Don't ~
Call For Silence

“Hey there,” she said, pulling her legs up a step.

“Hey,” he replied. “What’re you making?”

“Paper cranes, for summer. I was thinking, if I can make enough I’ll turn them into a curtain for the living room.”

“Oh. Why’re you doing that out here?”

She smiled and handed him the one she just finished, “I like it better out here.”

“What’ll you do if the wind picks up?” he asked.

“I guess I won’t have any cranes, then,” she laughed. “Do you want to try? It’s really easy.”

He shook his head, “No, I just game to… I wanted to apologize about yesterday. I hope it doesn’t, like, smell too bad in there, or anything.”

“Nah! No big deal. Don’t worry yourself about it.”

“I’m really sorry.”

“I appreciate it, but it’s really alright. It’s all cleaned up now so there’s nothing to worry about. Go ahead and help me make a few of these.” She handed him a slip of paper.

“No thanks, I’ll just go now.”

“You might as well sit down and stay awhile. The sun’s going to set and it’s best to watch from the porch,” she patted the deck space beside her, “I could go get you something to drink.”

He sat down, “I’m just really sorry.”

“I’ll drive you home after the sun’s down. What do you want to drink?”

He shook his head.

She lightly punched his shoulder, “You’ve got bigger things to worry about than my upholstery you know. You should be worrying about classes, and homework, and getting a girlfriend and all that.”

“I know, I just couldn’t let it go like that. You’ve been all really cool letting us hang out here and we just go and-“

“I wouldn’t let all you teenagers come around here if I didn’t like having you around,” she dumped another crane onto the paper he was still holding, “Now, then sun’s going to be setting here in a sec, you sure you don’t want anything?”

He shook his head again and set the paper and crane to the side. “You’re really cool, Miss Shepherd,” he decided.

“I know,” she replied, “Just stick around and help me out next time rather than having to come back late and making your mom worry, okay?”

He laughed, “Okay. I will.”

“Good, now watch, I’ll show you how to fold these.”