Sam & Penny Short-Stories *English*

JOURNEY INTO THE FUTURE - First hopes

>Sam's POV<

I walked around the corner of the Whole Fish Cafe and was about to open the door when I heard sniffling. Confused, I turned around and heard it again. I followed the sound and saw a little boy sitting on the steps of Charlie's dock. He sniffled again and rubbed his nose on his sleeve. Without a word, I rummaged through my pockets and actually found a pack of tissues. Amazing it didn't turn to dust, I thought as I pulled one out of its five-year-old packaging. I sat down next to him and handed it to him with a smile as he looked up at me. He had blonde hair and curious brown eyes, but overall he reminded me of someone - I just couldn't figure out who.

"Sniffles or grief?" I asked him, smiling.

"Both," he mumbled and took the handkerchief to blow his nose. "Dad doesn't want to go swimming with me because I'm sick. That's so mean. I'm not allowed to go to kindergarten either."

"Your dad's right. You know, when you put off a cold and it gets worse, you feel very weak and miserable. Then you can't do anything and it takes a lot longer until you can go swimming or go to kindergarten again. I was careless and even had to go to the hospital when I was little. It was so boring."

"Really?!" I just nodded and gave the most pityful look I could muster. "You're funny. What's your name?"

"Sam and you?"

"Leon."

"Nice to meet you, Leon." I held out my hand and he took it, proud that I was being so mature with him. "How old are you?"

"I'm turning four soon," he said proudly and held four fingers in front of my nose.

"Wow, you're so big already?!" I objected in amazement and pride swelled in his chest."But aren't you afraid of playing here? Well, I would be. You can slip here so quickly and fall into the sea. That's really dangerous." He just waved his hand.

"I already have the seahorse badge."

"Really?" Now I was amazed. I came from a seafaring family, but at that age I hadn't yet gotten a swimming certificate.

"My mum taught me to swim. She always says I could swim before I could walk." I laughed quietly at the idea. But in a city by the sea, that was certainly not wrong.

"Leon?!" we then heard someone shout from the quay.

"Someone is looking for you."

"That's Dad. He'll probably be mad that I ran away," he whispered quietly.

"I think he's worried. You're a big boy, but if you walk around the city alone, so many things can happen to you if no one is looking out for you."

"I can take care of myself."

"That's very good, but you always have to be aware that others won't pay attention and do something stupid and something could happen to you. That's why you should always let them know where you're going. Your parents will imagine the worst thoughts if they can't find you. That's not a nice feeling."

"Right. I'm sorry."

"Tell your dad," I replied with a wink and he smiled before storming up the stairs.

"Are you in town more often now?" I turned to him and saw that he had stopped on the top step to look down at me.

"I guess so."

"Cool," he replied with a smile and ran off. What should I say. Children had always been quick to like me. Almost as quickly as they liked Penny. The boy would surely take a liking to her, I thought as I sighed and got up to go up the stairs. When I got to the top of the quay, I saw the boy walking up the street holding a man's hand and then the epiphany came to me. Even though I only saw him from behind, I knew immediately who it was and who the boy reminded me of. Ben. He was Ben's son, but Ben had green eyes, he could only have got the brown eyes from his mother and fear knotted my stomach.