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Porsche Pachara Kittisawat was seven years old when Kinn Anakinn Theerapanyakun, a slightly chubby kid with a toothy smile moved into the second house on the left side of his street. He vaguely recalled his parents talking about the sale of the house and how they were wondering what their new neighbors will be like, but at some point he’d completely forgotten about it. In his defense, it was around the time his baby brother had started speaking his first words and the way he would pronounce his name as posh was the only thing of interest for the recently turned seven year old.
He remembers giant trucks with some big important words glued to them pulling into the driveway of the big house with a spacious garden and two huge men moving furniture inside as a pretty lady that reminded him so much of his own mother watched them carefully. He didn’t see the boy at first, too immersed in the process that was unfolding before his eyes but then a long-haired head poked out from behind the lady and Porsche gasped in surprise.
The boy was a bit taller than him and was wearing a shirt with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on it. Porsche made a decision. That boy was going to become his bestest friend in life (his words exactly). So he did the only thing he thought he excelled at— pester someone consistently until they would finally give in.
Porsche knew better than to cross the street without checking both sides for cars, just as his mother had taught him. He sprinted once he was absolutely sure the street was clear, which it almost always was in a quiet neighborhood such as theirs, and walked up the driveway towards one of the big important trucks. He never once broke his gaze from the boy hidden behind the lady.
The men were grunting as they carried a big wooden frame of something and as much as he wanted to, Porsche had no time to admire their strength; he was on a mission. As he’d never been one to move with much stealth, he was seven after all, his best shot at it was the element of surprise. Trying to imitate the moves he saw in one particular episode where Donatello rolled on the ground he gave his best to do it on the lawn surrounding the driveway, and as expected, failed miserably. So much for the element of surprise.
Porsche was coughing out the blades of grass he almost ate while face planting against the lawn when the lady noticed him and ran to his aid, the boy remaining frozen ih his spot. He felt gentle hands brushing against his cheeks and a soft bubbly laughter.
“Are you okay sweetie?” She fixed his ruffled hair and shirt that somehow managed to get up to his armpits. “Those were some awesome ninja moves.” Porsche loved her immediately. Getting up and dusting himself off, he brought his palms together to offer a proper wai. The lady smiled and Porsche could see the resemblance with her son as clear as day.
“I guess you live in that house across the street?” She motioned towards his house. “And since that makes us neighbors I'd like you to call me auntie, after all you’re probably the same age as my second son Kinn.”
Porsche’s ears perked up at the name. Step one of the mission: find out the boy’s name— success. “I’m seven!” He held up his right palm, and two fingers of the left one. “Is he also seven?”
“Matter of fact, he is! Wanna say hi to him? I’m sure he’d love to meet you.”
Porsche smiled as brightly as he could while auntie combed his hair for more strands of grass. Stupid weed, Porsche thought. He needed to look his best if he wanted to make a friend as soon as possible. Nodding his head as fast as he could, he didn’t wait on her to follow before he practically rushed towards the boy.
Kinn was a bit startled by his energetic approach and Porsche spoke fast to avoid scaring him further.
“Hi! I’m Porsche. I live in that blue house across the street and since I am seven and you are also seven can we be best friends?”
Somewhere behind him the lady laughed but Porsche couldn’t afford to investigate what was so funny. Kinn just stared at him, confused eyes not shifting from his own and Porsche, for one short moment, thought his mission failed— he made a friend and lost it not one short moment later, but then Kinn tugged nervously at the sleeve of his hoodie and smiled somewhat shyly.
“You like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?” He pointed a finger towards Porsche’s shirt.
“I love them. I am Leonardo, which one are you?”
“I’m Donatello. I like how smart he is. You must be really strong and brave like Leo.”
Porsche puffed his chest in pride. “I’m not really strong but I sneak like a ninja and I can do a somersault on a mattress.”
Kinn’s mouth formed an ‘o’ in surprise.
“Can you make one? If you can't, you should come to my house. My dad has this old mattress in our garage where he lets me practice my jumps and flips and it really has bad springs that hurt if you land on them hard but I’ll be there to catch you. We have cake also, vanilla! My cousin had her birthday party in my yard because I have a treehouse.” As if catching himself Porsche all but shouted. “Kinn!! We can play in my treehouse!! It has a rope with knots so we can climb like real ninjas! And I have so many tetris games up there. We should bring the cake up as well. And iced milk tea. Do you like iced milk tea?”
Kinn stared at him wide eyed, like a deer in headlights. “Uhm…”
“Kinn would love that, Porsche. But first, we’ll need to move in all of this stuff and settle in a bit and have dinner. Wanna come with me so we can ask your parents if you could stay and have dinner with us?”
“Oh! I’ll help!!” He ran towards the stack of boxes and picked up a smaller one with ‘TOYS’ scribbled in a black marker on the side. Picking it up with a huff he called for Kinn. “Come on Kinn, we should do this fast so we can climb that rope before it’s too dark outside.”
Kinn just nodded his head before Porsche was climbing up the stairs of their porch and disappearing into their house. He turned towards his mother with that shy smile on his lips once again.
“Mom, Porsche is really strong. I think he’s right to be Leonardo.”
His mother just laughed and ruffled his hair affectionately.
“He is. I guess you two will be the strongest ninjas in this neighborhood. What do you think sweetheart?”
In response, Kinn just offered a toothy smile.
-
Porsche was prepared. He had gathered everything they might need and his mother even packed them two big food containers with their favorite snacks; Porsche's was mango sticky rice and Kinn's favorites were koh kae peanuts. His backpack was fully equipped with things from that secret box underneath his bed Porsche was certain his mother knew nothing about and he might have rummaged through his father's tools before dinner. He made sure to bring extra batteries in case one of their flashlights died. All he needed was to send a sign to Kinn and the hunt was on.
Climbing onto the chair he moved to the window, Porsche pressed the flashlight against the glass. His digital Ben10 watch showed that it was 19:58 so he had two more minutes before he was to signal Kinn. Their most important signal - five flashes with one second apart - was for what Porsche liked to call urgent situations like freshly made noodles or cartoon marathons that would last until they’d both fall asleep on sprawled blankets in Porsche’s room. Kinn’s urgent signals meant new shows on Animal Planet or the NatGeo channel. Porsche really loved that Kinn knew so much about everything, from dolphins to names of the planets.
But for this special occasion, they invented the six-flash signal; three in a row, three seconds pause, then three more. In their language it was code red— firefly hunting.
Porsche used to do it with his cousins. Each year when the rainy season would envelop their country and they had to crash against the tiled floors to cool themselves off, Porsche would go out to the creek a short walking distance from his house. The forest full of Banyan trees and wild berry bushes that grew in an area of a few hundred square meters behind their neighborhood was his kingdom; a mystical and magical land where he could pretend to be whatever it was he wanted. And the creek that ran through it? The most magical of all places.
Porsche was still a bit too short to be able to jump over it in one go, so he and his father placed three large stones in the shallowest part of it so that even when the water level was at its highest, they’d still be visible and usable to cross to the other side. Porsche loved to think of that as the floor is lava game.
But the thing Porsche was most excited about, now that all his cousins started growing up and having important friends of their own— he now had one as well. Last year’s firefly hunt went terribly bad with his mom missing her step on the second stone and getting soaked from head to toe; his dad was laughing so hard there were tears in his eyes and his baby brother had cooed in his embrace. Porsche had to make her warm milk tea for the next three days until she stopped sniffling. But this time, Porsche knew it was going to be the best firefly hunt of his life.
His watch beeped to let him know it was 20:00 and he started the signaling procedure.
“One, two, three.”
He breathed in for three seconds.
“Four, five, six.”
A beam of light flickered against the window of Kinn’s room signaling that he’d received the message and they were good to go. Porsche jumped in glee and zipped up his backpack before he planted a big kiss on his brother’s fat cheek and ran out the door with a yell of ‘I’m going on a hunt with Kinn’ to his parents.
By the time he had crossed the street Kinn was coming down the steps of his porch, an identical backpack on his back, a cookie and a big piece of mango in his hand. “I grabbed you one before mom put them in the jar for when we get back to dinner.”
Cookie jars were one more thing Porsche loved about Kinn's mother.
“Thank you, you're the best!” He broke it in half to give one part to Kinn; they pretty much shared everything since they became bestest friends. “Do you remember the plan?” Porsche tried not to chew too loudly, it was inappropriate even for a kid.
“The Sun sets in an hour and 15 minutes. We have more than enough time to get to the creek and set up our camp and traps.” Kinn had used all his knowledge and abilities and managed to set that night as the best one for firefly hunting because in his words there would be no Moon and therefore the fireflies will be more visible than ever. And the night will be more so special because Kinn had never gone firefly hunting before since he’d only ever lived in Bangkok before moving to their new home. And Bangkok was full of concrete. Sad, Porsche thought.
“It will be perfect Kinn, you'll see. Once they start coming out— it’s like, like the stars in your Sky Atlas, you know? Just blinking and bright and magical. Do you think they are faeries? I’ve always thought fireflies are faeries. It's the only explanation for how their bums glow. They must have some magic juice in them!”
Kinn adjusted the straps of Porsche’s backpack with a laugh. “I don’t think they are, but perhaps we might run-into some tonight.”
“How awesome would that be, both faeries and fireflies?”
“More than awesome.” Kinn beamed.
-
Awesome didn’t begin to describe it. After a short ten minute walk into the forest following the pathway that was more than pawed, they arrived at a short wooden sign with Porsche’s scribbly handwriting warning for trolls and faeries. Kinn laughed so hard at the spelling mistakes but promised to fix the sign some other day for Porsche. A hundred meters from the sign Porsche’s cardboard fort was guarding the entryway to the bushes where the creek was located.
Everything was green and vibrant, and the way the sundown rays broke through the trees made it feel like the place was indeed magical.
“Thank you, Porsche. For bringing me here.”
Porsche turned around with a bright smile. “Kinn, we’re bestest friends. My magical forest is yours as well. As long as you promise not to bring someone else here.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Porsche had a wave of sadness crash into his chest. “I wish, this could be only ours.”
“I promise.” Kinn ruffled his hair. “Should we cross the creek now and set up camp? We need those empty cookie jars and nets to be prepared for when it starts getting dark.”
Porsche nodded his head and moved past the bushes. The stones were still in the water, unmoving and a brave companion on their hunt. Porsche was about to jump onto the last one when Kinn grabbed his hand and turned him around. Porsche knew Kinn was a shy person, but over the last few months they really did become best friends even though, at times, Porsche had to pull words out from Kinn. But it was simply the way they were; where Porsche was like fire and wind, Kinn was water and earth. Together they made a dream team.
“How long do you think we’ll be doing this?”
Porsche was confused. Kinn knew their schedule better than Porsche did. “Until dinner, your mom said to get back at 10:15.”
“No, I mean. In our lives. When we get older.” Kinn tightened the grip on Porsche’s hand. He’d always had expressive eyes, even for a kid, and the way his brows furrowed Porsche could feel the seriousness of his words. He felt his chest tighten.
“WIll we always be best friends?”
Porsche pulled him into a hug and ruffled his hair. “Always and forever, duh.” They laughed as Porsche pressed their foreheads together.
“Now let’s go and find out if fireflies are indeed faeries in disguise!” He shouted as he jumped that last stone and landed onto soft grass.
Turning around he extended his arm. Kinn followed with a smile.
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