Midnight Wonders

2.2.3. A Stranger at the Green Hill

The day was mundane, and Luc napped in his classroom during lunch, so that he didn't hear Catherine knocking on his door wanting to use his microwave.

"I have a better treat for you," he said as she sulked after school. She already wasn't mad because Mr. Claypool had found a new sticker pad and let her have first pick from the collection of dog stickers, but she was still being all huffy and puffy pretending to be, so he figured he might as well play along. Luc got out the box of hazelnuts from his bag.

"What's that?" said Catherine. One of the other children, Madeline, came to look too.

"Hazelnuts," said Luc. "Want one?"

Catherine and Madeline looked at each other. "You can try it first," said Catherine.

Madeline reached in and hesitantly took one of the hazelnuts. She bit into it and chewed for a bit. Then she made a face. "It's bitter!"

"Oh," said Luc, who had made this discovery in the middle of the night. "It's the skin." He took another hazelnut and showed her how to peel the skin off as the man at the green hill had done. Madeline peeled her hazelnut and Luc gave the peeled one to Catherine. The girls tried it again.

"Oh!" said Catherine. "I've tasted this before. In chocolate."

"I thought nuts had shells on them," said Madeline, reaching for another.

"They do have shells," Luc said. "I just cracked them already."

"How?" Madeline said.

"You can use a nutcracker!" Catherine said. "Like in that movie, The Nutcracker."

"It's a ballet, too," said Luc. "But I used a rolling pin."

"You put the nuts in between the nutcracker's teeth and push a lever and it goes like this," Catherine gnashed her teeth together, "and then it cracks the nuts."

"Do you have one?" he asked.

"No, but I saw it in the movie," she said.

"I like peanuts better," Madeline said.

"I like pistachios," said Catherine. "But these are good too. They feel like butter. I thought nuts were hard."

"That's their shells," Luc said. "Or when they're roasted. You can roast hazelnuts, too. I'll bring you some tomorrow." He didn't know why he had said that. He wasn't even sure if he was going back to the green hill at night. Did he want to?

"Okay," said Catherine. "I'll bring you pistachios."

When Mr. Jacobs came to pick up Catherine, he was walking a child-sized bike.

"My bike!" said Catherine, running over to greet him. "Look, Mr. Long, it's my bike! It has bells!" She rang the bell on the handle.

"Now everyone can know when you've arrived," said Luc.

"Thanks for waiting with Catherine," said Mr. Jacobs.

"It's no trouble." He said goodbye to the Jacobs, and Catherine said goodbye three times and rang her bell each time. He walked to the bus station and greeted the bus driver when it arrived, and greeted the woman as he took the seat beside her.

"I forgot to ask your name," she said. "I'm Emma."

Emma? She looked like an Emma. Or perhaps...an Emily. Or an Emmeline. Or an Emeralda. Something longer. Or perhaps it was his bias against shorter names. He wanted to ask, but social conventions advised otherwise. "I'm Luc," he said.

"We both have common names," she said.

"I don't know many Lucs."

"Is it spelled L-U-K-E?"