Susanna Stephens twisted her long braided brown-blonde hair in her hands, letting out a deep sigh. A sigh far too deep and lonely sounding for such a little girl. Her two older boy cousins were supposed to have walked with her to the playground area at the wooded park their family was having a cookout at. The oldest, was just getting to that age where girls are getting really interesting and he was forgetting thoughts of "cooties". His eye had been caught by a pretty girl about his age with a family reunion group from up north in Ohio. Unfortunately, said older cousin was the nicer of the two brothers.

The one closer to Susanna's age was only nine months older than her. That might have been the reason the two never got along. While the older cousin would play video games with her and actually treat her like a human being, the younger boy was harsh and when they were younger had even given Susanna a black eye, because he hadn't got his way.

Susanna hated to see her older cousin runoff, but when the younger had taken off after a group of older boys to be "cooler" she was actually pretty happy. However, that now meant that the little girl was all alone. Parks are fun... but not when you are playing alone.

More kids passed by, this time a group of three boys that must have been brothers. The bigger two were laughing and seemed to be ignoring the smallest boy. He stopped in his tracks, almost as if someone had called out his name and looked around. Finally his eyes locked on Susanna's and she felt funny inside. His eyes were epically blue, and he tilted his head. For a moment, she thought he might come join her. That she might actually have a playmate.

Susanna smiled at the boy, hoping it would work as an invitation, adding a small shy wave for good measure.

***

Joseph Stamper always got bored at family reunions. Most of his cousins, along with his brothers, were older and wanted nothing to do with him. The only real reason he was even sticking with Donald and Kenny was because he had nothing better to do. He was itching to jump down the swirly slide and ride it all the way down, swing in the swing set, or even ride that dizzy machine thing that had the bars on it. He never did know what to call that thing.

"Did you see that boy chasing after our cousin?" Donald laughed.

Kenny nodded, only smiling, since he was older, he sometimes acted more mature. "He seemed pretty desperate. I don't know how she will respond."

"Maybe they will like each other." Joseph, often called Joey, tried to add to the conversation, but he might as well have been talking to the wind for all the good it done. His brothers had apparently decided that since he was the younger brother it wasn't cool to play around or even speak to him in public like this. Joey didn't understand that, but he still tagged along, even though it was so incredibly boring.

Joey was considering attempting to drag his brothers to somewhere, anywhere, fun, when he felt something inside him. It was weird, and he stopped in his tracks. Almost like his name was being called, but that didn't make any sense. Did it?

He looked around and then looked up to the swinging bridge that led to the slide. A little girl about his age sat there. She was alone and looked about as lonely as he felt. She had brown-blonde hair tied into a braid down her back and wide blue eyes rimmed in glasses, he smiled to himself, she was pretty. Woah.... where had that thought came from?!? He was still of the age where girls had cooties. Right?

She must have spotted him, because she gave a shy smile and a tiny wave. He felt funny inside and like something, or Someone, was pulling him in the direction of the little girl. He picked up his foot and took one step toward her.

"Joe! They got canoes and boats, you're coming with us!" Suddenly, his brothers were on either side of him and hoisted him up on their shoulders. They carried him down towards the lazy moving river and away from the little girl. Joey know questioned whether he really was happy to have the attention of his brothers. At least right now. But soon, as children do, he got lost in the fun and forget about that little girl. And she him. At least for many years.