Brave as You Believe

Sensitive content: Death

"Look, Cameron, look!" Sheena shouted, one arm dangling from one of the bars of the tallest monkey bars. Sheena was comfortable hanging there, as if she could have been a monkey in a past life, and one of her favorite things was to just swing back and forth on the bars, always pushing herself to go faster or to do a new trick. She's just learned to go across while skipping a bar in between using only one arm at a time, now she wanted to try it backwards, and show Cameron her new skill.

Cameron shivered just looking at her. He stomped his feet just to make sure he was still safely only the ground and not dangling several feet up in the air, at the top of a ladder and a very high run of monkey bars. He preferred the swing, and he sat on the rubber swing that sagged and ensconced him cozily while he dragged his feet across the speckled rubber floor under the playground, which crunched with sand that had made its way over from the sandbox. He kicked off his shoes and jerked the chain so his body went back and forth, but not enough so his toes didn't touch the ground occasionally.

"I'm looking!" he called to Sheena, who proceeded to swing across. At the other end, she landed with both feet on the ladder and pulled her body to standing, releasing her arms to beam at him with pride.

"Ta da!" she announced. It made Cameron's knees go wobbly to see her, no arms holding on, even.

"Careful!" he said, without thinking. If there was anything Sheena was not, it was cautious.

Sheena laughed. "Silly," she shooed him off. "I'm always careful. You're just tooooo careful," she said, dragging out the too until her mouth became a perfect red O and made a little whistling sound.

She jumped down onto the rubber. "Is it 'cause of your mom?"

Cameron had started swinging a little higher, his feet hovering a few inches above the ground. He shrugged. "I guess..." he began.

Sheena crossed her arms and looked at him, waiting for more.

"She wasn't looking both ways, is what the newspaper said," he explained. She knew this already, but somehow he felt like telling her again anyway. "She would want me to be careful." He nodded to himself like he was answering his own question.

Sheena had started climbing up the ladder again. Her striped light-and-dark blue leggings had hitched up almost to her knees and her red flowered dress flounced as she stepped up the ladder bouncily.

She nodded, "Yeah." She reached for a bar. "I guess it's good to be careful sometimes." Then she swung her legs up and climbed on to the top of the bars. She sat there a moment, catching her breath, arms and feet on the top of the bars. From up here, she could see outside the play area, to where the bigger kids were playing basketball, over to the baseball fields and the grassy area where dogs ran around. In the distance, there was the forest, and beyond that, her house. It was beautiful.

Cameron looked up at her and looked away. How could she stand being so high? He wondered what the air up there was like. Was it cooler? He wiped his sweaty palms on his shirt and began swinging, just a little higher. He could feel the breeze as he did so.

"Maybe I'm too careful, though. Sometimes," he said. "You're not scared of anything."

Sheena threw her head back and laughed. "I am so," she said. "I'm so so so scared of shots. I really hate them!" She clenched her fists and for a moment one foot slipped into the space between the bars, dangling.

Cameron's heart did a tumble when he saw her foot slip, but he didn't say anything. He nodded. "Yeah, shots hurt a lot. Sometimes I cry when I get them. But Doctor Wheeler has this box, and when you get a shot you get a prize."

"No fair," Sheena said. "My doctor doesn't give us prizes."

"I'll get you one next time," Cameron replied, smiling. "Anyway, shots keep you safe. They keep you from getting sick. That's what Mom used to say..." he trailed off.

Sheena could see he was sad. She let the other foot slip down, and swing down with her arms until she was dangling, then let her body drop down the last couple of feet, but it was too fast. She tumbled onto her knee.

"Ouch!" she said, cradling her knee. She'd torn the leggings and her mom would be mad. How many leggings had she torn recently? And these were almost new.

Cameron hopped off the swing when he saw her fall. "Hey!" he shouted and ran fast the few steps to where Sheena sat. Through the hole in her pants he could see the pale pink where she'd scraped off some skin. It made his own skin prickle.

"Are you okay?" he asked, crouching down, looking into her eyes.

She nodded, but there were tears welling up in her eyes. "It stings," she almost whispered. A tear slipped down her cheek and she blinked.

He put an arm around her and wiped the tear away. "It's okay," he said. "Does it hurt a lot?" He willed himself to look at it, but it made his tummy go squiggly.

Sheena shook her head. It did hurt a lot, but she knew about being brave. Mom always said, "you're braver than you believe." So she put on a brave face as Cameron helped her up.

They hobbled over to the water fountain, where he cupped water in his little hand and splashed it on her knee. "You have to keep it clean, or it'll get infected, okay?" he said, his brow furrowing seriously.

"Okay." She felt the water trickle down her pants and into her sock. It hurt even more now.

Cameron saw now that little pinpricks of blood were coming up to the surface. They would need a grownup to help.

He looked around, and found Sheena's teenage sister Meena sitting on a faraway bench, playing video games on her phone. She would have to do.

"Come on," he said, and held her hand. She winced and limped. He saw the pain on her face.

"You'll be okay," he said. When they got to a busy pathway where bikes were passing, he looked both ways, then helped her across.

"Meena! Meena!" they both shouted, but she was oblivious, deep into her phone. They were both thinking their moms would never ignore them.

Sheena groaned.

Cameron made a silly face to cheer her up.

"Look, Sheena, look!" he said, and laughed.