A Birth day

Jessie watched as Angus asked Cris to sit and eat he smiled as Cris spoke to him "Peste, Fish" he said then looked at the soda " Bea, Drink. Masa, Meal" he repeated and nodded with a smile to Cris he saw Angus become nervous as a woman walked over to them smiling.

"wow you've changed," she said and chuckled "It's Cassidy, Cassidy Mitchel, I came from the Colorado ranch and before you ask nothing wrong just a courtesy visit, Steven says howdy by the way," she said and chuckled " I got to go report to Robert then Im on my way back, thought I'd stop in and see the new dad of the group" she looked at Jessie and Cris "you're new?" she said and Jessie chuckled.

"Jessie Tyler and not so new been here a few years now," he said "Not heard of you though" Cassidy chuckled and shook her head.

"not supposed I left for Colorado before you arrived, good to meet you though," she said then waved at Marcus "Looking sharp Marcus, anyway I got to get this report to Robert, nice seeing ya all again" she walked to the main house and disappeared inside. Jessie looked at Angus.

"you know her?" he asked as he looked at Cris eating and smiled.

"Good heavens," Angus laughed. "So have you, Cassidy. My apologies. I didn't recognize you. If you're here later, maybe you'll get to meet my kids--all five of them." He said. "None of them are here at the moment, though. Tell Steven I said hi." When she walked away, Angus sat back down.

"Yeah. Cassidy lived here with her partner, Steven, but they've become part of the Colorado operation. They're both fighters. I'm sure Steven is probably part of the training program there, but, to be quite honest, I sort of lost track of them with all that's been going on here," Angus said.

"Unchi, ale cui jucării?" Cris asked Angus.

"Ai tăi, dacă le vrei," Angus told him. He continued to look at Cris but he spoke to Jessie. "He just asked me who's toys those were." Cris nodded excitedly at Angus. "And I told him they were his if he wanted them. Well, that should take care of that energy problem." Cris got up and looked through the toys and came across a plastic bucket with a lid on it. He opened the bucket and found an almost brand new set of sidewalk chalks in all sorts of colors. That excited him, and then he saw some beach toys--buckets and shovels and sand molds."

"Unde le pot folosi?"

"Lângă piscină," Angus replied. "He wanted to know where he could use the chalks, and I told him over by the pool."

"Există o cutie de nisip?"Cris asked.

"Nu, dar ai vrea unul?" Angus asked. Cris nodded.

"Okay," Angus said, and Cris grinned broadly. Angus looked at Jessie. "I have a project for you. If I do you a sketch, would you and Yulong build Cris a sandbox? He'd like a sandbox in your backyard. I can order the sand, or Jack can. He's got plenty of beach toys here to use, but he'd really like a sandbox to play in outside."

Jessie watched the woman walk to the house then looked to Angus hearing him talk about Cassidy and nodded then he heard Cris talk to Angus and he explained leaving Jessie smiling then when Angus asked if he could build an outdoor sandbox he nodded "Of course" he said then looked at Angus " how do you say that in Romanian?" he asked wanting to tell Cris he would have the box. "I'll get Yu to start it," he said and finished his food and drank his soda.

It was now Yu walked into the yard from his patrol and smiled walking over to the group. " get me to do what?" he asked and Jessie smiled.

"Angus has asked us to build an outside sand box," Jessie said and Yu nodded.

"Okay I'll order the wood for the base and the liner, Angus could you order the sand, you know what's safe and what's not," he asked.

"Îți vom face o cutie de nisip," Angus said to Jessie so Jessie could say it to Cris. "Jessie, stop a second. Jeesh! You and Ruby--give either of you half an idea and you race right off before you have a plan. Slow down a second. Are you going to just launch yourself, or are you going to give me a minute to sketch something for a cool sandbox?"

Angus accio'd his sketchbook and his tin of sketching pencils and set to work.

"Creioane de desen!" Cris piped up suddenly. "Creioane!" Angus looked at him, surprised that the boy knew he had sketching pencils.

"Tu desenezi?" Angus asked. Cris nodded excitedly. "Desenați cutia de nisip pe care doriți să o construim." He passed the sketchbook and the pencils to Cris, and the boy opened the tin, carefully selected a sketching pencil, opened the book, and began to sketch with confidence.

"Am văzut asta într-un parc," Cris said. He sketched quickly and then showed it to Angus. Angus was stunned. The boy was an artist. He sketched better than a lot of adults Angus knew.

"He's drawn you a picture of the sandbox he'd like," Angus said. "He said he saw one like it in a park. The boy's an artist."

Jessie and Yu looked at Angus and chuckled "Sorry and yeah" he said pausing and waiting Yu sat down next to Jessie both watched as Cris spoke to Angus and then drew the sandbox he had seen "Wow, he has talant" Jessie said and showed Yu the drawing.

"yeah and that's going to take a while to make," he said and chuckled " good thing we waited for the drawing hey," Yu said and Jessie chuckled.

" okay okay I get it" he said and " slow down and stop rushing in head long , right" he said and looked to Marcus and Angus. " can you ask him if thers anything else he would like?" he asked Angus.

Angus repeated the question to Cris, and Cris spoke to Angus at almost lightning speed. Angus hung onto every word, and he made a short list.

"This is a list I can handle," Angus looked at them and smiled. "He wants drawing supplies crayons, colored pencils, markers, coloring books--that sort of thing, and I have some drawing supplies, and what I don't have, Kate will definitely have. She will be over the moon to see a kid so young with this much talent. I have an idea. That room you have for him is pretty big. How about I design an art table for him so he can have a place that is just his where he can keep all his supplies right at his fingertips and sketch and color to his heart's content? You could build it into his room design. Maybe you could put a big corkboard in the upstairs hallway where he could hang up any of his pictures for anyone to see."

Yu and Jessie sat listening and then they smiled "Of course, we'll leave this list to you." he said "If it makes him happy and comfortable then were happy to do it," Jessie said and Yu nodded " I was just thinking Kate would be a good one to talk to him about painting and drawing but the artist table would be a great idea, what about if he draws something like a mural for his bedroom wall." Yu looked at Jessie and then at Angus.

"you think he can do that?" he asked Angus then looked down to Cris who was still drawing on the paper "We'll put that corkboard up, those are great." he picked up one and chuckled seeing himself and Jessie smiling back from the paper. It was now Yu had an idea for Cris's bedroom and smiled keeping it secret for now.

"Well, I'm betting Kate will take him to her studio and give him a little spot of his own, and she'll be happy to teach him anything he wants to know," Angus said, watching Cris continue to draw.

"How about I help you guys take some of the outside toys to your place so you can find a spot for him in your backyard?" Marcus asked. "It looks like he's busy for the moment."

"I'll clean up lunch while he's happy," Angus said.

"Just sit. I'll clean that up when I get finished with the toys," Marcus said. Cris was chattering to Angus, asking him about his house, did he have kids, was he married, did he have a pet. He wanted to know everything.

Jessie nodded as Angus spoke of taking the toys to the cabin, Yu stood up and looked at Marcus " I'll help you" he said and gathered some of the toys then waited for Marcus to join him with the rest of the toys " I know just the spot " he said and walked over to the cabin opening the side gate he showed him a medium-sized shed that sat empty. " you can put them down any place." he said to Marcus as he placed down the toys he had in his arms.

Jessie watched Cris and Angus as a frog hopped onto his paper then hopped off it towards the pond not far from them and he chukled as he saw a wet webbed foot print on the paper. Picking it up he showed Cris.

Cris laughed. "Cuvant?" Cris looked at the frog and then at Angus.

"Frog," Angus said slowly. Cris looked puzzled. "Frog," Angus repeated it slowly so that Cris could really focus in and hear it.

"Frrrog?" Cris asked. Angus nodded and smiled. Cris looked at Jessie. "Frrrog---broască. Broască."

"Got that?" Angus asked Jessie. "Broască means frog. and cuvant means word. I'm trying to teach him that if he needs a word for something he can ask one of us either for the word or the cuvant, and we'll know he's looking for a word.

"Cuvant--word," Angus said, wanting to teach him. "Word. "

"Cuvântul înseamnă cuvant?" he asked. Angus nodded.

"Cuvant. Worrrd," Cris said, working at it. Angus nodded.

"He understands it. He's a sharp kid. He'll get it. And I found some kids books in Romanian on learning English as a second language. Some of us that know the language can help, and if you use the same books, I think you'll pick it up too. I also got you guys a Romanian language kit so you can do your own studying."

"He went to Bucharest to get it," Marcus told them. Angus didn't think they needed to know he had gone all the way back to Romania to get it and the books for Cris, but it was out now.