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When I was little, I had lots of friends.
My best friend Angel made me laugh. We played subway and shared our toys.
My friend Timmy had a big imagination. We drew monsters and played pirates.
I was friends with children from my nursery school. We all played together.
I knew lots about making friends, and how to be a good friend. Woolly knew lots about friends too. He helped me learn how to be a good friend.
One day, Mummy and Daddy’s friends came round for lunch.
Their friends were both mummies. Both mummies had darker skin than me and my mummy and daddy. One of them had a pretty scarf around her head, and the other had twisted hair with beads.
A girl named Aadhya came too. Aadhya was older than me, like Timmy.
“Does your daddy have a beard?” I asked her. I knew all Mummies and Daddies looked different.
Aadhya didn’t say anything. She shook her head no, but she kept shaking and shaking. She’d been shaking it before I asked!
Maybe she could read my mind.
The mummies told me they were both her mummies, and she didn’t have a daddy.
Aadhya was old, but she chewed on her fingers. She whistled a lot. Whooo!
“Can you teach me?” I asked. I scrunched my lips and blew, but only made a spitting sound.
Aadhya didn’t slow down to show me how. She didn’t look when I showed her my toys. I handed her my doll, but she dropped it on the floor.
“You don’t like the doll, do you?” My mummy talked to Aadhya almost like she was Baby Ben. Silly Mummy! Aadhya was old, and babies couldn’t whistle.
One of Aadhya’s mummies played a hand game with her, clapping her hands together. Aadhya was excited. She kicked her feet and shouted!
I played the clapping game with Woolly. He had eight legs to choose from.
When I tried to play the clapping game with Aadhya, she turned away.
Aadhya rolled a cup across the floor, but didn’t push my toy cars with me. She tore a page in my picture book and chewed on my doll’s hair.
Aadhya bubbled over lots. She screamed and kicked and swung her arms.
I didn’t know how to play with Aadhya. I sat in the corner with Woolly.
Woolly came to life.
“Hey, Tig, meeting someone new can make you feel unsure, especially if they don’t do what you expect them to do.”
“You said bubbling over scares people,” I said. I’d scared Angel when I got too excited at the festival. Aadhya was scaring me.
“Some people bubble over a lot more than others.” Woolly told me. “Aadhya bubbles over a lot. Her brain is a little bit different.”
Aadhya’s head didn’t look any different. She didn’t even have a scarf or twisty bead hair like her mummies. Neither of those were a bad difference.
“Aadhya’s brain is different, but it’s not bad.” Woolly told me.
“She doesn’t want to play with me,” I frowned. “Or talk. Is she shy like Rufus?”
Rufus hadn’t talked or played most of his first day at my nursery school. Maybe Aadhya was shy because she’d never been to my house.
“She could be shy, or she could have been bored of clapping games.” Woolly clapped four hands together and then yawned. “It’s not that Aadhya doesn’t want to play with you. She doesn’t quite know how to start it, just like you don’t know.”
I laughed. We were both unsure. But I still didn’t know what to do. I said, “She doesn’t like any of my toys, Woolly. Not even you.”
“You know she likes music. Find a toy you can make music with. Go for it, Tig! Have fun making music with Aadhya!”
Yes, I thought! Me and Aadhya can be in a band.
I grabbed Woolly and gathered all my musical toys.
Aadhya banged a drum and whistled while I marched and blew a horn. She hammered all the keys on my toy piano. I’d done the same thing in my piano lessons with Mr. Tonka.
I made Woolly dance and jump. When he flew through the air, Aadhya’s mummies got a fright!
“It’s only a toy spider!” I shouted as Aadhya pounded the piano. She was bubbled over again, screaming, and we calmed a bit by playing a clapping game. Aadhya still kicked some.
I like making music with Aadhya. I don’t mind that she’s different. I like all sorts of friends and families. And I love Woolly!