I slid down the slides for the tenth time in a row and looked over at the swings.

He’s still on it? Is he making me wait on purpose?

 

I think Omma noticed my scowl when she saw me eyeing the boy. She bent down and whispered quietly in my left ear, “Haneul, be patient.”

 

“Okay Omma!” I answered loudly – enough so the boy can hear. “But I wish he would get off soon!!” Then I bounced over to the monkey bars.

 

“GAH!”

I slipped and landed flat on my . I glared at the fourth bar that my hand missed. So close!!

 

That’s when I noticed somebody walk up beside me. I looked up, expecting to see my Omma with a Winnie the Pooh boo-boo band and a Kit Kat.

 

Instead I see the boy standing there. He offered me his hand.

 

“Wanna hand?”

 

I took it and dragged myself up. And then I realized that the doctor wasn’t lying.

 

Last week, I went to the doctors for my check-up and after the measurements, she had told me I was tall for my age. I didn’t really believe her because I always thought I had to work a bit harder (like Mulan or Cinderella) for dreams to come true. But I’ve always wanted to be tall – just like the trees in the Hundred Acres Woods!

 

Now, after he pulled me up, the boy’s height only reached my nose. My heart leapt with joy. I’ll forgive him for taking so long I immediately decided.

 

“I’m done with the swing now,” he pointed.

 

“Oh goody!” I raced over and plopped myself comfortably into the seat. Omma was talking to another lady on the benches and they were both watching us with smiles.

 

Is that the boy’s mom?

 

“Haneul, did you say thank you?” Omma called.

 

I turned my head to the boy. “Thank you!”

 

“You’re welcome!” He walked closer to where I was sitting on the swing. “Do you want me to show you something really cool after?”

 

Really cool?? I love cool things! “You can show me now,” I suggested eagerly.

 

“Sure! Follow me!” He waved me after him as he ran over to a grove of trees on the other side of the playground.

 

I leapt off the swing and followed close behind him. He had stopped in front of a really really tall oak.

 

I poked my head around from the other side.

 

“WOAH! That’s a huge hole!”

For a few minutes, both of us were bent down, just staring into the hollow of the tree. It was piled with small apples at the back.

 

“What do you think lives in there?”

 

“It’s a squirrel hole!” He announced proudly.

 

“A squirrel hole? That’s so cool! Look, it has food inside.”

 

“Yeah! And see – there’s leaves too.”

 

“What do you think it’s for?”
 

“A blanket, maybe?”

 

We both stared some more. Suddenly, an idea popped into my head.

 

“I have an idea!”

 

He blinked out me quizzically.

 

“Let’s help the squirrel prepare for winter. And we can play and have a treasure hunt!”

 

He seemed to be pondering something for a moment. “But what should we hunt for?”

 

“Everything! Like berries, or leaves and sticks! Or like a long smooth stick or a twig or something like that. We can have a scavenger hunt! And then we can try to find something that’s really really really rare just like in a quest.” I was beginning to get really excited.

 

“Okay! Let’s start with the apples and berries,” he suggested. “So we each find 5 apples and 3 different berries. Then we can find 2 pine cones, 3 smooth sticks and 4 leaves.”

 

“Four pretty leaves,” I added. “Now we need a treasure.”

 

“Mmmm... a nice rock?”

 

“No that’s too boring.”

 

“A dandelion?”

 

“Uhhh…there’s too many in the field.”

 

We sat there for an entire 15 seconds.

 

C’mon Haneul think! What is there in the woods?

The boy continued to rattle off suggestions.

 

“A tree bark?”

 

“There’s one right there,” I pointed.

 

Well, there’s Bambi, Thumper, Flower...

 

“Ummm...a caterpillar?”

 

“EWW! NO!”

 

“Uhhh... a worm?”

 

“No, keep the worms underground!”

 

“Aaaaaaa....”

 

There’s also butterflies, birds, squirrels...

 

“I got one!” I yelled.

 

He leaned in, “What is it? Tell me, tell me.”

 

“An acorn.”

 

“Acorn? What’s that?”

 

“It’s the thing the squirrel in Bambi had!” I reminded him. “Remember?”

 

“What’s Bambi?”

 

“You don’t know who BAMBI is?” I stared at him incredulously. “He’s my favourite deer! You should come to my house one day – I have a LOT of Bambi things at home.”

 

“Really? Then my omma told me there are Bambis in the park forest.”

 

“Bambi lives here?!” I gasped. Now I really love my new home.

 

“So what does an acorn look like?”

 

“Um it’s brown. And it’s shaped like... this.” I picked up a stick and drew the outline of an acorn in the playground sand.

 

“The acorn has to be perfect,” I continued. “A perfect acorn. I’ve always wanted to see a real one!

 

“Leave it to me!” He grinned. “Do we meet back here?”

 

“Yeah! But...” Something’s missing... “We need to give this tree a name!”

 

“A name?” He looked at me quizzically.

 

“Yeah, a name! Let’s name it after us!”

 

“Okay, what’s your name?”

 

“Haneul! Lee Hanuel!” I declared proudly. “What’s your name?”

 

“Minho,” he grinned again. “Choi Minho.”

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Been busy as heck. Will try our best to speed up the updates!

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