Bittersweet and Sweet. It’s a 6.

*the sounds of a young girl crying*

“Hey, why you cryin’… that bully across the street messin’ with you again?” The boy’s voice, buoyed by a maturity beyond his 9 years, walked over to the 6 year old girl at the end of the asphalt driveway, heading towards her own house, 3 doors down.

Sniffling away her tears, the little girl looked up at the boy, “Brian just told me there was no Santa Claus and when I told him there was, my dad told me so, he said my dad was lying!”

Hold on now…who you gonna believe… you know Brian’s a jerk; he teases all the younger kids so tell you what, I’ll go over there, tell him off and catch up with you in a minute, “k?

No longer crying, the little girl’s eyes now big with surprise asked, “you’re not going to fight him are you, ‘cuz he’s bigger than you and all I have to do is tell my dad… he’ll go over and give him a talking to, I know it!”

Smiling, the boy said softly, “nah Sofie, I’m just going to talk to Brian, let him know if he ever makes you cry again then he’d better be ready, ‘cuz I’ll be lookin’ for him.”