Chapter Two - Kindie Kids

I gulped, trying to muster the words to explain myself. “I don’t think…” I began, but Taylor had already left my side - striding into the middle of the carpet and clapping his hands together authoritatively.

“River Banks!” he instructed, all the kids freezing mid play and joining hands to form two parallel lines facing inwards towards the leader. I continued to stand motionless by the door, petrified with embarrassment. “Come on, Coop.” Taylor instructed, beckoning me over. “You can join in the opening ceremony. It’s easy. Just copy Laurie.” He indicated a place at the end of the line next to a little boy with a messy mop of golden hair and a brown piece of fabric hanging from the back of his bucket hat. I noticed that the other kids all had similar tails; some in brown, some in blue, and some in white. The brown-tail boy gave a broad excitable smile, holding out a small pudgy hand for me to hold.

Uneasily, I stumbled toward the line and lightly held onto Laurie’s hand; he quickly adjusted and snatched my hand whole heartedly. “Build the dam!” Taylor addressed the room. I didn’t know what to do but another boy reached his hand towards my free one. I watched as the children started to form a circle, so I followed suit.

Taylor waved his hands toward the ground and the brown vested kids let go and knelt down. I stood there for a moment dumbfounded. “Down here.” Laurie whispered to me. I shot to the ground as everyone stared.

The children raised their hands in some weird fist shape. I tried to mimic them not wanting to stand out and just trying to get through with the odd ritual. Taylor looked around smiling. “Who are you and what do you do?”

The kids sucked in a deep breath, I could almost hear the cheer before they all shouted at the same time. “Beavers, Beavers, Beavers, Sharing, Sharing, Sharing!” I didn’t know what to say and just watched as some of them smiled, while others rolled their eyes. All of them except for me participated. No one seemed to mind though.

The kids started with a quiet chant, apparently building to something big “Oooo.” they hummed, until all at once they jumped up and clapped their hands behind their back. Now I was the only one kneeling! I quickly stood up and made a small clap which caused a couple kids beside me to giggle. Laurie just slapped my back, giving me an amused smile.

Everyone slowly sat cross legged in a circle. Joining this time felt natural. could just sit and listen and explain the mixup to Taylor after the meeting had started. Beside Taylor sat a large stuffed beaver with a bowl in front of it. “It’s time to feed the beaver.” Taylor told the group, one by one the Beavers went up and deposited some money into the bowl.

Once Laurie sat down all eyes were on me. “I-I-I don’t know what to do.” I stammered not realizing how nervous I had gotten during that awkward ceremony.

“Of course, Coop, it’s your first meeting and you’re just a kit.” Taylor answered - using that word again. I grumbled, remembering that he had basically just called me a baby. “We’re collecting the dues, but it’s alright if you don’t have it right now.” He said calmly. “Just come up and pat the Beaver.”

I stood up and walked over to the Beaver. Of course, all eyes were on me, being the no nothing kit. I did have money though. I had plenty of change! In fact, I had better change than the rest of these babies did - I had American money! I shoved my hands back into my pockets and grabbed as much as I could. Out of my pockets rained down coins of all denominations to a jiggly clatter on the classroom floor. The coins swiftly spread out in every direction, easily rolling around. “I got it!” I squeaked again, for the second time that day.

The kids all seemed to jump at once, grabbing up the coins and depositing them into the bowl for me. In truth I hadn’t intended to give all of it to the beaver, but I wasn’t about to fish my Lincoln faced pennies out of the bowl in front of everyone! Embarrassed and red faced enough, I just sat down beside Laurie and tried to hide underneath the brim of my hat while they finished their ceremony.

Taylor finally addressed the group and started the meeting. He briefly went over some updates and things for the group to remember -pretty standard scout stuff to be honest. Taylor then gave me a smile. “I’m sure you have noticed by now but we have a new beaver with us at the pond. Cooper, why don’t you stand up and say hi?”

I knew something like this was going to happen. In the long car journey over, I had even prepared this whole thing about how I was an American scout - but none of that mattered. I wasn’t actually joining the Beavers after all. I stood up to address the room. “Hi.” I said softly. “I’m Cooper, I just moved here from America.” That seemed to get some soft whispers from the crowd. “I was a scout back home, so I wanted to join right away.”

“Thank you Coop!” Taylor said, motioning me to sit back down. “Cooper here is joining us as a kit today so please be nice and give him a warm welcome.” He looked around the room until his eyes landed on a boy with a white tail attached to his hat and a dark mane of straight hair bunched up behind his neck. “Coop is going to be joining the Kindies lodge so please show him the ropes.”

The dark haired boy gave a solemn nod, seeming to take the responsibility very seriously. “No problem!” he sang, offering me the kind of dopey over-enthusiastic grin you might reserve for a helpless new-born kitten struggling to take its first steps. I returned a shy half-smile before averting my eyes to the side, avoiding him.

“Right!” Taylor continued, ushering everyone to their feet with another clap of his hand. “Let’s get busy then! Bobcats, gather around so we can talk about the Community Beaver adventure! Kindies, why don’t you all introduce yourselves to Cooper?”

I couldn’t hide for long. The circle broke up, and I immediately found myself surrounded on all sides by eager little beaver scouts! Laurie sat up on his knees, staring at me with big adoring green eyes like an expectant panting puppy. A really quite disheveled looking boy with a big brown mud stain on his cheek, a leaf tangled in the knot of red curls sprouting down around his ears, and a blue tail hanging from his hat scooted over to take up position on my left; while the black-haired boy from earlier strode across the circle to stand directly in front of me. Unlike the red-head (and Laurie for that matter), he was relatively well presented; his creaseless navy-blue t-shirt, luxuriant perfectly conditioned hair; and catalog of badges and awards sewed expertly to his vest projecting an air of precocious professionalism.

“I’m Charlie.” he introduced, extending his left hand for me to shake. “But my Beaver name’s Hawkeye.”

“What’s a beaver name?”

“It’s like a special nickname. We’ll give you one one later!” He barrelled on, continuing with the introduction “You already know Laurie…”

“My beaver name’s Tic Tac!” the littlest boy interjected.

“...and that’s Alex.”

“Ringtail.” the red-head added simply, his piping soprano pitch somehow coming across as brusque and mysterious.

“We’re all in the Kinder Egg lodge!” Charlie enthused, indicating an obviously hand-made patch sewed onto the bottom of his vest. It seemed to display a brown egg-shaped oval set against a green field, the words “WELTON KINDIES!” stitched out above in yellow thread.

“Kinder Egg?” I asked, raising a curious eyebrow.

“It’s our favorite chocolate, so we named the lodge after it.” Charlie explained.

“Want one?” Alex asked, pulling a foil-wrapped chocolate egg from the pocket of his vest. It looked pretty mangled, as if it had been allowed to melt and re-solidify several times, little bits of chocolate visible through the punctured foil.

I looked at it in disgust. “Err, no thanks…” Alex just shrugged, immediately starting to unwrap the foil and nibbling on the exposed chocolate like a crazed raccoon.

“It was a pretty good idea! Now Taylor gives us chocolate whenever we get badges and stuff.” Charlie boasted.

“Plus you get the toys.” Alex added, holding out the half-eaten egg to display a small yellow cylinder concealed within. He pried apart the plastic, seemingly unbothered by the chocolate mashed against his fingers as he retrieved a tiny blue toy car.

“The Bobcats just get stupid stuffed animals.” Charlie continued, a braggadocious smirk forming on his face as he eyed up the other group of Beavers holding conference around one of the low preschool class tables. “Come on!” he prompted, leading the other beavers in jumping quickly to their feet. “We gotta make you a lodge badge!”

“Huh?”

“A lodge badge!” Charlie repeated “It’s easy. You just use felt.”

“Then you can be a Kindie too!” Laurie added, leaning down to embrace me in an unexpected cuddle around the shoulders.

I cringed away, suddenly feeling very self-conscious again. What was I doing? These kids had accepted me without a second thought - but I couldn’t string them along any longer. I was ten! I couldn’t hang out with a bunch of little kids!

“So how old are you, then? Seven?” Charlie asked, compounding my humiliation.

I bit my lip in consternation, searching in vain for the words to explain - but nothing was forthcoming. I struggled to my feet against the weight of Laurie stuck to my arm like a limpet. “I…um…I just need to go talk to Taylor.” I spat out, turning on my heels and leaving the Kindie kids chatting excitedly about their craft project.

As I approached Taylor’s side, however, practicing in my head the exact words I was going to say to clear up this whole mess, I froze up. The beaver leader was standing by the door, talking intently with a boy of around my age - my real age. The boy had short cropped blond hair and piercing green eyes, and he was wearing a dark gray polo shirt with a silver neckerchief secured beneath a woggle featuring a wolf’s head. He was clutching a green and yellow cap in his hand, the same logo of a wolf’s head and the words “WOLF CUBS” displayed on the front.

“Ahh, Coop. I want you to meet our Keeo, he is going to show you a few things.” Taylor informed me.

I wasn’t sure how to respond. I couldn’t just blurt out I was ten right now! This could be one of my new classmates! What would he do? What would he say? “Um… I… uh…” I stammered, trying to think of some casual way to explain how this was all an innocent mistake.

“Hello.” The boy said, in a bored tone almost as if he didn’t want to associate with me. “I’m supposed to show you the Beaver Salute, Promise and Law”

“I’ll leave you two to do it then.” Taylor decided and walked away, thwarting what seemed like my last chance to explain.

I shifted a little where I stood, what was I even supposed to say to this boy? “Keeo, I, uh.” I stammered again - I was so much more nervous now that I was all alone! I almost missed being back at the table with the Kindies.

The boy tutted, clearly not liking his assigned task. “It’s all pretty simple so you shouldn’t be so nervous.” He held up one hand and held his pinky and ring finger with his thumb and made a peace sign. “You make your hand like this and curl in your top fingers.” He did so. “It’s supposed to look like beaver teeth.” He held it there awkwardly for a moment before tutting again. “Now you do it!” He demanded.

I raised my hand when he raised his voice and made the hand gesture. Why was I doing this at all? Where had Taylor gone? I looked around the room and saw him helping the other lodge.

“That’s right.” Keeo informed me. “Just a couple more things, try to pay attention.”

I snapped my head back to look up to the boy who now had his arms crossed. “The Beaver Law is easy.” He cleared his throat. “A Beaver has fun, works hard and helps family and friends.”

I waited a moment for him to finish but he never continued. “That’s it?” I asked him.

“That’s it, I told you it was easy.” He stood there waiting. “Can you repeat it or do you want to hear it again?”

The boy scouts motto was much more complicated than whatever this law was. “A Beaver works hard and helps family and friends.” I told him, trying to wrap it up quickly so I could see Taylor.

Again he tutted. “And has fun.”

“Excuse me?”

“A Beaver HAS FUN, works hard and helps family and friends.” He repeated. “You didn’t say has fun.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “A Beaver has fun, works hard and helps family and friends.” I stared at him for a moment. “There. I know the Beaver Promise.”

“That was the Beaver Law.” He said, sounding more annoyed.

“Whatever.”

Keeo groaned in frustration. “The Beaver Promise is ‘I promise to love God and help take care of the world.’ Now you repeat.”

“I promise to love God and help take care of the world.” I repeated. It was easy - just a condensed form of the boy scout oath.

Keeo sighed with relief. “Can you remember all that?” He asked. How young did he think I was?

“Yes, Keeo. I got it.” I told him, trying to end the conversation.

He just groaned again and placed his hand on my back, beckoning me back to the Kindies table. “I just need to talk to Taylor.” I told him.

“He’s busy, talk to him later.” Keeo grunted as I stumbled back to the preschool table.

“But I-”

“You’re pretty mouthy for a little kid.” he lectured, giving me a disapproving glare.

I shrank back, shuddering in embarrassment. There I was, being scolded by a boy my exact same age - maybe even a little younger! How was I supposed to tell Taylor the truth now? I imagined the scene that would ensue. Welton was only a little place. This Keeo boy would probably make it the talk of the whole school!

“Keeo!” Laurie chirped, bounding out of his seat at one of the low plastic chairs and skipping over to cling needily to the Cub Scout’s arm. The bigger boy pushed him away, prying him off as if he were an unwelcome tick.

“Hey, Keeo.” Alex nodded seriously, struggling to cut up a green sheet of felt with a pair of safety scissors.

“I told you guys not to call me that.” The Cub sulked. “You’ve even got the Kit saying it now.”

“But it’s your Beaver name!” Laurie insisted “Just like how I’m Tic Tac, and Charlie’s Hawkeye…”

“My name’s Zach.” the cub scout interrupted. “You know my name’s Zach. You’ve called me Zach ever since you could talk!”

I cocked my head, regarding the two blond boys curiously. I hadn’t noticed before, but now that they were standing right next to each other - Zach still trying to fend off Laurie’s relentless attempts at a cuddle - it was obvious there was a family resemblance. Laurie was almost Zach’s exact adorable mini-me, except that while the older boy kept his hair cropped short and combed back neatly, the littlest Beaver wore his own golden tufts in an unkempt little boy’s shag. From the way they were talking, and the way they were wrestling, it was clear they were brothers.

“But we’re Beavers!” Laurie continued “So we’re meant to use Beaver names!”

“I’m not a Beaver!” Zach countered, letting out a threatening toothy snarl. Looking a little frightened, Laurie took the hint, finally leaving his brother alone. The bigger boy gave a frustrated sigh, turning authoritatively towards where Alex was still making a hash of cutting up the felt. “What are you doing?” he demanded. “Those scissors aren’t sharp enough. Use the real ones!”

“We’re not allowed.” Charlie explained. “We’re meant to ask a grown-up to help.”

Zach puffed out his cheeks in exasperation, muttering under his breath “Can’t even do anything by themselves.” He soon located a large sharp pair of scissors hidden in a nearby drawer, easily cutting out a small oval from the brown felt, and a slightly larger rectangle from the green. “There. Was that so hard?”

“Thanks, Zach.” Charlie chimed in, offering a shy smile of apology. Zach gave a grave nod, slinking off back towards the other group like a prowling wolf. As soon as he was gone, Charlie offered me an inviting smile, gesturing for me to take a seat by his side. With no better ideas, I obeyed, trying to make myself look as small and inconspicuous as possible as I sank down into the plastic chair. “Do you know how to sew?” Charlie asked, holding up a small needle with a line of yellow thread hanging from the end.

“Oh, yeah.” I confirmed in a tiny breathy voice, slowly nodding. I’d sewed plenty of patches to my cubs scout uniform in my time, after all.

Charlie looked skeptical. “I’ll show you.” he insisted, taking up the green square and explaining each step in the most basic possible language as he demonstrated his sewing technique. I waited patiently, red-faced and blushing at his patronizing tone, but not quite able to work up the courage to point out that I’d likely learnt to sew when Charlie was still in diapers! Charlie had already stitched out half the letters on the patch before he finally allowed me to have a go - hovering his face just a few inches from my own as if to ensure I did it exactly as he had told me. “Wow, you’re doing great Cooper!” he praised. “You must be a natural.”

“Thanks.” I muttered. “I sewed in scouts back home.” I finished up the yellow letters. Mine were much neater than Charlie’s, but I wasn’t going to redo them all. I looked at the completed badge and eyed the Kindies’ vests where they all had the same badge sewn on.

“You can ask your Mom to sew it on your uniform later.” Charlie informed me. He held up a safety pin and took the badge. Without asking, he reached his hand into my right vest pocket and pinned it in place. “Here.” He finally sat back in his own chair, he was practically on top of me as he admired his own handiwork. “Now you’re an official Kindie!”