It was a tall order to get me to come home on time. Dark fields shadowed from the last lights of the city. The smell of far-off barbeques and faint vrooming of cars. That was the life for me. Another cricket chirped as I tiptoed forward. Leaves crunched under my feet.

My mom would be worried sick for me, but I'd be home in bed before they realized I was missing. If I didn't say hi to the man, who would?

A gravestone, only a few inches high, marked the body of a man who apparently was best left alone. The weeds took hold of him, and their thick tangly veins showed that no one even bothered to clear his name.

I sat down and took off my book bag, letting the dead ground muddy my bare knees. So much junk in that book bag. I rummaged to the fabric bottom as I felt for the stuffed bear.

Yes!

I had the bear. Now to dig.

And no, I wasn't digging up a body. Not technically. I scooped up some dirt and tossed it. Underneath that splotch, sat wood. Rotten wood. It was a really shallow grave. I brushed some soil around until I found the end of the casket. I clutched it, straining my arms, and lunged the door open.

My face grew hot as I held my chest. The man, er, body laid there, skin torn like a cat's claws on paper. Black hair thin as cobwebs, and wooly clothes as drab as his eternally droopy face.

I shook him awake.

"Sir, wake up!" I whispered. A beetle crawled from his shirt onto my finger.

Nothing.

Lazy.

I picked up the stuffed bear and held it above him. The aroma of dust and dead ants filled the air.

"Look, I got you the bear!" I shook it a bit.

The body's eyelids twitched. A sense of peace fell over me as just me became us. His eyelids opened, and from the back of his head, his eyes rolled. His dead, drywall eyes fell on me with an apathetic gaze, and his gaping black pupils stared up at me. They watched as I crawled closer, chills running through my arms.

I couldn't help but smile. His eyes opened, and he hacked like an old car.

"At this hour?" his gravelly voice grumbled. The scent of cigarette smoke left his mouth.

I frowned.

"You know I have school in the morning."

"All the way 'til sunset?" he said as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Well, no. But I have homework and dinner and-"

"Shush, kid," he said.

Rude. He was grumpy now, but I had an ace up my sleeve. It would be my ticket that night. I held out the bear again.

"Look."

The man sat up. The bear stood right there in his scrappy face as his eyes adjusted to the minimal light that was there. And they widened.

"Oh…" he mumbled softly.

Something about his shoulders, the way they relaxed, the way his eyes softened at the sight of the pink ball of polyester. The chirps of crickets whistled through the grass, through the air, never letting us be in the silence of the night, and only reminding us of how quiet we are.

His boney fingers wrapped around the little teddy bear. He loved it.

"I'm… all out of allowance." I pulled out my pockets.

"Save your money next time."

He caressed the bear on its fluffy head. It finally took a rest next to the man as set it down.

"So, whaddya need help with?"

He was allergic to saying thank you's. But I knew he appreciated it.

I hooked my pointer fingers as I squirmed in my seat. It was hard enough to pay the price for his friendship, but it was always bone-shivering to tell him what I wanted. The words hung in my throat and I couldn't let them go.

"What? Cat's got your tongue? Spit it out."

"Will you help me with my Spanish homework?"

He sat aback, his rigid posture returning in full force. His non-existent eyebrows furrowed.

"You came all the way here in the middle of the night just to tell me that?"

I clasped my hands together.

"Come on! My house is only a quarter mile away. I left my window open so we could sneak in."

"But your mom'll hear us talking."

"Then we'll whisper."

I couldn't take no for an answer that night. The man squinted and studied the grass, as if waiting for the blades to give him the answer.

He signed.

"Fine. Help me outta here, will ya?"

It worked!

I held him under his arms as he pushed himself out of the casket. Dust fell from his patchy coat, narrowly missing the teddy bear and me. In minutes, he was finally up.

His lanky stature towered over me, with his bones settling into place and his knees crackling under the weight of them all. How different we were…

He fixed up his coat buttons.

"Okay," he mumbled, "where are we going?"

"My house."

"I know where. I meant how."

I rolled my eyes. Thank god it was him though. I'd sooner disrespect the dead than my mom.

The city lights illuminated the sky. But the quaint yellow light of my neighborhood windows outshined it in every way. I gestured to the man to follow me as I picked up my bookbag. He knocked the casket closed, and we made our way to my house.