A Heart of Gold

Chapter 14

"But he stole the dice! And he's not even in the game!"

"And so you tackled him?

"Yeah, duh!"

"Did that help the situation?"

"Yeah, I feel better."

I pull Victor toward me by his elbow as he and Thomas continue to slap at each other's hands, still taunting each other. I wave Harry over and he jumps in to help separate the boys, copying me and tugging Thomas' sleeve in the same way.

"Victor, stop. Look at me. Do you really feel good about that?"

He looks away from me but mumbles, "Kinda."

Harry can barely contain his giggle. I, unfortunately, have lots of practice with this kind of logic.

"Come on. Thomas is your friend, why do you think he's upset?"

"Dunno."

I sigh and pull him on the bench next to me. Harry finally tames Thomas' flailing hands and does the same, then cracks open water bottles for all of us. "Maybe he wants to play too, did you ask him? You're better than that, buddy. Remember, we always try to treat each other-"

"I know I know- treat people with kindness." he groans. "Tweet, tweet." and he half-heartedly makes the matching motions, flapping his arms like the wings of a bird, making me smile and nod.

"Yes. We are all friends here. Now, how can you show him kindness?"

"I can not kick him when he pisses me off." And Harry sputters next to me, almost spraying the table with the water that is in his mouth. I shoot him a look and he has to turn his head to keep a straight face.

"Hmmm. Or maybe you can include him in the game?"

Victor turns to his friend and sighs deeply, exhaling loudly. He looks back at me with furrowed brows. I nod at him with a smile. With downcast eyes he grumbles, "Do you want to play the game?"

"No. But let's go outside and play football!" Thomas cheers brightly.

"Ok!" they both yell, and off they run.

I roll my eyes and throw my hands up, letting them slap my thighs with a sigh.

"How many times a day do you tell them that?" Harry muses.

"A bajillion. They know it, they can repeat it, but living it is the hard part. I swear I should get it tattooed on my forehead.... we need huge banners. Like, everywhere."

Harry blinks at me. "Yes, we do."

Our little after-school care program has grown to be a thousand times better since Harry has become our fairy godmother. We've been so used to making due with old materials and outdated equipment, and he hasn't batted an eye at buying us new things to replace and upgrade what is worn or broken.

And even better than new computers and playground balls, Harry has brought music.

He bought a piano and 12 guitars and is giving the kids lessons, and it is incredible to watch. Harry is patient and funny and a complete natural with the kids, and they adore him. Some of his studio musicians and their friends were into the idea so they come for an hour after school, too, to help. They are super mellow and cool and great role models for the kids.

Jane is beyond pleased. As much as she likes to keep things private around here, she suggested  letting the newspaper know what he's been doing to help and how we are growing, reasoning that a little positive press might be a nice change for us. But Harry is even more private than she is and refused. Of course, he didn't tell Jane this himself, he made me do it.