A little company

"That's silly!" She giggled.

"No, it's not. I'm an Operational Business Analyst for Telo-nelco."

The little girl giggled again. "That's not a real job."

"Sure it is!" Isaac protested.

"What do you do?"

After a long silence, Isaac said, "I mostly just email people."

She giggled even harder. "See, that's not a real job."

Isaac smiled as the little girl leaned into him. "Yeah, OK. Maybe it's not a real job."

She touched his watch, making funny faces at herself in the black glass. "How long did she say?"

“Who?”

“Mrs Gale. She told you to wait, didn’t she?”

“Oh!” Isaac replied, he adjusted his glasses and looked down at his watch, “Yeah, she said she would be here in five minutes”

"Mrs Gale never means five minutes"

"Oh? But she texted me and said…"

The little girl shook her head, her auburn curls springing back and forth. "No, when she says one minute, she means five. Five usually means fifteen. Closer to twenty"

"What if she says fifteen minutes?"

"An hour." She leaned in and whispered, "If she says an hour, you won't see her again until tomorrow"

"Well, Mrs Gale said five, so I guess that means fifteen." He smiled and held out his hand. "I'm Isaac"

The little girl moved a small, blue stuffed dog into her left hand and shook it in her most professional businesswoman's voice. “I am Hazel”, she smiled, “It’s your first time here, isn’t it?”

“It is,” he grinned. “My first time here and in this city too. I got lost on the way here”

“It’s just all numbers. First, second, third. Boring!” she called out.

Isaac chuckled, “I agree”

“What are the street names where you live?”

“Oh, well”, Isaac thought for a moment. He knew the street he lived on, but had to think about the surrounding streets. “Well, I live in a little housing community, and they have to come up with new street names for it to be original. So the community I live in named all their streets after constellations. So I live on the corner of Virgo and Sagittarius streets.”

Hazel's eyes went wide, “Wow, those are such pretty names” She gasped, “Is there an Aries Street! I’m an Aries… I think. If not, I think it would be nice to be one!”

Isaac smiled and replied, “There is one, it’s down the street from me, the park runs the length of most of it. Starry Moon Park”

“Wow, that’s the most beautiful name ever for a park!” She pulled the little dog she was holding to her face and rubbed it on her cheek, “Is it one of the parks that has play stuff, or one that is for picnics?”

“Both”, he said at once, “It’s quite big. They have some play stuff, all under shade and a little barbecue area with some chairs”

“Cool.” Then her smile faded.

Isaac didn't know what he'd said. Sensing he had struck a nerve, he tried to pivot to a new line of conversation, “That’s a cool dog, what’s their name?”

Smiling again, Hazel said, “Sasha. She’s a miniature, miniature cattle dog,” She whispered, "Miniature, miniature, because she is so small”

Isaac whispered back, “Does she not know she’s small?”

“Noooooooo”, Hazel whispered, “she thinks she’s regular and we’re all giants”

“I won’t tell her,” Isaac winked.

“Do you have a dog?” She asked, her normal speaking voice returning.

Isaac smiled, “I did. His name was Jake. He was a little black whippet. My dad gave him to me when I was fifteen. He was the runt of the litter next door, and my Dad told me I could keep him if he lived, and he did”

“Does Jake still live with you?”

Isaac shook his head, "No. Well. He got old." Isaac paused a moment to collect his thoughts, "he died."

Hazel patted Isaac's leg softly a few times. "That's OK, Isaac, because he's in heaven now, and he can run and eat all the bones he buried and forgot about."

"I think that's what happened to my parents. They got old. Because they died too. I don't really remember them, but I talk to some people who say they do." She finished quietly, "I don't think that's the same, though."

"No", Isaac rubbed her back softly, "it's not, is it"

Outside, a ball bounced hard off a wall somewhere down the hallway.

Then, a small stampede of children all about Hazel's size came running down the hallway with a ball. One called out to the rest, “Piggy in the middle, Eric is Piggy!”

“No fair! I’m always piggy!” a small boy, presumably Eric, called back as they ran away.

“They look like they are having fun. Did you want to go and play with them? I’m just going to be waiting here for Mrs Gale”

She shook her head, hair again bouncing back and forth, “Nooooooooo”, she said as she shook her head, making a sound that went up and down as she did. “Piggy is a boring game. Besides, you are fun to talk to. Sasha and I both think so,” She smiled, holding up the small blue dog.

“You’re fun to talk to as well”, Isaac said, “In fact… oh… Here comes Mrs Gale now”

Hazel whipped her head around to see Mrs Gale walking down the hallway, a manila folder in one hand, a cup of hot coffee in a white mug in the other.

“Sorry, I kept you waiting. Budget cuts around here are unbelievable. I’m needed in three places most times, so until they up our funding so I can hire another me, or clone me, I will unfortunately always be behind”

Mrs Gale looked down at Hazel, seeing her for the first time, “Oh, Hazel, I didn’t see you there. Have you been keeping Mr Henry company while I was dealing with Mrs Rachel’s non-crisis downstairs?”

Hazel nodded, “His name is Isaac, he lives on Virgo Street near a park called Starry Moon”

Mrs Gale opened her folder and read a few lines, “It does appear that way, yes. Hazel, can you leave me with Mr Hen… Isaac, I need to have a chat with him about a few things”

“Okay”, Hazel stood up and turned to Isaac, “It was nice to meet you, Isaac. When you come back next time, can I show you the tree? We only have the one in the yard, and it’s next door, but we get all the leaves, and Mr Driscolle, the gardener, says that’s just his stinking…”

“Hazel”, Mrs Gale stopped her.

“Sorry, Mrs Gale”, Hazel whispered to Isaac “Bye”

Hazel walked away, Sasha in hand and went to sit at a window close by and stared out of it while Mrs Gale sat down next to him.

“I’m sorry I am late again, I’m no more than five or fifteen minutes behind most days”, Mrs Gale explained. Isaac did a poor job of hiding his smile. “She told you I’m always late, didn't she?”

“It may have come up”, He smiled, “But that’s OK, I won’t waste any more of your time here today”

“Oh, Mr Henry, please don’t let my being tardy to the meeting today think that we aren’t well organised here, we are, and our records are always one hundred per cent accurate and…”

“Oh no, you mistake me, Mrs Gale. I’m not backing out, it’s just that while I was waiting here, the decision… was sort of made” Isaac looked over at the little girl at the window, her blue dog in hand, held up onto the windowsill so they could both see out.

Mrs Gale followed his eyeline and smiled.

“Hazel”

Isaac nodded, “No question”

Mrs Gale closed the folder she had open and said, “Well, that saves some time. Time is something I don’t have a lot of around here, so that’s a good reason for us to check that off. We will have to have the pair of you interact with some staff, and a housing check will need to be completed”

“Do you know how long that will take?”

Mrs Gale checked her phone and said, “Well, if you come tomorrow, we can do both. You’re what, ninety minutes out of the city? So the end of the week at the latest”

Isaac nodded, “I would like that”

“Why don’t we go over there and have a chat with Hazel?”

Mrs Gale stood up, and for a moment, Isaac couldn’t; he just sat there smiling, looking over at Hazel, who was sitting, staring out into the afternoon sunset.

“Hazel honey, you remember Isaac?” Hazel nodded, still looking out the window. “Well, Isaac here has expressed interest in maybe having a few playdates this week”

“Are you going to do it with the whole group?” Hazel’s face held a soft sadness, like she had heard these words a million times before.

“Actually”, He started, “I was thinking, if it was OK. If I could just have a playdate with you?”

Her eyes widened, and she turned her head to him with a quick snap; her hair bounced around, then settled into place.

“Do you mean it!?” She smiled, “For real?”

Mrs Gale’s phone buzzed, and she looked down at it. “Sorry, am I OK to leave you alone for fifteen minutes? I need to deal with a small… non-emergency downstairs again”

Isaac nodded, “I think we will be fine here. Don’t rush. Fifteen minutes,” Isaac repeated, and Hazel slowly shook her head and smiled.

Mrs Gale left the pair.

Hazel came over to him, beaming. "Hello, Isaac. Do I call you Isaac now? Or Mr Henry? I know some people call their new people Mum and Dad, but you don't look like much of a Mum"

Isaac grinned, "You're right about that"

"Sooo I call you… Dad?"

Isaac knelt and said, "Isaac is fine. If one day you want to call me something else, you can."

Hazel tucked the little blue dog under her arm and leaned in to hug him. Her curly hair tickled his nose the whole time.

"Good, because you look like you're going to be a good Dad"