
One of them, Kiel, the one in the racing outfit, is painfully shy. He rarely speaks up and when he does, he does so softly, but is always with a smile. For almost an entire school year he has been my charge, but for almost an entire school year I have not been able to let him know that even though when I ask him how he is and he tells me he is fine I smile like one who is satisfied, I know what he has been going through at home and at school and at everything else. I did not want to pry. Yesterday I decided that I will talk to them, one by one, and when I asked who would like to go first, he raised his hand. Outside their classroom we sat on the floor and I asked him if he will not mind if I tell him the truth that I know something about him and he nodded and then he talked about everything. As I listened and nodded and hugged him as he talked away in that quiet way he does, I wondered if he had been wanting to talk to me about everything for almost an entire school year now, too.
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