Rose and Henry

            by Ardith Wood

 

            This is the story of Rose and Henry – Rose McCall and Henry McKay.  Rose and Henry are the best of friends, but it hasn’t always been this way.

            Rose has lived on Henry St. all her life.  Henry lives on Rose St., but he hasn’t lived there his whole life.  He moved there the summer before second grade.  On the day Henry moved in, Rose came cartwheeling up his driveway.

                                               

            “My name is Rose.  I can do a cartwheel, and a somersault.  Can you?” 

            Henry was surprised.  “No.  Cartwheels are for girls.  I can climb trees and hang by my knees from the monkeybars.  Can you?”

                                               

            This time, Rose was surprised.  Henry was a strange boy.  “I can, I just don’t want to.  I have better things to do with my time.”  And with that, she went cartwheeling away, down the sidewalk.

            On the first day of school, the teacher had everybody sit in alphabetical order by last name.  “Rose McCall?” he called as he pointed to a seat at a table.  “You sit here.  Henry McKay?  You sit next to Rose.”  Rose and Henry looked at each other.

            “But Mr. Drabble – ”

            “Do I have to?”

            “What’s wrong?”  Mr. Drabble asked.  “Why don’t you want to sit next to each other?”

            “She’s weird,” Henry answered.

            “I just don’t want to,” replied Rose.

            “Well, those aren’t very good reasons,” said Mr. Drabble.  “Normal is boring.  Take your seats, please.”  With that, Rose and Henry glared at each other, and sat down.

            At lunch, Henry pulled out his sandwich – crunchy peanut butter and apricot jam, his favorite. 

            “Is that a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?” asked Rose.

            “No, it’s peanut butter and jam,” answered Henry.

            “Crunchy?”

            “Yes.”

            “Apricot?”

            “Yes.  Why?”

            “That’s what kind I have.  It’s my favorite, so it can’t be your favorite, too,” said Rose.

            “It was my favorite first,” said Henry.

            “Fine,” said Rose. 

                                   

            When she got home that day, Rose’s mom asked how her first day of school was.  “It was alright,” Rose answered.  “Tomorrow can I please have a bologna sandwich?  I don’t like peanut butter.”

            “Okay… But I thought peanut butter was your favorite.”

            “No.  Bologna is now.”

            On the second day of school, Rose wore her favorite shirt, a green one she got at the zoo.  When her dad dropped her off, Rose took her time getting out of the car.  She was not looking forward to spending another whole day sitting next to Henry, even if she was wearing her favorite shirt.  Rose collected her backpack and her lunch, double-checked to see if her mom remembered to pack her a bologna sandwich, and hugged her dad goodbye.  Mr. Drabble enthusiastically greeted Rose when she got to class.

            “Well hello, Rose!  How are you today?”

            “I’m okay.”

            “I’m glad to see that you and Henry are getting along.  Did you plan your outfits last night?”

            “What?”  Rose looked around the room for Henry.  He was in his seat, wearing a green shirt.  From the zoo.  Frustrated, Rose walked over to Henry.

            “Henry, this really is getting ridiculous.  You cannot copy me all the time.”

            “I – ”

            “I gave up my crunchy peanut butter and apricot jam sandwiches for you.  I am not about to stop wearing my green zoo shirt for you, too.”

            “I don’t really want to stop wearing my shirt, either.”

            “Okay, so here’s how we’ll do it.  I’ll warn you when I’m going to wear the shirt, and you will warn me when you’re going to wear it.”

            “How will we warn each other?” asked Henry.  “Because I can’t be seen talking to girls more than necessary.”

            “Well I don’t want to have to talk to you, either.  We’ll make up a code,” suggested Rose.

            “Oh man, that sounds fun!” agreed Henry.

            So Rose and Henry got to work making up a secret code for communication.  They made up gestures for phrases such as “I’m wearing the shirt tomorrow,” and hand signals for important words like “recess,” “awesome,” and “pie.”

                                   

 

            After school, Henry and Rose found themselves on the same team during kickball: the losing team.  When it was their team’s turn to kick, the other team would get three outs right away.  It was as though the ball was just falling straight into their open arms.  But when Rose and Henry’s team was in the field, it seemed like it took forever to get any outs.  Rose could catch the ball, but she couldn’t seem to get on base.  Henry could kick the ball, but he had an awful time trying to catch it.

            “Gosh Henry, can’t you catch anything?”  Rose yelled after Henry messed up.  The ball flew right past him and a runner had scored while he ran after it.

            “C’mon Rose, how hard is it to kick?  You’re so bad, it would be better if you threw it,” a frustrated Henry called when Rose kicked poorly.

            This was the last straw for Mr. Drabble.  “Rose and Henry!  This is not the way you’re supposed to behave!  If you don’t shape up and start being nice to one another, you won’t get to play.”  

            “Humph,” replied Henry.

            “We’re losing anyways,” grumbled Rose.

            “If that’s the way you feel, stop playing.  Go have a seat on the time-out bench,” said Mr. Drabble.

            “Gee, thanks Rose.  Why’d you have to get me in trouble?” asked Henry.

            “I got you in trouble?  No, it’s the other way around.  You got me in trouble,” argued Rose.  Unyielding, they sat in silence as they watched their team get farther and farther behind. 

            Henry finally broke the silence.  “This is so annoying!  We just need to talk to each other!”

            “What?!

            “You know.  Like the people lined up to kick can watch and tell the runners when to steal.  Stuff like that,” explained Henry.

            “Well how are we supposed to communicate with each other without the other team knowing what we’re saying?” asked Rose.  “Because if I run over to tell you something, that won’t really do any good.”

            “You’re right.  We need a way to talk to each other without actually talking.  Wait a second!  That’s what we made the code for!” exclaimed Henry.

            “Yeah!  We can use it now!  Let’s go!”

            “Mr. Drabble, we’re ready to get along,” Henry told Mr. Drabble.

            “Alright, sounds good,” he replied.

            Rose and Henry ran back onto the field. “Huddle!” Rose called.  The team gathered around, and Rose and Henry quickly told them about the secret plan and the code.  The other players were very excited.

            “This is going to rock!” one boy said.

            “Awesome,” said a girl.

            “Okay.  Ready, break!” shouted Henry.  The team ran back to their positions.  They soon got three outs.  Even Henry made one.

            “Nice catch, Henry!” Rose congratulated.  When they got up to kick, Henry started them off with a good one, and they never stopped doing well.  Rose scored, twice.  When it was time to go home, Rose and Henry’s team was in the lead.  They won!  High fives all around. 

            “Who’s that boy you said good-bye to?” Rose’s dad asked when he picked her up.  “I don’t recognize him.”

            “Oh, that’s my new friend, Henry,” Rose answered.  “He’s way cool.”

 

            And the rest is history.  From that day on, Rose and Henry were inseparable.

 

 

                                                            THE END