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there and we had a good time. I hope it’s okay—I took a couple of Cokes and granola bars. He said he’d never had either one before.” David’s mother shook her head and sighed. “He’s really nice, Mom, and we talked about all kinds of stuff. He told me what it’s like where he lives, and I told him about us,” David explained. “He’s really pretty cool.”
    His mother looked doubtful but she didn’t say anything. “I’m glad you didn’t have to spend the entire day alone.” His mother stood up and patted him on the shoulder before leaving the room. “I’m going to start dinner. I called the satellite television people today. They’ll be here tomorrow to install the dish and set up the system.”
    “Thanks, Mom,” David said with a smile before turning his attention back outside to the storm and the small group of buildings across the street. He could barely see any lights from their windows through the driving rain, but his mind kept going back to Benjamin.
    “You know, David,” his mother said, her voice trailing in from the kitchen, accentuated by the occasional bang of a pan on the stove. “I’m really pleased you’ve made friends with this other boy. You spend too much time alone.”
    David nodded without thinking as he continued looking out the window. The storm continued raging, and a few times he saw limbs off trees being carried by the wind across the street or blowing onto the road. He hoped everything was okay at Benjamin’s.
    “I’ve been thinking, now that you’ve gotten your driver’s license, if you find a job and can pay for car insurance and gas, we could look into getting you a car in a few months.” His mother stepped back into the living room. “You’ve been a big help around the house. I know it’s lonely here and all this has been hard on you, but once school starts, you’ll make a lot of friends.”
    “I hope so, Mom,” he said. She went on to explain all the things they were going to need to do to enroll him in school, and he half listened, his mind once again shifting to thoughts of Benjamin, the only friend he had here.

Chapter 5

     
     
    T HE rest of the summer advanced in fits and starts. Except for when David and his mother went on vacation for a week to the Upper Peninsula, he continued to meet Benjamin at least one afternoon a week at the swimming hole. David went more often than that, but Benjamin wasn’t always there, and sometimes he heard a lot of voices as he approached and knew that other members of Benjamin’s community were taking advantage of the chance to cool off. David left them alone. One time he’d approached and seen half a dozen boys of various ages swimming and playing, but as soon as they saw him, they quietly got out of the water, dressed, and left without a word. After that, David turned around when he heard them at the swimming hole. They weren’t there that often, and mostly he had the place to himself. The best times, of course, were when Benjamin came. They’d swim, splash, and then lie on David’s beach blanket and talk.
    “I’m supposed to be baptized before I get much older,” Benjamin told him one afternoon in late August. Labor Day was just around the corner, and they’d been swimming like they usually did.
    “I was baptized when I was a baby,” David said. “My mother has pictures of it.” He thought it strange that Benjamin wasn’t baptized yet given how central to his life his religion seemed to be.
    Benjamin looked at David like he was from outer space. “Being baptized means I become an adult in the eyes of the community and the church,” he explained. “I’ll be expected to start courting, get married, and eventually start my own farm and family.”
    David had been staring up at the canopy of leaves overhead, but he sat up and looked at Benjamin. “Would that mean you can’t be my friend any longer?”
    Benjamin shrugged. “I don’t know what it means other than I suspect this will be the last