Still

Chapter Four

It felt too late to ask what the neighbor kid's name was. There was a secret rule for when you didn't know what someone's name was: You never ask who they are. Sometimes you just have to call them, "bro" or "man" if the use of a name was really dire. If not, you just had to go for it, and pray that a name came up later. It usually didn't.

For the time being, he was just going to have to be called, "Neighbor Kid", which was perfectly fine with me. It was gender-neutral, and not offensive in any way, since it was true. He was probably younger than 18, plus he was my neighbor, so the name made perfect sense.

"No coat then, huh?" Neighbor Kid asked me when I stepped outside.

It hadn't even occurred to me that it could have been cold. There was a chilly breeze in the air, sure, but it was nothing bad, especially compared to what I was used to back in my old town. I hadn't even gotten winter gear out yet, and all of my jackets and coats were tucked away in one of my boxes in my room.

I crossed my arms, hoping I could hide the free shirt I got from Dad's old dentistry office. I had actually helped create the design when I was in Grade Three, although Dad had to get a professional cartoonist to re-purpose the design so that it was no longer just scribbles. Still, the blue walrus had a flare of nine year-old Alice Noble in it.

When Neighbor Kid told me to meet him outside, I was still in my pajamas, which included the dentist shirt, and my favorite pair of yellow pajama bottoms with the pink bunnies on them. Five minutes was definitely not enough time for me to change completely, so I pulled on socks and slip-on shoes, and ran out the door.

"I don't get cold easily," I answered, avoiding Neighbor Kid's eyes.

"You can always have my coat if you ever need it," Neighbor Kid offered while zipping up his dark gray hoodie.

He began walking off with a bit of a skip in his step. The world was bright, but Neighbor Kid was brighter, with how enthusiastic he was. I was just waiting for him to betray me somehow– send me in the wrong direction, make me trip and fall down a sewer grate– I didn't know, but he seemed too nice. Was that mean to say? Man, I felt really bad for thinking that about him. I didn't even know his name.

"Stop!" Neighbor Kid told me, holding onto my shoulders. "You gotta look before you cross the road! They do have roads where you're from, right?"

A car whizzed past us, going a hundred kilometers an hour. I seriously could have just died. I was going to just walk into the road, contemplating how guilty I felt about life. Today was already a great day.

There was nothing I could say, so I just nodded to Neighbor Kid's question. He chuckled, and pressed a button, signalling that he wanted to cross the road. A light on the sidewalk across from us lit up and chirped, so we began moving again. Neighbor Kid still had a hand on my shoulder, and led me across the road.

This was really embarrassing. I was having to be walked across the street by someone I didn't even know. It was my fault that I never learned his name, though. There had to be some way to get him to slip up his name so I could stop calling him Neighbor Kid.

It turned out that we lived very close to the library. We had walked to the end of our street, and crossed the road. After that, we had walked two blocks to our right, until we hit a bunch of little shops. The library was between a Gopher gift shop, and a pawn broker.

We pushed aside the heavy oak doors, and Neighbor Kid led me into the beautiful Gopher library. It was tiny, and the air was filled with the scent of maple syrup and coffee beans. The room seemed to be square shaped, and mostly just rows upon rows of bookshelves. There was a little island in the center, where a tiny, middle-aged woman was flipping through a thick book.