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"Adam!"
Startled to hear his name come from above, Adam looked up. There was Kai, hanging upside down from a tree branch, a goofy smile on his face. He sent down a wave. "Hello, below!"
Adam laughed. "Kai? What are you doing up there?"
"Oh, you know! Just... hanging."
Adam pointed downward. "Mind hanging down here, pal?"
"Oh, I'd love to," said Kai. "But you see, I'm stuck up here until I can get my shoelaces untied."
Shoelaces? Adam took a second look at Kai's shoes. Sure enough, they had been mostly de-laced, pulled out to the most extreme length. Then they'd been tied and triple-knotted around the branch, trapping Kai in place. Adam groaned softly and heaved himself up onto the lowest branch. "OK. Who did this to you?" He grabbed hold of the next-strongest branch and climbed up another level.
Kai threw up (threw down?) his hands in a particularly impassioned shrug. "Just some idiot football preps."
"Hey. Those are my teammates you're calling 'idiots'," said Adam. Not that it was untrue. He shimmied up onto the branch just beneath Kai's.
Kai snorted. "You need new teammates. Those guys are jerks."
Adam stood on the branch as best as he could, then gripped the branch above to steady himself. "Sorry. I don't pick 'em; I just have to play with 'em. And yeah, some are jerks." He leaned in, made sure his balance was strong, then began to untie one of the knots. "But why did they tie you upside-down by your shoelaces?"
"Well, three of 'em grabbed me and dragged me up here after I told the guy with the dumb haircut that he had a dumb haircut."
Adam snorted a laugh. "Never tell Richie he has a dumb haircut."
"OK, see? Now I'm vindicated." Kai leveled one finger at Adam. "You knew who I was talking about, and all I said was he had a dumb haircut."
"Richie does have a dumb haircut. Just don't point it out to him."
Kai scoffed. "And miss out on thrilling experiences like this? No way." Adam loosed the first set of knots, and Kai slipped down an inch. He let out a terrified yelp.
"You might wanna hold on to something," Adam advised, grabbing Kai's loose foot by the ankle.
Kai heaved himself up, straining, then wrapped his arms around the tree branch, eyes huge. Adam began working on the next shoe. Kai watched him work, then let out a morose sigh. "They got my shoes all scuffed-up on purpose," he whined. "And this was my favorite pair."
Adam sighed gently. "Relax. They still look better than anything I've got."
"Even church shoes?"
"Yeah. Even church shoes." Adam loosed the final knot--- and Kai's entire body with it. Kai hollered a squeaky wail for help, hung on by the tips of his fingers for a few seconds, then fell to the ground with a colossal thud.
Adam winced. "You OK?" He swung down from the tree and landed on his feet, right beside his friend.
Kai groaned, then lifted a thumb. "Swell," he grunted.
Adam bent over and hauled the boy to his feet. "There you go... steady..." He held Kai tightly by the arm, making sure he wouldn't fall. Adam barked a warm chuckle, at once inexplicably amused by the whole situation. "You've never climbed a tree before, have you?"
"Nope. And I never will again if I can help it." Kai tugged his arm away from Adam and brushed his clothing down, sighing. "So about my shoes..."
"Yeah?"
Kai planted his hands on his skinny hips, chest puffed out, and kicked up one of his shoes to look. "I think I like 'em this way. It adds more character." He took a confident step forward, only to trip on his untied laces and fall again.