Was It the Moon?

Today stinks.

That’s what Lucas thought, anyway, because most school days did.

So why should today be any different?

Nothing good happened unless it was here on the farm.

He didn’t have to worry about his clothes or where his parents were or who knew his story.

Plus, the farm had Tracy and the sheep and the chickens—and Jackie, too.

She wasn’t so bad, as far as foster mothers go.

As he pulled on a crumpled T-shirt, the moon sparkled at him through his window, even as the sun was nudging its way above the horizon.

Odd.

It looked like a mist of sequins and glitter.

He might even say there was something magical about it, if he believed in that sort of thing.

Maybe something good would happen today.

Ha!

“Hey, kiddo,” said Jackie as Lucas trudged into the kitchen.

“I’ve got pancakes for you.”

“Thanks.”

Lucas resisted bringing the plate to his nose for a sniff.

It had been a long time since he’d had pancakes.

Definitely several houses ago.

Jackie usually made him eggs or oatmeal or cream of wheat.

Uh oh.

Something was going to happen today all right.

It just wasn’t going to be good.

Something that made Jackie feel like she needed to make him a special breakfast.

A last meal?

His stomach growled fiercely, otherwise he wouldn’t have eaten these looming-disaster pancakes.

But he wouldn’t ask what was going on.

He learned a long time ago not to ask questions when you don’t want to hear the answers.

He’d find out soon enough.

He always did.

His worst fear was that he was going to have to move again.

That was just one of the thousands of sucky things about being a foster kid.

He glanced out the kitchen window.

Although he couldn’t see the moon, the sky still sparkled in its wake.

Definitely weird.

“The bus’ll be here in a few minutes. Speed it up.” Jackie smiled at him.

He wanted to smile back—that would be the nice thing to do—but he couldn’t allow himself that little bit of happiness.

Not until he knew if he was going to be moving or staying here at the farm.

He wondered if a normal person would just ask or say what he wanted to do—a normal person who had zero experience with rejection.

He swallowed the last bite of pancake, hoisted his backpack to his shoulders, and brought his plate to the sink.

“Have a good day, kiddo.” Jackie reached out to touch him, but he ducked away and stared at her with an annoyed look.

She knew he didn’t like to be touched.

“Thanks. Thanks for breakfast.”

Jackie nodded.

She didn’t say she’d see him later.

That wasn’t a good sign.

So much of his life was out of his control, from the number of things he was allowed to bring from one place to another to where he was going to live.

He could always run away before the social worker got to him and took him someplace else.

He’d done that before.

Not that it made a difference.

They always found him.

Making a quick decision, he zipped back inside and up the stairs to his room to grab his jacket.

If he was going to run away, he’d need something warmer than his hoodie.

He also stuffed an extra pair of socks into his backpack.

He knew he had mittens somewhere, but he couldn’t find them and he needed to get out to the bus.

He’d snatch some food at school.

He dashed down the stairs and opened the kitchen door.

There was Tracy, the Highland cow, standing quietly with the sheep, looking at the sky.

Her bright orange fur and long horns always brought a smile to his face.

He couldn’t help it.

He would miss her and the sheep if he ran away.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t think of any other plan.

He wasn’t about to move to some other foster home and start all over with a new family and a new school and new rules.

He’d rather try his luck on the run.

Still, the thought of not having these animals in his life anymore made his stomach hurt.

Lucas shrugged his backpack higher onto his shoulder.

“Hi, Tracy,” he said to the Highland cow and rubbed her forehead.

“Hey there, sheeps.”

He squinted at them.

They seemed to have a bit of glitter on them.

From the moon?

Or was it just the dew catching the morning light?

In an instant, the animals rearranged themselves and one of the sheep ushered forward a little black dog.

The dog had a sprinkling of moon glitter, too.

Lucas gasped. “Who’s this? How did you get here?”

Jackie hated dogs.

Lucas knelt in front of it, looking for a collar or a tag but didn’t see one.

He turned to the animals.

“We can’t let Jackie see this little guy! You need to hide him until I get home.”

He extended his hand to pet the dog, but it ducked out of reach and stared at him with an annoyed look on its face.

“You’re just like me,” he whispered.

The school bus pulled up then with a wheeze and a grumble.

Lousy timing!

Stupid school!

“Please be here when I get back today, little dog.”

Lucas ran out the front gate.

So I guess, I’m not running away, he said to himself.

Of course, coming back to the farm may not be up to him.

He settled onto the school bus and held up a hand at the rag tag group of animals, sparkling with the strange moonglow.

He always wanted a dog.

Maybe the sparkly moon really was magic and was giving him what he wanted.

For once.

But he knew it would take more than the moon for that to happen.

He wished he could just speak up and say what he wanted, wave a magic wand like a wizard.

But that would mean risking rejection or humiliation.

It would be easier to run away.

School went by in a blur.

Lucas wasn’t thinking about history or square roots or how to spell labyrinth.

His brain only had room for the little black dog and how he was going to hide it from Jackie.

And how he was going to run away with it if his worries came true.

Shortly before the end of the school day, a kid came to the classroom with a note from the office.

The teacher read it to herself and her eyes passed over the class, coming to rest on Lucas.

“Lucas, collect your things. You’re being checked out early.”

“Lucky,” said a couple of kids.

Lucas swallowed.

He wasn’t lucky at all.

He was moving.

This is how it had happened twice before: early dismissal from school, plastic bag filled with his stuff in the office, social worker ready to drive him to his new house.

His limbs felt shaky like they’d been zapped by a ray gun.

The moon hadn’t been magic after all.

He took a deep breath, then another.

He hoped they’d let him go back to Jackie’s to say goodbye to the animals and grab the black dog somehow.

And run away.

Jackie met him outside the office door, no garbage bag of his stuff anywhere.

“Hey, kiddo!”

She sounded awfully cheerful.

But maybe she’s happy to get rid of me, Lucas thought. Although he didn’t see a bag of his stuff sitting there.

“I already signed you out. We’re going to see the social worker.”

Well. Seeing the social worker was one step closer to gone.

This was his chance to take a stand.

“I’m not going,” he said.

Jackie turned to look at him and put her hands on her hips.

“But you have to.”

“No.” He wouldn’t follow her; he wasn’t a sheep.

He knew that Jackie had never been a foster parent before and she didn’t have kids of her own.

She’d only ever dealt with animals.

He could tell she didn’t know what to do or say in this situation.

He almost felt sorry for her.

“We have an appointment, Lucas.”

“I don’t care. I’m not going.”

Jackie crossed her arms.

“What do you think is going to happen, Lucas?”

“I think I’m going to stay at school.”

Although how that would help him get to the farm to say goodbye and collect the dog, he had no idea.

He hadn’t thought this through.

“I mean, what do you think is going to happen at our appointment?”

Lucas shrugged.

“What do you want to happen at the appointment?” Jackie asked.

No one had ever asked him that.

It probably didn’t matter what he said.

But it was nice to be asked.

“I want a chance to go back to the farm and say goodbye to the animals.”

Jackie took a deep breath.

“Say goodbye? You want to leave?”

No one had ever asked him that either.

How to answer?

If he admitted he didn’t want to leave, he’d be humiliated if he had to leave anyway.

For several long moments, neither Jackie nor Lucas said a word.

Lucas felt cornered.

And when you’re cornered, nothing matters.

So he decided to stop being afraid.

“I don’t want to leave. But you want me to.”

Lucas crossed his arms to match Jackie.

He wondered if Jackie would laugh about this once he left—haha, that kid actually thought he could stay with me.

Lucas also wondered what would happen to the little dog if Jackie saw it on her property.

He wondered if he’d ever see Tracy and the sheep again.

His life was full of wondering.

He was so, so tired of it.

“I like having you at my house.” Jackie whispered the words like she was afraid to let them out into the air.

She sounded, strangely enough, like she was also afraid of rejection.

“Then why do I have to leave?” Lucas was confused.

“You don’t! That’s not why we’re going to the social worker. Is that what you thought?”

Of course that’s what I thought! That’s what every foster kid thinks!

But he didn’t say anything else.

“I was hoping to make our arrangement official,” Jackie said. “We were going to talk to you about staying with me long-term, until your parents are out of trouble. However long that is. We needed to ask you some questions and see how school’s going and how you’re feeling and, well, what you want. I wasn’t going to keep you with me if you didn’t want to stay! Frankly, I was worried that you were tired of living with me and my animals. You’ve never let me know what you’re thinking or what you want.”

Lucas felt as if he’d tumbled down a staircase into a basement and was slowly trying to climb back out.

He even looked up to see if the moon had returned to guide him.

“I want to stay with you. I like the sheep and Tracy.” Lucas, feeling less cornered, but still brave, decided to ask for more. “And did you know you have a little black dog living on your farm? I want to keep him.”

“Impossible!” Jackie shook her head. “If there’s a stray, he’s going to have to find somewhere else to live.”

Battle lines drawn.

“But it’s a stray. Like me. I want to keep him.”

Jackie looked horrified.

Lucas had never heard exactly why she hated dogs.

She wasn’t afraid of big cows or her sheep or a coop full of peckish chickens.

“You’re not a stray,” she said.

“I kind of am. And this little dog, what if he needs a home, too?” There was an expression Lucas remembered from somewhere. He couldn’t remember exactly how it went, but he said it like this: “Those who have much must share what they have.”

Jackie frowned.

“I think you mean, ‘To those whom much is given, much is required.’”

That didn’t make as much sense to Lucas.

“No. I meant those who are lucky should share. I have a house, so I should share my good luck. I want to share it with that dog.”

Lucas could see “NO!” written all over Jackie’s face so before she said it out loud, he spoke first.

“You just told me that I need to tell you what I want. Well, I’m telling you.”

“You can always tell me what you want, but you won’t always get it.”

Lucas kicked at the walkway.

“What good does asking do then?”

Jackie chuckled.

“Lucas. Be serious.”

“How can you give me a home and not a little dog? Kids cause more trouble than dogs. It’s a scientific, proven fact.”

“It is, is it? A proven fact?”

Lucas was losing ground here.

He needed to fight harder.

“It may or may not be a proven fact that kids are more trouble than dogs. But you gave me a chance. Can’t you give that dog a chance?”

“Grab your backpack and let’s go. We’re going to be late for the appointment.”

Jackie turned and headed to her car.

Lucas hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should stand his ground again and not budge.

But he felt like that would make the dog’s chances even worse.

So he walked to the car, too.

The meeting with the social worker lasted forever.

By the time they got out to the car, it was dusk.

Lucas leaned his head back to look out the sunroof.

There, in the bottom corner, was the briefest speckle of moon, sparkling once again with sequins and glitter that radiated into the sky.

“Jackie?”

“Mmhmm?”

“If the dog’s still there—?”

In the dark car, he heard Jackie sigh.

They drove in silence.

Then, “If the dog’s still there—” Jackie said.

When they pulled into the driveway, Lucas hopped out and opened the gate.

The moon shined down on Tracy doing some odd dance in front of the barn.

It glowed over the sheep huddled by the water trough.

And sitting under the sparkling moon, the dog was still there—

~the end~

Enjoy your week. Look for the sparkle.

~Gail

(Tick tock)

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