"On my honor, I will do my best. To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight," the boys recite in unison.
"Great job, boys," Mr. Malone says. After reciting the Boy Scout pledge, the boys sit in their colorful plastic chairs. Caris’s chair is yellow, his favorite color. He also likes red because those are the colors of Iron Man’s suit.
The legs squeak against the linoleum floor of the church basement. Everyone is too excited to learn what their next badge will be.
"Okay, before we begin, I would just like to say a couple words," Mr. Malone says, his voice quiet. "We all know Mr. Evans was a great man, a great friend, and most of all, a great Boy Scout. He will no longer be coming to help us, so our next badge will be to honor him with his favorite one: whittling."
Caris raises his hand. “Why isn’t Mr. Evans coming back?”
Mr. Malone looks to the other parent volunteers who are staring at their shuffling feet. “Well,” he sighs, “Mr. Evans is gone.”
“Well, where’d he go?” Caris asks.
“He’s...uh. He’s in a better place now.”
What could be better than Pointe Place? Caris is confused but he lets it go because he also can’t wait to learn about their new badge.
…
After the meeting, Caris walks home alone. Being a foster kid made him grow up fast. Maybe this is why he can’t make friends his own age.
He doesn’t mind walking alone, though. He actually prefers it. It gives him time to think about where Mr. Evans is. He hopes he finds him soon, he wants to talk to him about the new Marvel movie coming out.
As he steps into the air-conditioned lobby of the apartment building, he gets carried off his feet and into the air.
“Hey!”
“What’s up, kid? I mean besides yourself,” Mr. Georgie chuckles as he sets Caris back on the ground and tousles his black hair.
“Hey, Mr. Georgie! Do you know anything about Mr. Evans? He wasn’t at Boy Scouts today.”
“I know everything about everyone,” Mr Georgie starts to walk away but Caris runs to catch up to him. Caris knows this. That’s why he asked Mr. Georgie in the first place. “But I only talk if you have a little dough.”
This is no time to for pizza ingredients. This is important. Where is Mr. Evans?
“Dough?”
“Ya, a couple bucks.” Now he was looking for deer? Maybe Mr. Georgie didn’t know everything. Caris would just have to ask someone else.
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