Donghae stuffed the cuff of his denim pants into the fur-lined boots before yanking the strings tight and making a messy not. His coat hung on a low hook next to the back door, and he remembered to snatch that before grabbing the wire handle of his bucket along with the flashlight that sat on squat table near the entrance. 

As soon as the sun rises, the rooster crows. That's how Donghae knows it is time to wake up and check his chickens. The seven fat and fluffy birds were his 'responsibility'. Ever since his dad had told him that all the chickens would die like MoMo had if they weren't taken care of, the first grader put his all into fulfilling this chore. 

The beam shone over the frosted grass, causing the ground to sparkle under the flashlight's watch. He toddled across the yard with the empty bucket and his heavy boots, heading straight for the coop. Even though the sun had started to rise, the trees still hid the small wooden chicken house under its shadows. 

Port Williams farms were not common as most families that worked in the southern Californian village had some sort of connection with fishing and didn't have time to raise animals. However, for as long as Donghae could remember, his family had kept not only chickens but three pigs and a cow, his family being himself, his older brother, and his daddy. Jungsoo was much older and would probably wake up in an hour or two to take care of the pigs and Soo The Great. Apparently high schoolers needed more sleep or something, especially on Saturday and Sunday morning. 

Sitting the pail at his feet and dropping the flashlight inside, Donghae lifted the metal hook from its loopy home and shoved the door open with his shoulder as he gathered his tools back up. 

"Good morning, little chickies!" They weren't actually little but rather mature hens that would drop an egg a day for him. "Y'all look like you've been eating lots. Let me get you some more though." 

The coop was big enough to be a playhouse for someone of Donghae's size, and he could march around inside as though he had built a castle and hired seven chickens as guards, something he often did during brighter hours. 

The closet in the back of the one-roomed house held extra supplies as well as an extra large bag of feed. He had to swat off Choco's curious beak as the spoiled princess of the mini-flock followed him to the sack. With a plastic scoop, Donghae shoveled more than enough grain into his pail, balancing flashlight, bucket, and shovel while fending off the hungry beasts that squawked for their breakfast. 

"Okay, I get it! You're hungry." He puffed his cheeks and turned to his chickens, moving through the gathering toward the third door in the room. He came out into the wired yard, about 25 square feet of roofed field for the birds to roam without worry of pig or cow. "Gu, gu, gu, come on chickies! Gu, gu, gu!" His accented clucking was efficient enough to get these chickies of his poking into the yard and pecking at the feed he had sprinkled around for them. 

Bada was the last to make it out, and Donghae crouched down on his chunky haunches to ruffle her feathers. "Baby Bada, why are you going so slow? I bet you pooped out an egg so big that your hurts so you have to take your time, hm? I'm expecting a bigger egg from you now, so better not disappoint me."

She clucked back, and he took it to be confirmation of her pained effort. 

With the birds occupied, Donghae bolted back into the coop to plunder their produce. Each nest of straw and hay housed an egg for him to put in his pail. When he got to Bada's, the runt of the pack, he gave a grin that bore all his teeth. "You did papa proud!" he shouted back toward the fenced yard for his favorite to hear. 

"Donghae!"

The short chicken-whisperer ladled the last egg into his bucket and hopped out of the coop, not forgetting to re-lock the latch behind him before scurrying back to the kitchen with the breakfast. Today was Saturday, which always meant omelets. Cleaning out the coop could wait until after grub time. 

The door swung out and then was pulled fast as he tracked mud from the back door to the center of the kitchen where his daddy was readying the skillet with butter.

"Bada pooped out a big ol' baby this time, Daddy. I think it's her biggest egg ever." He raised the container by its handle with both of his ruddy hands so that the much taller man could see all of his finds. 

"Hae," his father bent at the knees to have a face to face with Donghae, "Remember when I told you not to say 'poop' in the kitchen?"

The child bobbed his little head in a nod. "Oh, yeah. That's bad nanners."

"Manners," the man chuckled and stood back up. "Now hand me all the eggs from your bucket so that I can cook some..." 

Both boys had smiles on as they readied themselves for the shout.

"AWESOME SATURDAY OMELETS!"

Later that day, as Donghae was raking out the mess from under the chicken coop, he heard his dad's voice once again calling out from the kitchen. 

"Hold on, Daddy. I'm scoopin' up some poop."

"Lee Donghae, come here now, please." 

Whenever Donghae heard his dad use the word 'please', he knew that the man actually meant: 'If you don't do as I say right this instant, I will beat your little tooshie until you can't walk for a week.' 

For his tooshie's sake, Donghae dropped the rake handle as it stood and sprinted off toward the kitchen door. He hopped through the entryway and was about to say something he thought would be funny but then he spotted two people whom he had never laid eyes on before. One, was a tall, thin man with a super shiny suit. The other was a person about Donghae's size, maybe a little taller, who was also thin. The littler man wore fancy looking clothes as well, his bright yellow sweater thingy making Donghae smile. 

"Donghae, this is a friend of mine." Donghae's dad had his hand on the taller man's shoulder. "And this is his son Hyukjae." 

"Nice to meet you." Donghae had a smile that his dad said could slay a dragon and he used his best at this first meeting, remember to bow at his waist for manners. "My name is Donghae," he whispered. "In case you didn't know."

The other little boy stared at Donghae but didn't say anything. His only reaction seemed to be that his eyebrows would move together anytime Donghae said something. 

"It's nice to meet you, too, Donghae." This stranger-man's voice was different. It sounded more like Mr. Kim, the fancy man who would come to town every once in a while and bring lots of people with him all the way from Korea. 

The man's large hand landed on top of the other boy's head, ruffling the soft brown hair. Hyukjae looked up at his dad, and then Donghae stared as they both started moving their hands around. 

Hyukjae's father spoke as he moved his hands, but Hyukjae just moved his hands silently. 

"Donghae's father and I are going to have a talk. You two be friendly with each other."

The scrawny little boy moved his hands and made a pouty face. Donghae looked at his own father hoping for some kind of hint as to what they were doing with their hands. 

"Donghae," Hyukjae's father turned toward the other little boy in the room, squatting down to make himself more level. He still moved his hands as he talked, and Donghae noticed that Hyukjae's eyes were on those big, pale hands. "Hyukjae has special ears. He can't hear you unless he can see your lips. And his tongue is special, too.  So, when he talks, he likes to use his hands instead."

Donghae's eyes widened despite the lowering of his brows, and his mouth popped open wide as he looked between Hyukjae and the man who was hunched down in front of him. "But, I don't know what that hand stuff means." He felt guilty that he didn't know this sort of thing. His daddy had always scolded him to practice both English and Korean because some people didn't know the other. It's important for everyone to be able to know what you are saying. He'd never learned how to do the hand stuff though.

"That's okay," the man laughed, a hand rustling Donghae's dark hair. "You two can play together, and he will let you do all the talking."

"So where are you from, Hyukkie?" Donghae was unlatching the wooden door to the chicken coop again when he stopped and turned around. 

The other kid just stared at him, occasionally looking around the yard without much of an expression. That's when Donghae realized that Hyukjae hadn't heard him. 

He waited until the boy looked back at him before trying ask the question again, making sure that Hyukjae could see his mouth. "Where are you from?"

Those eyebrows bunched together before Hyukjae lifted his hands again and dropped them. 

"Oh, you can't talk without your hands, right? How about we play a game? I like games. I'll guess and you can just nod if I'm right." 

Donghae took the little nod that Hyukjae gave as a sign that he was ready for the game. 

"Wait!" Donghae's eyes flew open at his realization. Hyukjae looked a lot like him with almond eyes and that bluish undertone to his pale skin. His daddy had told him that not everyone who looked like them knew Korean, but what if Hyukjae only understood Korean lips and not English lips.

"Do you know English? Or just Korean? Or something else?"

Again, those eyebrows furrowed in a way that made Donghae wonder if the other boy was actually angry or just confused. 

"Um, English?" he tried in the language that had always been more comfortable for him considering he'd been raised around it.

A sure nod with a tight-lipped smile had him hopeful that this boy could read English lips, and he quickly smiled back toothily.

"Okay! Let's start!"

Another nod but without a smile this time.

"Mars?"