Chapter Text
His yellow wellies flapped against his shins as Charlie ran in front of his mother and sister towards the park. The sun was out; nice and warm. It had been raining for days and his mum hadn’t wanted to go outside, although Charlie loved playing in the rain. Luckily, there were still puddles everywhere and he jumped from one to another, stamping his feet as hard as possible, trying to make the water splash higher than himself. He knew his mum would be apprehensive for him to play in the sand – now mud – in the park, but that wouldn’t stop him from trying. Maybe Tori would want to play shops with him. He could be the baker and she could buy his mud cakes. Usually she would run to the swings and swing almost all afternoon, but the last time she had also looked for bugs with him, so who knew? He stopped on the edge of the pavement, the last crossing before they reached the park. He turned and looked back impatiently, not wanting to waste any time.
The park was still damp and misty but the sun was quickly warming up the atmosphere. Charlie ran to his favourite place, a big tree trunk that lay down in the middle of the field. He loved to climb up and over, and there were always pretty bugs living in the shed bark. Underneath, at the end, there was a little place where the grass had vanished, and he liked to use this as a sandpit.
“Please don’t play in the mud, Charlie!” His mother called after him, “You’re already soaking wet from the puddles you jumped into.”
Charlie nodded even though he didn’t plan on following her advice. Tori was already on her way to the swings so he started to climb the trunk. Maybe they could play together later.
As he made his way on top and carefully tried to stand up and balancing over the wet and slippery trunk, he noticed another boy on the other end doing the same. Charlie waved awkwardly, trying not to tumble over.
“Hi! I'm Charlie, do you want to play shops with me? We can make mud cakes.”
The other boy had looked shy at first, but when Charlie mentioned the mud cakes his whole face lit up. “I’m Nick. I love making mud cakes! Here at the end is really good sand we can use.”
Both boys jumped off and ran towards the magical sand place. Charlie quickly glanced at his mum, but she was talking to someone, so he seized the opportunity.
“I made real cupcakes with my mum yesterday. Chocolate ones. Do you like those?” Charlie nodded and Nick continued, “Maybe you can come over and taste one. We made sooo many.” The boy grinned lopsided.
“I’d love that,” Charlie answered before diving into the mud.
The little boys had the time of their lives. They decided they would both be bakers as they liked that role best. Buying was a lot less interesting than making them, they agreed.
“So maybe we’re married and we have a bakery with only cakes and pies,” Nick suggested.
“Oh yes! And a dog. Can we have a dog? My mum doesn’t like animals.”
As their store and their families – both real and fantasy – were discussed, they baked a lot of mud cakes in all forms and shapes. The first time they became aware of their surroundings again was when both their mums were shouting and at the same time the first thick and big droplets fell from the sky and onto their heads. The sky was almost green and with a giant crash, the thunderstorm and the rain broke out. The wind picked up and the hail lashed down. His mum grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the park. Charlie wanted to shout a goodbye to his new friend but he had already disappeared.
After a warm bath and he had changed into his pyjamas, Charlie positioned himself in front of the window to stare outside. He was waiting for the rain to subside so he could go back to the park, but it kept on pouring and dusk was already falling. Charlie thought about Nick and wanted nothing more than to see him again.
“Mum, can I play with Nick? I really like him and he asked me to have a cupcake at his place.”
“Who knows, CeeBee. Maybe he’ll be in the park tomorrow.”
But he wasn’t there the next day, and not any other. Charlie did meet another nice boy named Isaac, who also liked bugs and stories and, as they grew closer, slowly Nick faded away.