kids from the shelter load onto the bus. Some look like they just woke up but most of them look happy to be going to school. Not grumpy and whiny like the kids I rode the bus with back home.

That little spitfire of a girl Sapphire, from the Firefly Girls meeting, skips down the aisle, grinning. “Hey, Kar B.,” she sings out. “What’s the word today?”

Karina smiles. “The word for the day is ‘magnanimous.’”

The word tickles the edges of my brain. I know what it means, I just can’t remember.

“Magnanimous,” the girl repeats. “Sounds big and important.”

“It is,” Karina says. “It means generous, giving.”