Little Boy Blue,
come blow your horn.
The sheep's in the meadow,
the cow's in the corn.
Where is that boy
who looks after the sheep?
Under the haystack,
fast asleep.
Will you wake him?
Oh no, not I.
For if I do,
he will surely cry.

Little Boy Blue

I.

He loves her the moment he sees her. She is tall and blonde and pretty and there is something nice about her face, even when she looks confused. Henry sighs in relief. He had spent the entire bus ride worrying. Worrying that she might turn out to be exactly like the mayor (mean and dark and cold), worrying that she might hate him, worrying that she might not listen. But he is good at pretending, so he slides through the door like he isn't scared to death and plops down on a chair like he belongs there.

When he tells her that he is her son, she looks so scared and for a moment, he can see his own face in hers.

At least she hasn't kicked him out yet. Henry begins to believe for the first time that this whole thing just might work out.

He rifles through her fridge and finds half-empty takeout boxes, bottles of wine, milk and juice, and a package of string cheese. (A tiny part of him thinks that maybe it was a good thing she gave him up after all – the mayor at least knows how to cook.) He sees the single cupcake on the counter and wonders if it is her birthday and then why isn't she out with friends and maybe she is just like him, lonely and alone and maybe that's why she hasn't kicked him out yet and just maybe.

She doesn't look scared anymore when she comes out of the bathroom and he takes this as a good sign to start setting his plan in motion.

He says, I want you to come home with me, but he really means, I want us to go home together.

She's very smart but so is he so he pushes, just to see what she'll do. But then she starts acting very grown-up and calls his bluff and he worries that maybe this won't work after all so he does his best sad-scared voice and says come home with me.

He wants to say come home with me forever.

In the car, she turns very no-nonsense and acts so much like the mayor that he is sure that this was a terrible plan. But then he realizes that she hasn't actually put him on a bus despite all her threats so maybe she was also just bluffing.

He likes the way she calls him kid. (But he pretends not to.)