What if I don’t want to, she asked me.
It’s a consideration, I replied. But not one that will change my mind.
When will you come back?
When it’s appropriate.
When is that?
I’ll know. Until then, you’ll have to bear with it.
Aren’t you asking a lot of a kid?
Indeed. I smiled. But it can’t be helped, and you are up to it.
How do you know that?
I know your character.
Silence.
What is character?
Ah. I paused a moment to consider. Then, character is what choices you make and how you react to the consequences of those choices as well as the choices of others that affect you.
Silence. Tug on my hand. Stop. Looking at one another.
Then I know your character, too.
I smiled again. Indeed.