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The Kindergarten of Eden (5 years old) Eden Kindergarten
In the beginning (of term)…
It was a nice day. All of the September days had been nice. There had been rather more than seven of them so far, and rain hadn’t fallen yet. But clouds massing east of Eden Kindergarten suggested that the first thunderstorm was on its way, and it was going to be a big one.
Aziraphale sat on top of the adventure climbing-frame bridge, looking down at Adam and Eve. They were happily playing vets in the large sandpit and tending to a toy lion they’d affectionately named ‘Kitty’.
He sighed, chin resting on his folded arms, as he leant against the horizontal safety rail and dangled his legs restlessly over the side of the wooden clatter bridge. Adam had been his best friend all through preschool, but since starting in reception class, he was choosing to play with Eve more and more frequently. The two of them were now inseparable. And that left Aziraphale, a somewhat shy child, feeling more than a little bit lonely. Pairing up for activities and deciding who to sit next to on the carpet had become stressful events. Even lunchtime, which had always been his favourite time of the day, had lost its shine. Now no matter how good the meal was, it could never satisfy that empty feeling that had opened up inside him after losing his best friend.
Lost in thought, Aziraphale hardly noticed when a snake silently slithered its way up the adventure frame’s climbing wall and across the platform to perch on the bridge beside him.
“Hissss,” hissed the snake.
“I’m sorry, what was that?” he said politely.
The snake mask lifted up to reveal the face of the new boy, Anthony. He had started two weeks later than everybody else, and one of the older teachers had already labelled him ‘a little devil’.
“I said, do you want to climb that apple tree with me?”
“Oh, er, better not,” Aziraphale replied timidly. “Mr Metatron said we’re not allowed to touch it anymore after you dared Eve to eat that apple this morning.”
“She said she was hungry.” He shrugged, unbothered. “And anyway, it was still aaages ‘til snack time. Why put it there if we can’t touch it?”
The boy settled himself more comfortably next to him on the bridge and began swinging his legs in time with Aziraphale’s.
Aziraphale considered this question with a frown, but was unable to think of a good answer to it, so he simply replied with: “The teachers said so, and we need to listen to them because they’re the grownups.”
“I can’t see what’s so bad about eating an apple anyway.”
“It must be bad,” Aziraphale reasoned, “because it’s against the rules so that makes it wrong. If you do something wrong, then the teachers say you deserve to be punished.”
“I don’t like rules,” the new boy said, scrunching up his nose.
“Obviously.” After a beat he looked sidelong at the other boy and added, “Mr Metatron called you ‘a cheeky little devil’.”
A distant rumble of thunder, along with the first drops of rain starting to fall, heralded the arrival of the storm. The sound made Aziraphale flinch.
“Yeah, well…” The boy paused, crossing his arms in a huff. “I’m being a snake today anyway, not a devil,” he finished obstinately.
“Yes, I can see,” Aziraphale said, smiling back at him despite himself.
“So what are you going to do now?” asked the new boy, squinting up at the rapidly increasing raindrops. “Can’t stay here or you’ll get wet.”
“I don’t know. Adam doesn’t want to play with me anymore,” he confessed.
There was a short pause while they watched the chalk lines of the hopscotch on the playground start to smudge with each new splatter of water.
“You can be my friend…if you like,” the boy suggested casually, as if he wasn’t bothered either way, but Aziraphale noticed that his legs had stopped swinging.
“I’m not sure…” he said hesitantly. Was it wise to get mixed up with this new boy? All the other children called him ‘naughty’, but Aziraphale couldn’t deny that he was also very likable. Underneath all of the troublemaking, he seemed to be quite funny and kind.
“You could get a mask from the dressing up box too. Then we can be snakes together!” he continued eagerly.
“I don't think I’d make a very good snake.”
“S’ok they’ve got loads to choose from: doves, whales, Jesus…or you could be an angel?”
Aziraphale paused to consider this. “An angel. Oh, yes, okay! I think I’d make a good angel.” His shy smile spread wider when he saw Anthony was beaming back at him.
The rattling sound of a tambourine signalled the end of outdoor play as the rain began falling harder.
Anthony got up first, taking Aziraphale’s hand excitedly in his to help drag him to his feet.
“Come on, angel!” he shouted as he ran across the rest of the clatter bridge, pausing to sit at the top of the slide, mask in hand. Anthony turned to face him with a cheeky grin. “I’ll race you inside!” he called out, shooting down the rain-slicked slide at top speed.
Aziraphale scrambled to quickly follow down after him. “Hey, that’s not fair! You had a head start!” he protested.
But as he chased after Anthony, dashing between the raindrops, Aziraphale found himself smiling more than he had since the start of term.