Grace Ten Years Old
Grace
Ten Years Old
“Gracie, when the robots take over earth, they better not mess with our secret spot.” He sounds so serious, gesturing to our woodsy surroundings.
I roll my eyes. “Danny, if robots are taking over our planet, then they were created by humans. So we’ll have figured out force fields to keep them out of certain places. Duh.”
“Well, when you learn how to create force fields, you better stop here first and put it around our log.”
“Our log will rot before then,” I say grimly.
He gasps dramatically and sits down on the peeling log, accidentally breaking off one of the small branches poking out of the bark. “Susannah Sinclair. You take that back. Apologize to our log.”
I look at the log and hold my hands together like I’m praying. “Dear Log, I am sorry for saying that the rules of nature apply to you.”
He places his hand on the log and leans down, pretending to have a secret conversation with it. “The log accepts your apology as long as you promise to come back to our spot, with me, when we’re, like, thirty years old or something. Just so the log can prove you wrong.”
I crouch down and give Charger a kiss on his head. He happily wags his tail and licks my chin.
“I’d follow you anywhere, you know that.” I throw the branch he snapped, and Charger takes off running.
I brush the dirt off my hands. “Hey, Danny? You wanna play our game?”
“Sure!”
“Fact?”
He thinks, scrunching his eyes shut briefly before opening them and holding a finger up like he has an idea. “Got one!”
Hands clasped together, I eagerly reply, “Tell me.”
He smiles, showing off the space between his teeth. “I love you.”
It’s the first time he’s said he loves me, and my heart swells up like a balloon. I bounce on my heels a few times, careful not to float away from happiness.
“Loving me is a feeling, though,” I reply.
“No, Gracie. It’s a fact.”
THE END