He attempts to think of the fun things he did when he was ten.
Except - there really wasn't anything fun for him about being ten. Ten was kind of a bad year, what with boarding school, being completely left alone and abandoned by his father, being separated from Chuck and Digby ...
Um.
Slowly: "Well ..."
He starts to think of the things he would have liked to do (and things he did a little before he was ten).
"There's making mud pies, building cities out of play-dough, rolling down grassy hills, kite-flying - you're getting older, the world is more open to you."
"I have a kite. It's got clouds on it and sometimes, if the sky is the right color, it kind of blends right into the sky. We go over and fly it on the soccer field near my school, because there aren't any trees, and when there isn't a game. But there has to be wind -- it doesn't work otherwise.
"I've never tried to build a city out of play-dough, though. Just blocks. And legos."
"Play-dough is especially fun when you're playing Monsters," Ned says. "My best friend and I used to do that. We'd dress up as monsters and terrorize our little play-dough city for fun."
Anna likes dogs.
"Is he yours?"
(She assumes all dogs are male -- and all cats are female -- because the ones she knows best are.)
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Digby glances up, the chewtoy dropping from his mouth. Permission to pet: granted.
"Yep. His name's Digby," Ned says kindly.
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(What? It's easiest.)
"He's pretty.
"I'm Anna."
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And judging by Digby's enthusiasm, that's very likely.
Digby loves petting.
"Hi Anna, I'm Ned."
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"I never thought about bringing my dog in to visit, but I've met a couple of very nice dogs here, lately. Does Digby like visiting?"
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"Digby does like visiting, even though he hasn't been here in a while. So, you have a dog too?"
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(If she'd been a little older, his name probably wouldn't be Puppers.)
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By all rights, Digby should be a preeetty old dog by now. But he looks as youthful as ever.
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Anna's nine. She has no accurate functioning concept of the passage of time.
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Ned isn't the greatest with children - or, okay, people in general. So Anna, you'll have to excuse him if he makes that sort of mistake.
"Yep. Maybe even when I was littler than you."
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"And you're very tall."
You know, in case this has escaped Ned's notice.
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"I've been told that a lot," he says. "Ten's a good age. You get to do a lot of fun things when you're ten."
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Fun things for when you're ten sound very promising.
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Except - there really wasn't anything fun for him about being ten. Ten was kind of a bad year, what with boarding school, being completely left alone and abandoned by his father, being separated from Chuck and Digby ...
Um.
Slowly: "Well ..."
He starts to think of the things he would have liked to do (and things he did a little before he was ten).
"There's making mud pies, building cities out of play-dough, rolling down grassy hills, kite-flying - you're getting older, the world is more open to you."
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"I've never tried to build a city out of play-dough, though. Just blocks. And legos."
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