The sun was in it's peak, I had made sure to eat lunch, and was watching my step. All of the things I will do forever starting from now on. I still run my way to head quarters, but more cautiously. I finally get to the road, and walk the rest of the way there. I reach the door, and knock a few times before walking in, and putting my bag on my hook. 

"Who is it?" Bernice calls from the other side of the mud room door. 

"Just Canada." I say back. 

"Hear that Gayle?" Maggie asks. She says it quietly,  but I can hear it loud and clear. I know my face flushes, and I'm sure that Gayle does the same. I open the door, and see the same people there as last time. Just Maggie, Bernice, and Gayle. 

"Hello." I say, walking to the center of the room. 

"Hi, Canada. How's your ankle feeling?" Bernice asks. 

"Better. My mom put some stuff on it." I say. 

"That's great. How're ya, sweet heart?" 

"I'm great, you?"

"Oh, I'm just dandy." I see where Gayle gets his personality from. 

"So, what would you like me to do today?" I ask. 

"Can you help us make bracelets? We sell them to keep this place afloat," Maggie asks. 

"Of course." I nod. 

"Gayle'll show you how." Maggie says. I join Gayle on the couch.

"Hi." 

"He-ey."" Gayle says. 

"So, teach me how to make bracelets?" I ask. 

"All we're doing is just putting the bead, on the chord," He slides a bead down to show me. "And you repeat, and when you're done, you tie a knot." 

"That's it?"

"That's it." 

"You say you get lost in this stuff?" I ask, picking up the first piece of leather and putting the emerald beads on it. 

"Yeah, it can be very relaxing, and kinda therapeutic." Gayle says, smiling a little bashfully. 

"I can see why, with the repetitive motions, and semi-calming colors."

"Yeah, they're Earth tones, so, keeping up with the theme." 

"I like the pun. Where do these get sold?" I ask. 

"We sell them on Etsy, Amazon, farmer's markets, anywhere, really." Bernice says. 

"That's great." I say, putting the last few on, and tying the not at the end, and putting the clasp on top of that. "What do you think?" I ask, holding it out, and praying he likes it. 

"Perfect, actually." 

"Hey! Don't sound so surprised!" Bernice calls over from her computer. 

"Sorry, Ma!" Gayle responds back. "I didn't want us to get bored, so I got some ice breaker questions from online. Yes, I am aware that my usage of that makes me a hardcore loser." 

"I don't think you're a loser." I look back up at him, breaking the trance I had trance on my bracelet. 

"Thanks." He says, smiling a little bit. We just stare into each other's eyes. His golden brown beauties. His eyelashes are the nicest I've seen in a while.

"Okay, you two, don't start undressing each other with your eyes, please and thank you." Bernice says. 

"Ma!" Gayle half whines as we break away. I know my cheeks are at least pink, I wonder what his are. 

"Bernie, leave the kids alone." 

"Of course." Bernice says. 

"So, first question, birthday," 

"April 22." 

"December 20." Gayle says. "Ever have a pet?" 

"A cat when I was younger." I say. 

"I got two shelter babies. A lab and a pit." 

Of course. He adopts the probably one of the cutest dogs ever, and the dog that everyone tells you to stay away from. The look in his eyes shows that he loves them both, no matter the assumption. 

"Cute."

"I'll send you some pictures later, I left my phone at home." Gayle says. "I don't really need it here. Plus, I forgot my driver's license at home." 

"I offered to take you back home to get it, plus, no one would notice if you did drive without it." Bernice crosses her arms at her son.

"They would if I got pulled over, and I don't want that on my permanent record!"

"Gayle here is basically afraid of his own shadow." Bernice tells me, as if it were just us in the room. 

"No I'm not." Gayle denies. 

"You nearly had a heart attack when Bernie turned on the shower this morning." Maggie informs. 

Gayle makes a face like that of a little kid. 

"If you want, we can talk about something else, get to know each other along the way, maybe?" I ask. 

"Sure." Gayle says. "If it'll spare me the embarrassment. 

"We still love you," Maggie and Bernice say at the same time. 

"Love you too, Ma and Mom." Gayle says. 

"What can you tell me about the Little Things Initiative?" I ask. 

"Oh, okay, well, it's aimed at being something the whole family can pitch in and do. So, for starters, using eco-friendly light bulbs use 25%-80% less energy than regular ones. This means, less electricity is used by non-renewable resources. Then there's the taking shorter showers thing because, let's just face it, some places aren't as blessed with running water as we are. Mom? You tell this better than I do." Gayle says. 

"Thanks, champ." Maggie says. "In some rural countries, woman have to walk around two miles every day just to get access to clean water. So, this means that girls usually don't get access to education. They can start this trek at the age of eight, and make it multiple times a day. Besides that, less than 1% of the water on Earth is drinkable. We have to use this stuff wisely." 

"Woah." I say. "I never knew that." 

"Hey, now you do." Bernice says. 

"Thank you. For teaching me, and welcoming me." 

"It's no problem at all. Anyone who wants to support he cause." Bernice says. 

"The Little Things also promotes recycling. For one, paper comes from trees, and trees give us air, and animals housing. If deforestation keeps on happening, animals will loose their home, and we'll run out of air. Then, they're is bottles and stuff, which we don't want in the land fills." Gayle explains. "Think you know enough about it to maybe tell people about it?" 

"I don't think so. I don't want to scare people off."

"Nonsense, you won't. If it's too much of a train wreck, then I'll step in, but I doubt I'll have to." Looking into Gayle's eyes, I actually believe that I'll be okay.

"Okay, I'll try."

"Yes! I can't wait to hear all about it!" Bernice says. "I'm sure you're going to do great!" 

"When are we supposed to go out?" I ask. 

"About twenty minutes. We can probably crank out three more bracelets."

"Hopefully." I say. As I go on, I realize that Gayle is making different bracelets than me.  Some are more complex than others. I do finish three more of my simple bracelets, and I'm proud of the outcome. 

"You did it, I knew you could," I can tell Gayle's quoting something, I just don't know what. "And look who made it back with you. I better find him before security does. Thanks for everything!" 

"What was that?"

"Oh, it was the end line of a ride in Disney World called Dinosaur." Gayle says, now more bashful. 

"Oh." We find a comfortable silence. 

Sorry, I confused comfortable, for awkward. 

"Let's go uh... go do the thing." Gayle awkwardly sputters out. 

"Yeah." We both walk into the front room, grab our things, and walk out the door. 

"Goodbye, Gayle! Bye Canada!" Bernice calls out. 

"Bye, Mom! Bye, Ma!" Gayle says, quickly rushing back into the office to give them a quick hug and a kiss, running back outside in no time. I remember doing that with Mom, and Dad, and Detroit. Back when we were all alive, and a family. "You ready to go?" 

"Yeah." I say. We both start walking into town. 

"So, how are you?" Gayle asks, trying to break the awkward air. 

"Good, you?" 

"I'm doing just great." 

"Great." I say, we keep on walking, still in awkward silence. 

"So, uh, got any pets?" Gayle asks. 

"Already asked me that, remember? I said I had a cat, and you said that you had a lab and a pit?" 

"Oh yeah, sorry. My bad." 

"It's okay, you were just trying." I say. 

"Hey look, it's a person, you should try talking to her." Gayle says, pointing to a woman, reading a book outside of a coffee shop. 

"I don't know, Gayle, you know more about this stuff." 

"Hey, it'll be okay, okay?" He asks. 

"Okay." I nod. "Excuse me, excuse me, madam,"

"Yes?" She asks. 

"Hello, my name is Canada-" 

"Canada? Like the country?" 

"Yes, madam." I say. "Like I was saying, I'm with Save the Planet, and I would like to tell you about our Little Things Initiative. It supports little things that you can do to help save the planet-"

"Let me guess, from climate change?" She asks, sipping from her coffee. 

"Yes, madam." I say. 

"Listen, if I believed in climate change, I would be with you right now, but I'm not." She says. "So, thank you, have a nice day." 

"But, ma'am-" 

"Thank you. Have a nice day." This time, she says it more aggressively. I walk away, and look back at Gayle. He's probably mad at me right now. 

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, it was safer for you to back away." Gayle says. "And people can get like that more often than you think. You got away this time." 

"What?" 

"Let's just say, there's a lot of non-believer's in this town." Gayle says. "Now, come on," He grabs me by the arm, and practically pulling me across the street. 

"What was that for?" I ask, taking my hand back. 

"Sorry," He says, blinking hard a few times. "I just wanted to keep you safe." Now he's bashful about it. 

"Thanks." I say, smiling a bit. We walk around some more, and he points out his favorite places, and places that you should avoid at all costs. 

"Oh, there's the best donut's place in town." He says. "They had to keep buying the places next to it, because people keep on liking it too much. Once on a TV show." 

"Really?" I ask. 

"Yeah, but it was one of those public television show's, where they have to let you on the air. But the dude wasn't from here, and he even has a few books, so I think that's pretty successful." 

"Yeah, I guess it is." I nod. 

"It was where Mom and Ma took me, after the paperwork went through for the adoption. It's always held a special place in my heart." 

"That's so sweet!"

"It's nothing," He says. "Hey, don't look now, but I think I see someone who could use a lecture on the importance of recycling," He says, pointing to an older man who just threw away his bottle of Vernors into the trash.

"I don't know," 

"Come on, please?" Gayle says. 

"Fine. I'll do it." I say. I walk up to the man. "Excuse me, sir?"

"Hello, young lady," The man bows his head at me a little bit, as if this were the Wild West. "What can I do for you today?" 

"I'm Canada, I'm from Save the Planet, do you have a moment to talk about saving the planet?" 

"Oh, sorry, I'm not interested in this topic," He says, turning and walk away. I look at his back as it walks down the sidewalk. I look at Gayle, who has a sad look in his eyes. 

"Why?" I ask, calling after him. He turns a little bit to look at me. "If you wouldn't mind my asking, sir, why are you uninterested?" 

"Well, by the time that things'll really start changing, I'll be long gone." He says. 

"With all due, respect, sir, no. We're already seeing some changes. Take the storm that happened on Friday, were you around for when that happened, sir?" I ask. 

"I was back on my property and watched it." 

"Then you'll recall that a bus accidentally drove off of the road, and a lot of people got hurt. You'll know that there was some mild flooding, sir-" 

"Just a severe storm, is all." He says, trying to deny my claims. 

"Well, no. Not quite, at least. With climate change, storms will only become more severe. Hurricanes will hit us harder. We'll have worse droughts. The air will be so polluted that we can hardly go outside for long, sir." 

"But that's a long time from now." He says. 

"Sir, do you have any kids? Any grand kids?" I ask. 

"A few, yes." He says, nodding a little bit. 

"This is their future at stake, here. They shouldn't have to live in a mess that they didn't make, sir." I say. "This isn't just for you, but for your children, and your children's children, and their children, and so on." 

"Hm..." He says. 

"Can I interest you in taking a pamphlet, sir?" I ask. 

"Okay." He says. 

"Thank you, sir," I nod at him, handing him the sheet of paper. 

"No, thank you." He says, walking away. 

"Holy heck, Canada." Gayle says. 

"I did good, right?" I ask. 

"You did better than good! You did better than I could've ever done!" 

"Thanks!" I say, matching his facial expression of a smile. 

"Can I- Can I hug you?" He asks. 

"Oh, uh, sure," 

 He wraps his arms around me, and I do the same. We break apart, resuming our awkward stare.

"Let's uh, let's move on, yeah?" He asks. 

"Yeah." I say. He's still got a huge smirk on his face. "What's that for?" I ask. 

"Oh, it's just, you're sweatshirt still smells like my house." He says. "Wow, that was a lot creepier than I wanted it to sound. I didn't mean to smell you, I just breathed in, and it smelled like my-" 

"Hey, it's okay." I say. 

"Great." 

We finish walking around, and I head home. 

"You didn't sprain your ankle, did you?" David says as a greeting. 

"No, I'm perfectly fine." I say. I sit down on the couch, joining my family in a comfortable silence. Just then, I feel my phone buzz in my pocket. 

"Who's texting you?" Matthias asks. 

"It's just Gayle." I say, pulling my phone out of my pocket. Turns out, he sent me a video of his dogs. 

Say hello to Canada, Gayle says in a baby voice, moving his hand around to get the attention of his two energetic pups. Say hi, He says again. I smile a bit, and the video ends. I put my phone down, and smile at the cuteness that was his dogs. Somehow, I find myself puling my sleeves up to my nose, and finding, somehow, a small comfort in the scent. I smile a bit, an put it down. 

I don't know why my heart started speeding up when it happened, but I hope it doesn't happen again.