Gen 1.11 Hazel Makes a Friend

Hazel woke up early, grabbed an apple and ran out of the house tossing it like a ball. She took a bite and stopped at the edge of the porch, the morning was alive with possibility! Where should she go? What would she see? She checked her watch, she had an hour before the bus came. She ran down to the pond in back of the house, she saw a mouse there yesterday eating grass seeds while clinging to the seed head. She wondered if she could find it again. She would need to be very quiet. Before she quite got there, she got distracted by watching a robin hunting worms. She laid down on her belly to watch it and ate her apple, fascinated by the bird's hunting dance. When it flew away, she found a cricket and spent a while chasing it as it hopped this way and that trying to get away from her. Before she knew it, she heard her mom and sister calling her to come get ready for school.

Hazel made some token protests before coming inside to get dressed and brush her long, black hair. She made faces in the mirror as she brushed, wondering who she looked like. She didn't quite look like either of her parents. Then she grabbed her lunch and her backpack, gave her mom a hug and ran after Junie to catch the bus. Junie moved at an even pace and Hazel soon outpaced her. She wanted to get on the bus first. It was probably a good thing she didn't see Junie roll her eyes, Haze wasn't hot headed, but such an insult can't be ignored!

Juniper was content to move at her own pace knowing that the bus wouldn't leave without her should it get there before she did and she wasn't in any particular hurry to get to school. Things were different now that she was in high school. The boys were stupider, but some were more interesting. Some girls seemed to view everything as a competition and the biggest prize was male attention. Juniper didn't get it, all these boys were so awkward that she couldn't see the prize. Juniper focused on improving her art and her writing.

Their bus route was the longest by distance and had the least amount of kids. It was just Hazel, Juniper, Delia, Jude, Adrian, and Jed. Hazel sat with Jed, who bore her chatter with grace and occasional grunts; what more could you ask from a cousin? Juniper sat with Jude and spoke in a code of inside jokes and shared history. They'd been friends since first grade, but lately he'd been pulling away from her so their time on the bus was all she got to hang out with him. She thought it was because he had a thing for Lorraine Fischer and didn't want Lorraine to think that he was with Juniper. Gossip had been linking them together since middle school, but it always died down when there wasn't anything to fuel the fire.

There was only one kid in Hazel's class that she wanted to be friends with. Her name was Damaris Zauber and everyone said her mom was a witch! Damaris's mother kept her dressed all in black and her hair short with a blunt bang across her face. A more brash little girl could've pulled off that haircut, but on Damaris it was dire. Some kids thought that Damaris was a witch too. Most just said that Damaris had cooties and you shouldn't get too close. Hazel bristled at the perceived injustice, why should Damaris Zauber suffer because her mom dressed her weirdly and gave her a bad haircut? She made it her mission to befriend Damaris.

Unfortunately for Hazel, Damaris proved resistant to all the charms that worked to befriend just about every other kid in the class. She wasn't sporty and she wasn't interested in most of what was on TV. She had also learned to be wary of other children. Damaris had a secret, her mother really was a witch. Griselda evaded suspicion by being so cliché that the thought of her actually being a witch was dismissed by adults as soon as they thought it. Thus she was free to ride around the countryside on her broom on moonlit nights and curse the livestock to her heart's content. By day she was just Griselda Zauber, star agent at SimMax Real Estate, who happened to wear black, pointy shoes, and had an improbably hooked nose.

Hazel arrived at a strategy of persistant kindness. At lunch, she made sure to ask Damaris if she could sit with her. Damaris shrugged her shoulders and went back to unpacking her lunch. Hazel's friend Jeri sat opposite her and they chattered about their lunch and their siblings. Jeri's mom and Hazel's mom were friends and the two families often got together. When they went out to recess, Hazel asked Damaris if she wanted to play with her and her friends. “Hazel” cried one, “We'll all get cooties!” Hazel called back, “Fine, I'll get cooties then!” and went to join Damaris under the tree where she always sat. She was shocked to see a couple of tears streaming down Damaris's face as she dug at the roots with a stick. Damaris swiped at them with the back of her hand, “Why are you here? Come to see if I'll curse you?”

“Nope, I don't think they should treat you like that. You're not your mom.” answered Hazel.

“What if she really is a witch?” asked Damaris

“Does that make you a witch too?” asked Hazel.

“No, I think it skips a generation.” said Damaris, seriously.

“So whatcha doing?” asked Hazel, accepting Damaris' answer.

“Digging. Mother says that ladies shouldn't get dirty and if they do, they should clean up before going out in public. I like digging, though. She's going to be upset I got dust all over this dress.” She said, gesturing to her somber black jumper and berry colored blouse underneath, now liberally smeared with dry brown soil.

“Man, my mom just says that kids are scientists and that getting dirty helps you learn. She just asks that I take off my boots before coming in if they're muddy. She does get upset with Floyd when he rolls in stuff. Then he gets upset because he gets a bath. Floyd's our dog. He's really old, but he doesn't know it. He still thinks he's a puppy!”

“We have a cat. His name is Bingley. Mother says that cats can be depended on, unlike men. I don't know what that means. Bingley catches mice and leaves them on the doorstep. Mother doesn't get upset with him, but if I start looking at them, she gets upset with me.”

“Do you wanna come over after school?” asked Hazel, “We can do our homework together and then I can show you our pond! We've got frogs in it and dragon flies!” Damaris nodded. Then it was time to line up and go back in for afternoon class.