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“We have but a short time together, we should speak of greater things." he replied. I remember being suprised that he was such a well spoken little black boy. "You are a Sentinel." he said. I was clear he meant Sentinel with a capital S, whatever that was. "We have much to do." He stopped talking and looked curiously at the old chinaberry. He walked up to it, placed both hands on the bark and closed his eyes for a moment. "Good" he said.

Then he walked over to me, talliwagger and all, and put his hand on my cheek. He got a soft look on his face. I guess I must have looked a little alarmed. "Don't worry," he counseled "it will seem a long time before your part begins." Then to my profound embarrassment, he leaned over and kissed me right on the lips.

There is no greater affront to the dignity of an eight year old Texan than to be kissed on the lips by someone naked. I staggered back in shock, wiping my mouth involuntarily with the back of my hand, my spit reflex out of control. He got a curious look on his face as he watched me wipe and spit madly. Suddenly he grabbed his sides and fell on the ground in a symphony of laughter. At first I was angry at his insensitivity. But then I heard his laughing. The sound it made was so unusual that I stopped rubbing and spitting. I stood there with my mouth hanging open, listening to the wonderful sounds that seemed to come from all over him as he rolled on the ground.

It was more like music than laughter, with little bells and whoops. I imagined a stream would laugh the same way, with many voices all ringing and chuckling at once. It was the most wonderful sound I had ever heard in my life... We played and talked for what seemed like hours. We chattered about everything imaginable, the relationship between dreams and lemon custard ice cream, impossible monsters of the deep and why they were never caught in tuna nets, the immutability of snowflakes and rainbows, how owls could appear and disappear at will. We discussed mirrors, cats eye marbles, wishbones and other objects with magical properties. We talked about flying, something he said was easy but didn't demonstrate. We argued over how many june bugs were in the world and mysteries of science like how they sucked the air out of tennis ball cans.