More author’s notes will be at the end of the story.

A Friendship Begins

By Stephanie P.

Thursday, October 30^th

Six year old Trixie Belden moaned unhappily as she passed yet another group of students in the school hallway busily discussing their Halloween plans. “It’s not fair,” she whispered aloud.

Diana Lynch, also six, overheard her. Despite being the prettiest girl in the first grade, Diana was not often found among the large and popular groups of kids because she was rather shy. The shyness, however, only added to her sweetness.

“Is something wrong?” Diana asked with honest concern evident in her voice.

Trixie stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around. Who had said that? Everyone was busy conversing in groups…except…yes, it must have been Diana. Since school had started two months before she and Diana had been mildly friendly, but Trixie had yet to become fast friends with any of her classmates.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Trixie answered.

Diana walked over to her. “No, something’s wrong. Do you want to talk about it? Maybe I can--” Diana stopped suddenly and blushed. She was not normally so assertive.

Trixie was curious now. “Maybe you can what?”

“I just thought maybe there was something I could do,” Diana answered shyly.

Trixie let out a sigh. “It’s just that not living in town means I don’t get to do anything exciting on Halloween.”

Something occurred to Diana, but she was still hesitant about being so bold. “You…you could come over to my house.”

Trixie’s face brightened. “Really? Would we go trick-or-treating? Could I sleepover? I’ve always wanted to do that!” She spoke eagerly.

Forgetting her timidity, Diana replied enthusiastically, “That would be fun. I have to ask my mom first though.”

Taking charge, Trixie said, “Ok, you ask your mom and I’ll ask mine.”

They started walking along the hallway, excitedly chatting and making plans.

Stopping, Trixie exclaimed, “There’s Mart! Come on!”

Diana started to follow her new friend, but halted when she saw who “Mart” was. He was that second grade boy that she had secretly always found to be extremely cute. She blushed when she saw Trixie grabbing onto Mart excitedly. She had heard stories about girls having boyfriends when they were only six years old, but she hadn’t ever thought that was really true.

Trixie, forgetting Mart for the moment, yelled over to Diana, “Hey, Di! You coming?”

Not even noticing the shortening of her name, Diana slowly walked over to join them.

“Meet my brother, Mart. He’s in second grade. He thinks he’s so smart because he’s eleven months older than me, but we’re really like almost twins.” Trixie concluded this statement by sticking her tongue out at Mart.

“Hey, lamebrain, cut it out,” Mart retorted. “I’m going to catch the bus. You better come too. Moms will be really angry if she has to come pick you up.”

“I’ll be there in a minute,” Trixie yelled exasperatedly.

“So he’s your brother?” Diana asked after Mart had walked off.

“Yeah. Who’d you think he was? We look so much alike anyway. He hates me because of that.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Di said casually. She hadn’t even noticed their obvious likeness, so caught up she had been in seeing him up close.

“Well, I better go. Mart is right about one thing…Moms will be mad if she has to come pick me up. See you tomorrow! Keep your fingers crossed they say yes!” Trixie called out, referring to their parents.

“I promise I will.” Di waved as she watched Trixie leave.

Crabapple Farm

Upon arriving home, Trixie rushed into the house, breathlessly calling for her mother.

“Moms! Moms! MOMS!”

“Trixie, I told you to stop yelling like that,” Helen admonished.

“Sorry, Moms,” Trixie said sheepishly. “But I have some really exciting news. Please say yes!”

“Sweetie, how can I say yes when I don’t even know what your news is?”

“Diana Lynch invited me to go trick-or-treating with her tomorrow and afterwards I can sleep over at her house.”

“Diana Lynch? I know her mother. We used to be in the same playgroup when you and Diana were little,” Helen reminisced.

“You mean I knew Diana before this year?” Trixie asked surprised.

Her mother replied, “Yes, though I suppose it’s no shock that neither of you remember. You were very young and it’s been years since you saw each other. Now about this invitation…does Diana’s mother know about this?”

Trixie hung her head guiltily. “No, she doesn’t. But,” she continued, “Di is supposed to ask her tonight.”

Helen smiled. “Uh-huh. Why don’t I just go call her and find out for sure, ok, sweetie? Go help Brian set the table for dinner while I telephone Mrs. Lynch.”

The phone call took only a few minutes, but Trixie was kept in suspense because the family was now sitting down for their evening meal.

Trixie tried hard to be patient, but once grace was said and the food had been passed around she couldn’t help but burst out, “Moms, what did she say?!”

Trixie’s brothers and father looked up, curiosity evident on their faces. Helen just smiled and then explained, “A friend of Trixie’s from school invited her to sleepover tomorrow night. I just got off the phone from confirming it. Peter, do you remember the Lynches? We met them when I was in that playgroup for Trixie. It seems Trixie and their daughter Diana have met once again.”

Peter smiled. “A sleepover? Are you sure you’re ready for that, Trixie?”

“Yes!” Trixie exclaimed, bobbing up and down in her chair.

“Oh, I forgot. She said the boys could come over too, though obviously we’d have to pick them up before the sleepover starts. Brian, do you want to go?” Helen questioned.

The nine year old replied, “No…could I go over to Charlie’s instead? He kind of asked me, but I wasn’t sure what to say. It’s perfect football weather so we kind of wanted to do that. He’s asking a bunch of guys. His dad is going to take us trick-or-treating too.”

Helen glanced at her husband. Nodding, he said, “Brian, I think that would be fine. How about you Mart?”

“Nah. I’ll find something else to do. I don’t want to hang out with a couple of six year olds, especially six year old girls.”

Trixie rolled her eyes. “Fine, but I don’t want to hear you complaining later because I won’t share my candy. So there.”

Friday, October 31^st

Trixie was walking into her classroom the next morning when someone grabbed her hand.

“Psst. I need to talk to you!” Diana whispered.

Trixie grinned and mouthed “okay.”

It seemed like recess would never come, but finally their teacher said it was time.

“Guess what!” Di said as they ran out to the playground.

“I can come over. I know!” interrupted Trixie.

Diana laughed. “I know you know that. But after we get back from trick-or-treating my mom said she’d make us hot chocolate!”

Trixie merely grinned.

Di continued, “And she said that we can use her nail polish if we want to do our nails.”

Noticing Trixie’s frown, Diana asked surprised, “ Do you not want to do that?”

“You can do it if you want to, Di. I don’t really like that stuff.”

“It’s ok. We don’t have to.” Diana was surprised that there was someone who did not like painting nails. “But anyway, you’re supposed to come home with me, straight from school. Did you bring your costume?”

“Yeah, and my over-night bag too. Moms packed it so hopefully I have everything!”

Recess was over quicker than they would have liked, but at least they only had a few more hours to go.

~

“You girls ready to go?” Di’s cheerful father asked his daughter and her friend.

“Yes!” They both answered simultaneously.

The three of them departed from the small house that the Lynch’s called home. Trixie was dressed as a female pirate, while Diana had opted for a more traditional fairy princess costume.

“My least favorite part about Halloween is that it’s usually so cold out that you have to wear all kinds of clothes underneath your costume, or worse, over it,” Diana complained while tugging at her new sweater, which she was wearing beneath her short-sleeved princess dress.

The two girls walked up the sidewalk to the first house, while Mr. Lynch stood further back near the street.

Trixie stopped short. “Ew, what’s that?” she said, pointing.

“It looks like a pumpkin,” Di observed.

“A green one?” Trixie said skeptically.

Diana shrugged. “I think that’s what they look like when they aren’t ready.”

Trixie grimaced. “Why would anyone want that? Yuck.”

The girls received suckers from this particular house. Running back down to her father, Di said, “Daddy! Is it ok? Can I eat this now?”

“You sure you want to eat your candy so quickly? You’ve only been to one house. But yes, it’s ok.”

Di stuck the grape flavored sucker into her mouth and then walked with Trixie to the next house. Here they could hear loud noises coming from the backyard. Ignoring what was obviously a party going on, they walked up to the door and knocked. It slowly opened and the girls started to yell “Trick-or-treat!” when suddenly a blond boy came running out and ran into Di, pushing her into a pile of leaves.

“Help!” Diana screamed.

Trixie ran over and tried to pull the boy away. “Mart!” she yelled when she realized who the boy was. “Mart! You’re going to ruin Di’s new sweater! What are you doing here! I thought you went home.”

“Brian’s friends invited me to hang out with them,” Mart said quietly. He was embarrassed he had tackled Di instead of Trixie as he had planned.

“This is where Charlie lives?” Trixie demanded.

“Yeah.”

They turned when they heard Diana laughing. She was still sitting in the pile of leaves.

“Look! My sucker is nasty. There are leaves all over it!” She giggled again.

“I’m sorry,” Mart said simply.

“It’s ok! I like leaves. Let’s jump in them!”

“Hey, what’s going on here?” Diana’s father asked as he walked up the walkway.

“Nothing!” Diana said. “Well, we were just going to jump in the leaves.”

“We have leaves at home, honey. Right now you need to finish your trick-or-treating before it gets too dark, ok?” He looked from Mart to Trixie. “Is this your brother?” he asked her.

“Yes, sir, I am,” Mart answered for Trixie. “But I better go before my brother comes looking for me. He’s around back. See you!”

~

After an hour of walking around the neighborhood, Diana’s father told the girls that it was time to head back home. They were satisfied for they each had a large bag filled with candy. They made plans to share their candy with each other based on each of their personal favorites.

Once they got home all three of them walked into the small kitchen to tell Mrs. Lynch about their adventure. Ed Lynch stopped short, however, because there was a strange woman sitting at his kitchen table.

“Who is this?” Ed asked his wife, who had stood up when she saw them.

“Do you remember your cousin Jamie?”

“Jamie?”

“Yes, it’s me,” Jamie said.

“You disappeared six years ago,” Ed said incredulously. “Everyone thought you eloped with your boyfriend.”

“I did. I left because,” she glanced at the six year olds, “how shall I put this…I left because he was ‘not nice’ to me. I left him three years ago. Even that was three years too late.”

“Why didn’t you come here then?”

“I didn’t know how to face you guys. You all saw through Robert from the start, but I wouldn’t listen. I finally realized that I needed you guys, that I’ve needed you all along,” Jamie said passionately.

No one spoke and there was a heavy silence. Ed glanced at his wife and nodded towards the girls.

Taking the hint, she said, “Diana, why don’t you take your friend to your room. Don’t eat too much candy, and I’ll bring the hot chocolate soon.”

The girls walked down the hallway to Di’s room and then dumped their candy out onto the floor in order to sort it.

“Wow,” Trixie said as she made a pile for candy bars. “I didn’t know that there was a long-lost relative in your family.”

“I kind of knew,” Diana said. “But not really. I’ve heard mentions of a ‘cousin Jamie’ but that’s it.”

“I wonder what ‘eloping’ means?” Trixie mused. “It must be bad because they made us leave the room.”

“I don’t know. I don’t really care. I just don’t want her to stay here.”

“Why not? I think it’s exciting!”

“I don’t know…just because is all.”

Trixie looked at her friend and shrugged. Diana seemed really nice, but she couldn’t understand why Diana didn’t find this whole thing extremely mysterious. I’ll find out more about Jamie later, she vowed to herself.

The End.

Author’s Notes:

It’s been 10 years since I was six years old, so I apologize if Diana and Trixie were not as you picture six year olds to be. However, going on my memories, I tried to make the girls thoughts and actions as much like I know I would have been at that age, so there may be a little bit of me in them. At the same time though, I tried to show their individual personalities, such as Di being more timid and Trixie always interested in something “mysterious.”

Many thanks, as always, to my editor, Teresa!