Second Book:
Three Weeks Later
"Whoa! What is that?" A boy's startled voice perked Dylan up, but he remained seated in the living room. "Some kind of lizard thing, but he's huge."
"Don't worry about him Tom." Karen soothed. "Dylan is harmless. I've known him for years, he's my best friend."
"Does he live around here?" Tom was somewhat reassured by Karen's assertion.
"Why don't you go in there and ask him yourself? He doesn't bite." Karen was amused by Tom's reluctance, which wasn't unlike Dylan's when he was around strangers.
"You're sure he's safe?" Tom nervously inquired.
"He wouldn't be in this house if he wasn't Tom." Karen gently pushed Tom into the living room.
"Um, hi." Tom stepped into the living room, keeping his eyes on Dylan as he made his way to the sofa and sat down. "I'm Tom."
"Call me Dylan." Dylan returned the greeting with a wave. "You're Karen's boyfriend, right?"
"Well, yeah." Tom was surprised by the question.
"I see." Dylan returned his gaze to a photo on the wall.
"Have you really known Karen for a while?" Tom asked, finding the same photo, of one of Karen's Birthday parties when she was younger. Centered in the picture, Karen sat in front of a mashed up cake laughing, while beside her was Dylan, his face expressing embarrassment and guilt, covered in icing with one candle still lit sticking out of his left nostril. There were a couple other kids in the picture, most on the opposite side of the table as Dylan, but two boys with sly grins were behind Dylan, having been caught by the camera after shoving the lizard boy into the cake.
"Yeah." Dylan noticed where Tom was looking. "That was Karen's seventh birthday party. When those two boys there, Ian and Shane I think their names are, shoved me into her cake, she laughed so hard. I guess I looked really silly with the candle coming out of my nose and all, but I felt so bad for ruining her cake, I got her one myself the next day."
"How did you meet her?" Tom looked at Dylan for a moment, then back to the photo.
Dylan closed the trash bin and turned toward the house, stopping for a moment to soak in the warm afternoon sun. He started back toward the house quietly when a noise beyond the wood fence startled him. It was an unassuming sound, that of a door closing, but coming from an empty house, it was strange. Curious, he moved over to the fence, peeking through the slats, hoping to see something. When he couldn't find the source of the sound, Dylan climbed up on the fence, sticking his head over. As soon as he looked he jumped, almost falling off the fence. There was a girl sitting on the porch steps with her head buried in her hands. She was crying.
"Hi." Dylan spoke softly. "Are you okay?"
The girl looked up at Dylan, her eyes widening at the sight of a lizard creature's head sticking up over the fence. She seemed stunned by the sight at first, but quickly returned to being sad. She turned her head away from him and went back to crying. Dylan clamored over the fence and approached the girl slowly, taking a seat on the step beside her. Gently, he put his arm around the girl and held her.
"My name is Dylan, welcome to the neighborhood." Dylan wanted to be friendly. "Do you want a friend?"
"No, just leave me alone." The girl said miserably. "Go home."
"Then I'll stay here for a while." Dylan stated. "People who don't want a friend, usually need one."
The girl looked at Dylan's sincere expression, staring at his golden eye as it looked at her with worry. A tear rolled down her cheek and she wrapped her arms around Dylan, and held him tightly. She cried on his shoulder, without saying anything.
"Karen?" A woman's voice came from inside the house. "Karen, I know you're upset about moving. If you want to- Oh my goodness!" The woman grabbed a broom. "You get away from my daughter you beast! So help me, if you hurt her, I'll-"
"Mom, don't!" Karen blurted. "Dylan is our neighbor. He just came over to say hi."
"You really shouldn't talk to strange," She thought a moment, "reptiles Karen."
"I'm sorry Ma'am, Your daughter was miserable, I just wanted to cheer her up." Dylan released Karen and stood up. "I thought she needed a friend."
"That was sweet of you." Karen's mother set the broom down. "You want to come in, it's kind of late for lunch, but I could make a sandwich for you."
"Dylan?" Tom's voice commanded Dylan's attention. "You didn't answer."
"She moved in next door to me when I was six years old." Dylan recalled. "I saw her sitting on the back porch here one afternoon, so I went over to say hi."
"Oh?" Tom's question was suspicious.
Yeah, funny thing happened though, her mother came outside and hit me with a broom." Dylan let out a chuckle. "She thought I was trying to hurt her daughter. Karen stood up for me, and convinced her mom I was okay. We've been friends ever since." He sighed. "You're a lucky guy Tom." Dylan shifted gears suddenly. "Karen's a sweet, gentle girl, be sure you treat her right."
"Uh thanks, I will." Tom was unsettled by Dylan's statement.
"You boys getting along out here?" Karen slipped into the room with tray holding a bowl of chips, and three glasses of iced tea.
"I think so." Tom answered first.
"Yeah, we are." Dylan agreed.
"That's great, I like it when people get along." Karen was cheerful. "How about we all do something, play a game maybe?" She sat down next to Tom on the sofa. "You're really good at drawing Dylan, we could play that one game."
"Actually Karen, I can't stay, mom wanted me home early tonight." Dylan responded. "Maybe another time." He got up and walked over to the sofa and extended his hand to Tom. "It was nice to meet you Tom."
"Same here buddy." Tom gripped the hand and gave it a shake. "I never shook hands with a lizard before."
"Humans don't like to touch me either, Karen's the only one other than my foster parents who does." Dylan replied, releasing the hand. As he started out of the room he was surprised when Karen came up behind him and gave him a hug.
"See you tomorrow Dylan?" She spoke as if asking him.
"Yeah, I'll be here." Dylan assured, then hurried away as Karen let him go.
"You hugged him?" Tom asked. "You aren't bothered at all by that big creepy lizard thing?"
"He's my best friend Tom." Karen's response cheered Dylan up as he went out the door.
