As time went on the initial frenzy settled into a comfortable routine. The freshly-built facilities soon found use, and new occupants who were decidedly not workers began to appear. Armin explained that workers’ families were moving in. Indeed, the formerly deserted area began to resemble a small village. Armin did not like the families, however, as they often brought disputes that he had to handle. Many of them complained about the living quarters, or that they were not making enough money, or so on. To Chloe, however, it meant new opportunities to meet people.

“Just hang out around here.” Armin told her as he parked the car next to one of the complexes. “I’m going to be back in a little while. Don’t get into any trouble.”

Chloe nodded, and Armin stomped off to the other side of the building, grumbling something about plumbing and how poorly the living quarters were built. She looked around to see several doors line the front of the single story building. Occasionally she would see people come out of their doors, either headed to work or just to chat. Then she noticed a large truck pull up to the other side. She absentmindedly watched as people moved furniture into one of the rooms. Having nothing better to do, she moved closer to get a better look.

Yet another family moving in to support one of the workers. There was a mousy brown-haired woman with a floral pattern dress and an oily tired looking man in a brown jacket standing in front of the door arguing with the movers. The woman was quite animated, making exaggerated movements with her arms while the man, presumably her husband, simply stood shaking his head, as if simply accepting his berating. Chloe hid behind a stack of boxes so as not to be caught staring.

Then something else caught her eye. Out of the open door came a boy. Now thoroughly curious, she peeked over the top of the box to see him rush up to his mother and ask something, to which his mother brushed him aside. Naturally Chloe couldn’t understand what any of them were saying.

That didn’t matter to her. She had not been expecting to see another human being her age, not here at least. For just a moment the thought of having someone else to talk to excited her. She wished she could get close enough to talk to him, but something hampered her movement. It just didn’t feel right to approach him out of nowhere.

A small girl, barely more than five, wandered out of the doorway. She trotted up to her brother and began tugging on the sleeve of his polo shirt. The boy grew upset with her and pushed her away, complaining to his mother. The mother simply scolded him, to which the boy rolled his eyes and moaned.

Chloe must have been watching them for a while, because she lost track of time. She couldn’t help but laugh at the antics between the boy and his sister. No matter how much he tried to get her to leave him alone, she would always follow him around and nag him. Then the girl ran off toward the piles of boxes where Chloe was. Chloe tried to hide, but to no avail. She locked eyes with the boy as he tried to keep his sister from running away. The boy’s eyes grew wide with shock as he saw this strange girl suddenly appear out of seemingly nowhere. Then he called out to his parents. Feeling embarrassed Chloe ran away. Oh what have I done, she thought. I’ve blown my only chance at making a friend near me. She made her way back to the car to find Armin standing there with his arms folded.

“Where have you been? I went out looking for you!”

Oh. Chloe really had lost track of time. “I… I was just around the corner.” Chloe stammered.

Armin motioned for her to come inside the car. “I hope you haven’t been bothering anyone.”

Chloe stared at the floorboard. “No…” she said, unsure of what to say.

Armin shook his head and sighed. “Well try not to bother these people too much. I don’t want any trouble for us.”

Now she was thoroughly confused. What was so wrong about meeting these people? “But why?” she asked.

Armin thought about this, and after a moment of silence said, “They aren’t from here. They can get rather…” He took a moment to find the right word. “They don’t like being bothered.” He kept his eyes on the road and continued, venting his heart out. “Like today for instance. I go to check on a problem with the plumbing. Turns out the contractors did a crummy job of installing the pipes in that building. And yet I’m the one to get blamed… Woah!”

He slammed on his brakes suddenly, lurching them both forward and screeching the car to a halt. He put it in park and leapt out the door. Chloe looked out the windshield and gasped to see the little girl from before wandering the road. She as running along the side and had darted out suddenly into the middle of the road when Armin saw her. As of that moment he was out talking to her making sure she was okay. Chloe got out of the car and rushed to the girl’s side. The little girl was crying and tried to run away from Armin, who was quickly growing frustrated.

“Would you believe it?” he said. “I almost hit her! What were her parents thinking?” He tried to get closer to her but she just ran toward Chloe. “I can’t talk to her, and I don’t have the first clue about who her parents are.”

“I know where she lives. At those living quarters just down the road.” she said. She knelt down and began coaxing the girl to come to her. “It’s okay. Don’t be scared. It will be alright.” The girl looked at her with tears and snot streaming down her face. Chloe motioned for her to come closer. “I’m not going to hurt you.” We’re here to take you back to you mommy and daddy.” The girl waddled toward Chloe and Chloe gave her a hug.

“Well she seems to like you.” Armin said sarcastically. “How do you know her?” Chloe responded. “I saw her with her family.”

After consoling the scared child, she convinced her to come with them into the car and Armin headed back toward the housing complex. As soon as they reached it, they all got out. “Okay, now tell me where this particular door is.” Armin said. To their mutual dismay Chloe could not recall exactly what number of house the family lived in. “Great,” Armin complained. “Now how’re we supposed to find them!?”

“We could just look around.” Chloe chimed.

Armin looked at his watch. “No. We can’t. I’m not going to go around knocking on everyone’s door. I’m tired, I’m hungry, and I want to go home.”

“Come on.” Chloe said, grabbing the reluctant girl and dragging her around the building. Hopefully the moving truck was still there. Sure enough it was still parked in front the same building. Chloe dragged the girl to what she hoped was the correct door. She was about to knock when she stopped. Suddenly the awkwardness of the previous situation occurred to her, and she felt embarrassed. The boy probably told his parents about her staring. Maybe she wouldn’t be welcomed here.

Nevertheless she had to give the girl back to her family. She gave a timid knock and stood back, as if anticipating the door to blow open. When it didn’t, she leaned in close to listen. She could hear voices, shouting from the sound of it. All the while the girl squirmed, trying to break to break free of Chloe’s grasp, and Chloe struggled to keep her from running away. Finally the door swung open. It was the boy. For a split second his eyes widened at the sight of her and he said nothing.

Then the girl’s eyes widened and she ran to her mother. The mother started crying and kissed her child, reassuring her in her own language. She then set the girl down and took Chloe’s hand, presumably thanking her. Chloe just stood there, not knowing what to do.

Suddenly she felt a presence behind her. Armin had seemingly materialized behind her and started chatting with the mother, fumbling over their foreign language. He also introduced Chloe, and all she could do was wave a polite hello. All the while the boy continued to stare awkwardly, as if not quite comprehending her.

Their conversation soon stalled as they ran out of things to say. Armin said his goodbyes and motioned for Chloe to come with him.

~

That night at dinner Ana and Armin discussed the day’s events. As usual he complained about work and the number of issues raised by the new tenants. Chloe didn’t pay much attention to it, at least not until he brought up the run-in with the family.

“You know, I just about had a heart attack today.”

Ana frowned. “Oh, what happened?”

“Ok so I’m driving home from work and all of the sudden I see this kid dart out in front of me.”

Chloe put her food down and listened. Now their conversation was getting to be interesting.

Ana however was mortified, clasping her hands over her mouth. “Oh my! Did you hit them? Are they okay?”

“Oh no. She’s fine.” Armin put down his food and leaned back in his chair. “It was a girl. She belongs to one of the families here. The Lamonovs, I think they were. Nice enough people.”

He paused, gazing off into space, then laughed to himself. “You know, I just remembered. They have a boy, around Chloe’s age. From what I understand, he’s going to go to the school in town.”

Ana had a look of surprise on her face. “Oh, another family? That will be good.” She turned to Chloe. “Maybe you should go and say hi. You might make a new friend.” She smiled.

Chloe pondered this for a moment. “Yeah but he never said anything to me. He just stood there staring at me.”

Ana laughed. “Oh dear, you have to actually try to talk to him. He’s new here and may be a little nervous.” She got up from her seat and took Chloe’s plate from the table. “I seem to remember you being quite shy and quiet when you came here. You still are in some ways, so you shouldn’t judge him immediately.”

While Chloe was excited at having a potential friend, this boy just seemed so strange, so awkward, so foreign. She suddenly wasn’t so sure she could befriend someone who couldn’t even speak to her.

“It couldn’t hurt to try.” Ana continued. “You’ve been so lonely lately. I think it would do you some good.”

Chloe didn’t say anything, but she figured she would at least try to give the boy a chance as Ana had suggested.