guarding the heart

Chapter 5: Shed Some Light

"Okay, so we'll see you all tomorrow then, won't we? Have a good night!" Rachel smiled at her group of nine and ten year old kids as they grabbed their music crafts and began filing towards the door of the synagogue's piano room, chatting animatedly amongst themselves about the day's activities.

She turned and began collecting her piano music off the sheet music ledge of the upright piano and began organizing it alphabetically, as she always did. Teaching at the music day camp of the Lima Community Synagogue was proving to be a much more rewarding job than she had initially believed, and she was pleasantly surprised children of other religious denominations had also been encouraged to sign up. With all of the political and religious chaos in the world, it gratified her to know people of radically different religious beliefs could, indeed, work side-by-side and get along with few problems.

She glanced around the room to see a lone boy in her class hadn't gotten up from his spot at the crafts table yet. Instead, he had his head leaning on his left hand, cast down. His eyes seemed sad and he slowly doodled on a scrap piece of paper. Glancing around to ensure there were no more parents come to collect their children, Rachel assumed this boy's mother must be running late, so she took it upon herself to watch him for the time needed.

"Hi Kale." She moved over to sit beside him. "You okay?"

Kale nodded, not moving his brown eyes from the doodle he was doing. Rachel looked over to see what drawing and was impressed at the image on the paper. It appeared to be a large bird of prey of some sort; the detail and realism put into the picture truly astounded her considering the boy was so young.

"That's an incredible drawing," she remarked with a big smile. "Where did you learn how to do that?"

The young boy looked up to her and shrugged a little. "My brother taught me how to draw like this. He's really, really good. He's even sold some of his work at the farmer's market."

"If he's the one who taught you how to do this, I imagine his work would be exceptional." She paused and watched as Kale started colouring in some of the empty spaces with black ink, adding texture to the already impressive drawing. "Does he live with you?"

"Normally, but he's gone this summer. Said he had to work, or something. I don't know why he took a job that makes him gone all summer." Kale sniffed a little.

Rachel felt a sharp pain in her heart suddenly as Kale's sad words struck through to her core. She swallowed and looked away to gain some composure. She wasn't sure why her heart and head united now to remind her of the ache she felt if her thoughts wandered to a certain tall, handsome quarterback who had also disappeared for the summer…without telling her where. (No matter what happened when Finn got back, she was definitely going to have strong words for him about that little stunt). Putting on a brave face, she turned back to her day camper.

"I have a good friend who decided to work in a job away from Lima all summer, too."

Kale turned and smiled a bit, happy to have a companion who might understand what he was going through. "Really? What's she doing? My brother joined some group called the National Guard."

Rachel's eyebrows went up in genuine surprise and she smiled, too. "So did my friend! Only it's a he, not a she."

Kale frowned a bit at that new piece of information. "But…I thought once you become a teenager, girls and boys can't be friends."

"Who told you that?"

"Travis did—he's my brother. He said stuff happens to you after you're about twelve and you start seeing girls differently, or they start seeing you differently. I didn't get it, though. I mean, girls are girls, aren't they? Just like boys are boys?"