Friends are found in unexpected places

5- In which everyone goes to the park

So, after we ate, we decided to go to the park. Tamari immediately ran off to go play with the kids at the playground. The little kids were surprisingly completely unfazed by the fact that someone with more than a human number of eyes as well as metal horns and a tail was running amongst them. To be fair, they didn't know about the eye thing. Some of the older kids took a bit longer to warm up to them, but eventually Tamari was accepted by the children. We watched them run around for a bit, and eventually Angie and I started talking.

"Should we try and contact Makeship about this?" Angie wondered.

"Maybe," I answered. "But I honestly don't want them taken away. And they seem so happy here."

"But surely someone else ordered them, or something!"

"True." I considered this. "If someone tries to contact me about it, I won't hide them, but for now-"

"You're going to play don't-ask-don't tell," Angie playfully accused me. "Ophelia Watson, I thought you knew better."

"Oh come on, like you never!" I poked her arm. She poked right back, and we both laughed.

Then, one of the children yelled so that everyone within a 10-foot radius could hear, "HEY! SOME KID'S GONNA JUMP OFF THE PLAYGROUND!" We immediately stopped laughing and looked up to find Tamari on top of the highest point on the playground, perched as if they were about to jump.

Before I could do anything, or even say, "HEY, DON'T DO THAT! IT'S DANGEROUS!" They leapt off, flipped midair, and then landed on both feet like they hadn't just jumped from a good fifteen feet in the air. The kids, who'd all gathered to watch, cheered. I forgot what moving was for a few moments while I processed what had just happened.

Tamari ran up to us with a huge smile on their face. "Did you see me? I did a flip!"

"Yes, you did," Angie told them. "and it was very impressive."

"But please don't do that again, it's very dangerous," I added. They agreed not to.

The rest of the park visit went off without incident, and Angie and I decided to have Angie stay over for a while. That's one of the great things about being an adult, you can just do these sorts of things and you don't have to ask anyone's parents. It's really great.

We drove back to my house with Tamari still staring outside.