The Way It Used to Be

6

Mama had sent me out across the field with this envelope with her name on it. B-e-a-u, B-e-a-u. I stared at the letters on the envelope, trying to sound out her name.

Who needed an invitation to vacation Bible school, anyway? Wasn't it just a thing that you signed up and then show up for?

Mama had insisted the girl was too shy to go without thinking someone would want her there. Why I had to be the one to want her there was beyond me. Any of the girls in town could have asked her to go, but my mama was friends with Ms. Verne, and so I was the one that got suckered into inviting her.

B-e-a-u. B-e-a-u-tiful.

I was walking up the hill toward her house when I saw her. I could only assume it was her. Mama had described her to me, telling me she was "so pretty" and that I would "really like her". She was little with curly hair. That's what Mama had said. The girl in front of me was little with curly hair. B-e-a-u. Be-you. Byou.

"Are you Byou?", I asked her, stopping when I reached her. She was laying on her back in the field, staring up at the clouds. She was wearing frayed blue jean shorts and a white T-shirt. Her dark curls stood out against the white. "Hey!" I shouted at her, when she didn't immediately sit up. "Are you Byou?"

She sat up, then, and looked at me. B-e-a-u-tiful.

"Are you talking to me?" she asked me.

"Well, duh. Do you see anyone else out here?" I answered.

"That's not my name."

I shoved the envelope down at her where she sat. "Says right here. B-e-a-u. Byou. Same as in beautiful." I was twelve. I wasn't stupid. I knew how to spell the first syllable of beautiful.

She was beautiful. If I thought girls were beautiful, she would be it. Mama had told me she was eight. She was a baby.

I looked up. Ms. Verne's house was just past the grass. I could see it from here. Baby couldn't be too far away from home.

"My name is Beau. B-oh," she drew her mouth into an O shape.

I looked back down at the envelope and then back up at her.

"Well, Byou...", I started, quickly correcting myself, "-tiful, Mama sent you this." I held the envelope out toward her. I had called her beautiful. It was an accident, but I liked it. She wasn't like the girls in sixth grade.

"What is it?" she asked me.

"Just open the damn thing," I answered.

Her eyes narrowed her mouth dropped open.

"Sorry. I mean... open it." I changed my answer.

She didn't. She held on to it and stood up, her eyes on my face.

"You one of those boys from across the field Aunt Verne told me about?" she asked.

"I'm Colton," I answered.

She had already told me her name, so she just stood there staring at me.

I was only twelve, but there was something about her I liked. I liked the way she didn't ask me questions just to ask questions. I liked the way her curls looked against her white T-shirt. I liked the way her eyes looked when they were narrowed at me, waiting on me to speak again.

"Well, Beautiful," I finally said, "I've gotta go. Tell Ms. Verne my mama said hey."

She crossed her arms across her chest and watched me.

I turned around, walking back toward my house before I turned around again. "Bye, Beautiful!"

I knew I'd see her again. Something told me in that moment I'd be seeing her a lot.

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Author's note:
Eeeek! This is the first glimpse inside Colton's mind.  What do you think about him?

Hopefully you're catching on that this story is going to be told from both Beau and Colton's point of view both before she left and after she returns home.

This is a little passion project of mine. Hope you're enjoying it! :)

Please be sure to follow, comment, and share to get the story out to more people!  I plan to update as often as I can (which will be every couple of days at the least!)

xoxo
S