Serendipity

Prologue

When I was five, my mum laid out my clothes and tucked me into bed with a quick kiss on the forehead.

In the morning she awoke me with the aroma of the sizzling scrambled eggs and a mug of hot chocolate with the best mix from a small shop in the plaza seven minutes away from our flat.

In the afternoon, she walked me home from the bus stop and took my book bag off my scrawny shoulders so they wouldn't have to deal with the weight.

"Why are you nice?" I questioned her once as she bit into a juicy apple. Her strawberry blonde locks of hair were loosely pulled behind her while wearing the red polka dotted apron she barely changed out of. "I'm a boy, you know. I can do things myself"

With a smile she said, "Love, you have to treat others the way you want to be treated. The universe puts out what you put in." She let her elbows rest on the counter to bring her face closer to mine. "That's what my dad passed down to me, so I'll pass it down to you as well."

My dimples illuminated. "And I can pass it down to my kids?"

"I'd only hope you do."

Every parent on Rosy Court tied their child's shoes and cleansed their skidded knees. Every parent on Rosy Court packed a sack lunch with a sandwich diagonally cut in two and a 6 ounce juice box. Every parent on Rosy Court wore their nicest clothes, even when it wasn't Sunday. But everyone on Rosy Court was wrong about one thing: It wasn't going to stay this way.