Emotional

one

age 7

Jack sat on a swing, kicking his legs back and forth, watching the other children play on the slide and mess around in the sand pit. One of the others, a relatively tall, blonde boy, turned suddenly to him; offering a gigantic grin. Jack felt the corners of his mouth turn down in a confused frown. He didn't know this kid, he didn't have any reason to smile at Jack. He turned and looked behind him; surely the boy was looking at his mother or something. Seeing no one, he turned back questioningly, but the boy had already gone back to playing. Jack shook his head and continued observing.

Sometime later, another odd thing caught Jack's attention. It was the blonde boy again, except this time, instead of smiling, the boy's face was scrunched up and red. Wails came from his mouth as he rubbed at his watery blue eyes. Jack stood from his perch and made his way to the boy until he was standing over him, head tilted. He was completely bewildered at the change in disposition. Smiling one minute, crying the next- it didn't make sense.

"Why are you crying?" Jack asked the boy.

The boy blinked up at him, tear tracks drying on his cheeks. "Because I'm sad."

"Sad?"

"Yes."

"What does that mean?"

The boy shrugged. "It mean like you feel really bad, I guess."

Jack was still confused, but he decided he wasn't going to get an explanation he'd understand from the kid.

The boy stood up, scrubbed his face with his hands once more, and said, "My name is Ben."

Oh. That seemed to come out of nowhere, Jack thought.

"'M Jack."

A faint call came from the distance; a woman's voice.

"Oh! That's my momma," Ben said, suddenly looking disappointed. There it was again, that sudden change. "I have to go..."

"Oh," was Jack's response.

"Yeah. Well, I guess I'll see you around, Jack-Jack."

Jack-Jack?, Jack wondered as Ben ran off, Who's Jack-Jack?