At 5:53AM, there is a bright natural light shining past the windows in Brielle’s room that hits the side of Brielle’s face. Immediately, Brielle jumps out of bed, and slides to the bathroom. While getting ready, the rest of the family wakes up.
In the last couple of months, Brielle has been missing out on their Family Sundays since she was busy with AP Exams and regents. However, now that the stress is over, she can finally spend time with family.
“We’re going to hangout by the lake today” says Brielle’s dad while shoving his fishing rods and water toys into the trunk.
Rachel quickly stops what she is doing and asks “Didn’t we decide on going to the amusement park today?”
Brielle picks up right after Rachel and says “I’m staying home if you’re going fishing. I don’t want to stand under the beaming sun for hours when we don’t even know if we will catch any fish.”
Brielle’s mom chimes in noting, “Uncle Joe and his family are coming along though.”
Thinking to herself, “Hmmm I haven’t seen baby Justin in so long, I’ll just play with him the whole time instead.”
Brielle gets her bag, and mumbles “Fine, I’ll go” as she gets in the car.
They are the first ones to arrive, so they decide to wait until the others get here before heading down to the lake. There is barely any service there, and for a good ten minutes, Brielle, Rachel, and their younger brother Jayden stare around doing nothing.
“Let’s play Uno!” shouts Brielle, “I packed the new Uno Flip cards I bought at Target the other day.”
During their game of Uno, Brielle notices a sudden shadow that appears to the left of her, so she turns to see what it is.
Brielle exclaimed, “Mom look, finally someone else is here other than us, and they are also Chinese. I never knew so many people from our community come to these places.”
Brielle’s dad takes a look to see, and acknowledges “That’s my boss and their family. Let’s get out of the car kids.”
They all got out of the car, and so did their boss’s family.
Brielle sees two kids coming out, introducing herself, “Hi, my name is Brielle”.
“This is Kevin and Marcus,” says my dad’s boss, “say hi back you two.”
Kevin, the older boy, says hi back, and goes up to Jayden as he sees him holding a pokemon card. Meanwhile, Marcus moves to the side, fiddling with his fingers with his head facing the floor.
Brielle once again initiates up to Marcus. “Hi Marcus, look at this”. Brielle reaches for Marcus’s hand, and lets him hold the Uno cards. “Have you ever played this before? It’s a very fun game, I think you will be a pro at it!”
Marcus looks up at Brielle and lets out a light smile.
Another car pulls up. “Uncle Joe is here. Go get your stuff at the back of the trunk. We will be walking down to the lake.”
“Come hold my hand Marcus, later when we walk to the lake, a part of the road will be slippery,” says Brielle as she carries the tote bag full of other games and snacks.
The road to the lake is quite rocky and narrow. When they get to the picnic area at the lake, Brielle exclaimed “You were very brave for walking all the way here. Good job!”
“Thanks, you too.” said Marcus, clapping his hands.
Brielle asks Marcus, “Do you remember what my name is?”
Marcus snaps his finger continuously, and then says “Brielle.”
Brielle gives Marcus a high five. “So tell me about yourself, how old are you? What grade are you in? What is your favorite thing to do? I want to know everything!”
“Everyone, come eat lunch first before heading off. We’ve got a whole lot of food here” says Brielle’s dad’s boss.
Marcus’s grandma sees Marcus talking with Brielle, and jumping up and down, being very active. Marcus’s grandma comes over to them with two plates full of different kinds of food.
“This plate is for you, and this plate is for Marcus,” says Marcus’s grandma as she points to it.
“You can have this plate, I’ll go get my own. Come sit down with Marcus.”
“No no no, you stay with him, I haven’t seen my grandson this outgoing before. You have this plate and continue to play with him, it’s rare for him to be comfortable with others, especially when he’s just met them for a day.”
After everyone finishes eating, they occupy themselves with fishing, playing at the park, and Marcus and Brielle are busy catching mini frogs.
All of a sudden, Marcus’s grandma signals Brielle to go to her.
“I’ll catch frogs with you in a bit, your grandma wants to talk to me first. When you find the frogs, put them in this bucket of water so they won’t run away,” says Brielle to Marcus as she scoops water from the lake into the bucket.
“Is there something wrong grandma?” Brielle questions worrily.
“Absolutely not. I just want to say thank you for being so generous and patient with Marcus. Many people cold-shouldered Marcus because of how he acts, but thank you for giving him your attention.”
“No worries! I love interacting with kids, and Marcus is one of the best kids I’ve interacted with. He is very courteous and thoughtful,” responds Brielle.
Brielle is curious as to how Marcus would respond if she tells him she’s upset, since he is different from normal kids, so she goes up to Marcus, playing with the frogs in the bucket.
“Hi Marcus, I have something to tell you.”
“What is it?” questions Marcus as he tries to feed the frog some leaves.
“I’m a little sad.”
“Why?”
“Because I will not be able to see you tomorrow, since you have school and I have work.”
Marcus looks up at Brielle and holds her hand.
“Oh yeah. That is very bad news. I have a plan: how’bout you pick me up from my school. My grandma usually picks me up at 5PM, but you can come a little early and pick me up at 4:30PM and then bring me to your house.”
“Should I tell your mom before I pick you up?”
“No, she will find out when I am at your house.”
“I can’t pick you up tomorrow, but I’ll try to pick you up when I am not busy.”
The sky turned to an orange-red color, and slowly, the sun fell below the horizon. The group goes back to the parking lot. Right before going into the car, Marcus goes up to Brielle.
“You know that you can still come to my house. There are still 4 more hours until bedtime, so there is still time to play.”
“It takes me a long time to go back home from here, it will be too late if I go to your house,” says Brielle.
“Can you give me your phone number? I will write it on my mom’s phone.”
“For sure. It’s 1234567890. Text or call me whenever you want! It’s time for you to go home now, hurry and get in your car.”
Marcus takes a big step up the stairs to the car, turns around and blows Brielle a kiss, saying “I love you and I miss you already.”
