Eager Beaver

Chapter Thirty-Four - Responsibilities

"Check it out." Zach boasted, holding up his brand new smart phone. "It's got like... the best camera, tons of games, all the apps - YouTube and everything!"

The three of us, Zach, Charlie and I, were perched atop a big boulder in the park by the lake - listening to the sound of the other beavers giggling and screeching as they chased each other across the grass. Charlie was picking at a small bag of ketchup flavor chips from the snackbar, while I was grazing on a pack of smarties, both of us wincing through the glare of evening sunlight dancing through the distant tree tops to stare at Zach's phone screen with a mix of awe and jealousy. Even though it was early October it was still pretty warm out, the autumn sun baking our heads in our hats. Zach was wearing his green and gold Wolf Cubs baseball cap, while me and Charlie had our regular beaver bucket hats on our heads - both now featuring a white tail.

It was two weeks since we'd gotten lost in the storm, and the whole beaver colony had gathered by the lake for the Magic Light Ceremony. Taylor had explained the whole thing last week at our regular meeting. Basically, it was like a special event for the white tails to get us ready to move up to Cub Scouts in the new year. When I'd first heard about it, I'd been pretty nervous. I still wore a brown tail, after all. Would I have to go through a whole three years for beavers before I could move up? Taylor had been well ahead of me, however. He'd been quite happy to explain his "mistake" to the other beavers, unceremoniously swapping out my brown tail for a white one and announcing that I would be moving up just like Charlie and Liam in a couple of months.

"Why don't you show us your phone, Cooper?" Zach prompted.

I blushed in embarrassment. "It's okay..." I squeaked, putting a protective hand over the chunky rectangle in my cargo shorts pocket. "It's not as good as yours."

Zach snorted. "Well yeah." he agreed with a smirk. "But you still got a phone! There was no way my mom would have let me have a phone when I was five."

Charlie let out an audible tut of protest. "We already told you!" he exclaimed, exasperated "He's eight, not five. Why else would he be doing the Magic Light Ceremony?"

"You don't really believe that do you?" Zach retorted. "There's no way Taylor would make a mistake like that. They're just putting him up early 'cause he's so freaky smart!"

"He's barely shorter than me!" Charlie shot back. "He's eight!"

"Five!"

"Eight!"

"FIVE!"

"Here!" I interrupted, quickly yanking my phone out of my pocket - if only to shut them up.

After our misadventure in the woods, Mom had decided that I needed one - and clearly Zach's parents had felt the same way. Unfortunately however, my own phone was less of a mature responsibility and more of a babyish burden. Where Zach's had a sleek smooth dark metal casing, loaded up with any and all games and tools that he might ever want - mine was cased in chunky white and blue plastic, limited to whatever childish knock-off apps had come pre-loaded. I couldn't even add my own contacts, limited to just ten numbers that my Mom had to approve on her laptop before I could call or text them. Right then, I just four numbers - Mom, Dad, Welton Public School, and Zach.

"It's...big." Zach observed. "I mean, like...it's hardy. Durable." He added, trying to disguise his true feelings - though the derisive wrinkle of his nose gave the game away.

Charlie was more positive. "Has it got anything cool on it?" He asked, shifting up closer to try and get a better look.

"Not really..." I admitted, turning on the screen and scrolling through the front pages.

"What's 'Preschool Playground?" Charlie interrupted with a giggle, pointing to a bright yellow square with different coloured numbers and letters floating around in a big cartoony font. I gave a squeak of surprise, quickly scrolling onto the next page. I'd tried to delete that app the day before, but it had said I needed parental permission.