Milo sat on the end of a park bench. He scuffed the toe of his sneaker against the wood. Other kids chased each other around the slide, but nobody looked over at him.
A yellow rubber ball rolled to a stop at his feet.
A girl with two braids and a bright green dress hopped up to him. "I'm Zeyna," she said, and held out her hand. "Do you want to play hopscotch?"
Milo shook his head and pointed to his scuffed sneaker. Zeyna just grinned and started drawing squares in the dirt with a stick.
Zeyna hopped through the chalk squares — one foot, two feet, tap the ground. "Your turn!" she said.
Milo hopped once and wobbled, his arms windmilling before he landed hard on his bottom in the dirt. Zeyna reached down and pulled him up. "Again," she said, and demonstrated the pattern slowly.
Milo tried the Arabic counting — one foot, two feet — "wahid, ithnan" — and made it all the way across the squares without falling. Zeyna clapped.
"Your turn to teach me," she said. Milo thought and said, "In my country, we play a game where you jump and count in English at the same time."
Zeyna tried it and immediately hopped into a puddle. Splash!
They tried the combined game together — Milo called out English numbers while Zeyna called out Arabic ones, and they jumped side by side across the squares.
A golden retriever trotted up and started hopping along with them, barking on every third jump. Milo and Zeyna laughed until their sides hurt.
Milo and Zeyna sat on the bench together, sharing an apple. The dog curled up at their feet. Zeyna pointed to a new game being played on the swings. Milo took her hand, and they walked over together.
