Mason Wants a Friend

Mason wanted a friend to play with, and he had one plan. He would find one at the greenhouse.

The greenhouse was warm and green and full of tiny seedlings. Every pot had one small sprout poking up. At the very end, a girl in yellow boots sat on an upside-down bucket. Her name was Pia.

"Hi," said Mason. "Do you want to play?"

"I can't," said Pia. "I'm waiting for my bean to pop."

Mason tried again. He dug a little hole with his finger. He made a pretend car out of a flowerpot. "Vroom!" he said.

Pia didn't look up. She was staring at her pot.

Then Mason heard a noise. It was a thin, creaky squeak, high on the roof. SQUEEEAK. Round and round went an old tin weathervane. It was shaped like a rooster.

Mason stopped. The rooster had stopped too. Its beak pointed at Pia's pot.

"Hey," he said. "I think it's pointing at your bean."

Pia looked up. "It does that," she said. "It points at whatever is lost in the garden."

"But your bean isn't lost," said Mason. "It's just hiding."

Pia laughed. So Mason knelt beside her, and they both held very still. He didn't dig. He didn't vroom. He only watched, the way you watch a kettle.

The rooster squeaked, and the pot gave a tiny crack. A pale green curl pushed up out of the soil. It looked like a little hook, and it wobbled.

"It popped!" Pia whispered.

"Hello, bean," Mason whispered back.

Pia scooted over on the bucket. There was just enough room for two. Mason sat down next to her, and their shoulders touched.

Up on the roof, the rooster gave one last squeak and went still. Down below, the small green hook swayed between them, and the greenhouse was warm.