12 Years Before...
A little girl with short, wavy auburn hair hopped along the side of the small, icy pond, tearing bits of bread from her bagel for the hungry ducks. She was with her older sister, who pretending she had to go to the bathroom (but really only wanted to talk to her boyfriend "secretly"). The only other people on the small plaza was a woman on her laptop, and her little boy with dimples, curly brown hair, and sparkling emerald eyes that glittered even underneath the clouds.
The boy looked at the girl curiously. Where was her mom? The boy was never left alone after a certain incident involving a ceramic vase and a very pissed-off squirrel.
The girl looked at the boy, and smiled. She'd smile at anything that stood still for long enough, and the boy seemed nice. He smiled back, and dimples popped up on his face.
"I'm Darcy," said the little girl. "I'm feeding the ducks, because it's very cold out and they must be very hungry," she said, matter-of-factly. "Well, that's what my sister said. But she's usually right." She smiled again.
"My name's Harry! I'm feeding the ducks, too. The man at that-" he pointed to a small, old brick building- "bakery even gave me extra bread, just so the ducks aren't hungry."
They kept feeding the hungry ducks for a few minutes, but the ducks got too full, and shuffled away. So, Darcy walked authoritively to the swingset, and Harry followed her, and took the red swing next to her.
"I'm cold," said Darcy. "It snowed at my house yesterday. My sister Brianna and me made a snowman. His name was Joe."
Harry frowned, and paused for a second. Then, he took off his white wool scarf and gave it to Brianna. "Here, so you won't be cold!" he smiled, and Darcy smiled back. But on the inside, Harry was cold. But it was okay, because he knew Darcy was a good friend, and she would be for a long time.
Harry was right.
