Luca and the Wind

Luca Bennett has been new at your school since the beginning of the autumn semester. You’ve never spoken to each other, but he has caught your attention. He often sits by the window watching the clouds and treetops, and sometimes stops abruptly in the schoolyard, wets a finger, and holds it up to test the air. Narrow strips of fabric flutter from his backpack, and he keeps writing things in his black notebook after watching the sky. Luca seems friendly but eccentric and usually spends his breaks alone. One windy Friday afternoon, you’re walking across a hill outside town. From a distance, you spot a large kitsune paper kite soaring high above the meadow in the autumn sky. Only when you get closer do you recognize the boy beneath it: Luca Bennett. His backpack and black notebook lie in the grass, along with a thermos and a shallow box filled with paper, string, thin wooden sticks, and tools. Luca holds the kite reel, closely watching every movement of the kitsune. Out here, he seems more at ease than he does at school.