Nothing was mine, except my heart, and my fears. And my growing knowledge that not every road was going to lead home anymore. (The Wonder Years)

Tommy continued going to school most of the time but he didn’t learn a lot. His brothers, friends, and family business took up most of his time, but he made every effort to be at school for the afternoon so he could leave just after Penny and walk her home from a distance and listen to her read.

These meetings continued until there was a big snowfall. Penny waited for the snow to melt but when it did there were just a couple months left before summer came again. Her life was about reading to Tommy, those were the best moments of it anyway.

Summer came and began to drag itself out again. One day in August something happened. Penny bicycled to the library as she always did and when she got there, Tommy was waiting outside for her.

“Tommy!” she exclaimed. She ran up to him and almost embraced him before she caught herself. She stopped in front of him and took a breath. Cowardice consumed her. “What are you doing here?”

“My dad told me I could have a day off. He told me I could do anything I wanted today.”

“So you came to the library?”

“I knew you would be here.”

She was stunned.

She fished for a comment and the best she could think of was: “Why did you get a day off?”

Stupid question, she scolded herself. She had been dreaming of a chance to see him all summer and now that she had gotten her coveted wish she was dumbfounded.

“It’s my birthday.”

“Your birthday,” she repeated dumbly.

“I’m fifteen today.”

She couldn’t comprehend how it had happened. He was turning fifteen and for another thirty-four days she would only be eleven. He was aging faster than her in every respect.

“What do you want to do?”

He shrugged. “I was hoping you could read to me.”

Penny nodded eagerly. She locked her bicycle to a post at the library and took Treasure Island from the white basket bolted onto her handlebars.

They walked to the nearby park and sat beneath a tree where she read to him all morning.

At noon he asked if she ever got hungry and she nodded reluctantly.

“Do you want to go to the boardwalk? It’s not far.”

“The boardwalk,” she repeated. Stop repeating everything he says. “To eat?”

Tommy nodded. “You did say that you eat.”

“I don’t have any money.”

“That’s okay,” Tommy said. “I’ll buy you lunch.”

She knew he was fifteen now and that came with a set of privileges all its own but she didn’t think money would be one of those privileges, at least not for Tommy – he was supposed to be poor. He looked poor and acted poor. He was poorer than her, he had to be.