The magic of a childhood Christmas

[Stephen Hunter King]

"Hi. You're really great at climbing trees," Stephen greeted after he turned to look. His first impression of Sam, somehow, had been that he was more of a shy indoor kid and it made the achievement even more impressive. "I hope you didn't get in trouble." He added, worried that Sam's dad wouldn't let them be friends now. Stephen didn't remember very far back, but he did have a vague memory of someone's mother denying a play date because her son was hurt after something they'd done. Now all of his old playmates of course lived a long car drive away and he couldn't play with them much anyway, but it made all possible new friends that much more important.