A knock sounded on the front door, and Mason sat up on the couch in the living room where he had been reading. Whoever was there opened the door, and stepped inside. “Maemae?” A younger woman’s voice called. “Anyone?”
     Mason stood up and walked over to the foyer, making sure not to trip on the coffee table or anything else. “Aunt Mari isn’t here, can I help you?” he asked quietly.
     Amy Taylor whirled around as someone spoke up from the living room doorway. She knew that Mae’s young nephew was coming to stay with her, and that he had been in a School for the Disabled in Seattle, Washington for the past year and a half, but she wasn’t expecting him to be here. Tilting her head, she stared at the boy for a few moments.
     He was a bit on the small side, at only about 5’3”, and was really scrawny. He had white hair, that didn’t come from a bottle, which fell past his shoulders and into large glassy chocolate colored eyes. He had most of it pulled back into a ponytail, and was wearing a black turtleneck with khaki cords. ‘Wow!’ Amy thought. ‘When school starts, the girls’ll be all over him, blind or not.’
     Mason fidgeted slightly at the silence, knowing she was scrutinizing him. After a few moments, he cleared his throat, and Amy jumped, startled.
     “I’m sorry!” she said. “I got lost in thought! You know how that is! Anyway, you must be Mason, MaeMae’s nephew! I’m Amy Taylor, her best friend. We got to City U. together!”
     Mason smiled. Aunt Mari had often talked of Amy before they had left cold, wet London for cold, wet Tacoma, Washington, USA. There, she had convinced him to go to Barbery School for the Blind in Seattle, to learn to read and write blind, and to catch up on all his missed studies over the year. It had taken a lot of affirmation before he quit believing she was abandoning him in another lonely place.
     “Yeah, I’m Mason, Mason McGuire. It’s nice to meet you.” He felt Amy reach out and grasp his hand tightly in a handshake before releasing it. “Do you want me to tell Aunt Mari that you came over?”
     “Well, we were supposed to meet here at 5 pm. But apparently she left. So if it’s okay with you, can I wait for here here? I could get to know you a little better!”
     Mason ran his fingers over the open face of his watch. It was 5:05 pm. He smiled. “I’d like that very much. Aunt Mari was here, but someone called and she said she had to go out for about 20 minutes. That was at five to 5. She didn’t say anyone was coming over though.”
     He led chestnut haired woman into the living room, moving his book off the couch and they sat down and began to talk.

     Amy opened the front door to her apartment and slipped inside. As she tiptoed past her brother's room, she could hear the taptaptap of keys from the darkness within. She winced; knowing he was still awake, but ceased trying to sneak past. The clacking silence as soft feet padded across the carpeted bedroom and the door opened to reveal the drowsy face of Nick Taylor, Amy's younger brother.
      "You're home late," he said. "You were supposed to be home by midnight so I could make sure I got Shrek turned in so we wouldn't have anymore late fees." He walked out of his room and shut the door, scuffling his feet as he went down to the kitchen.
      "Oh my Ghod, Nicky!! I'm sooo sorry!! C'mon, we'll take it back right now!!" she exclaimed as she followed him down the hall and watched him make a cup of ramen noodles. Apparently he was planning a late night at his computer.
      "I had Vaughn take me down, Ames. Don't worry about it. What was so important though that you couldn't call me so I would stop fretting over you like a mother hen?"
     Amy laughed. "We fret over each other in turns," she flippantly commented. "And anyway, Mae's nephew is in town and staying with her."
      "Mae. . . Mae, the cute one with the red hair, kinda looks like Pippy Longstockings." At Amy's glare he continued. "Didn't know she had a nephew. What's he like? How old is he?"
     Amy shook her head at her brother's eagerness to know about the boy without seeming like he cared. "He's 15 or 16, I don't remember, really sweet and really shy. I think you two would get along splendidly."
      "Now, is that splendid as in, my and my ex-boyfriend, need I remind you we broke up after a month, splendid? Or as in I'd like to get a dog because I can care for one splendidly, splendid?"
      "Stop that. Now the word has no meaning. I mean you guys would be really good friends. No, I'm not setting you up. I don't know if he swings that way, that and Maemae would kill me. But I wanna ask you a favor. Can you watch out for him on the first day of school? He's gonna be going to Wilson in about a week with you, and I want someone to make sure he gets to classes ok and the like."
     He looked mildly affronted that she even asked. Picking up his ramen cup, he glared at her. "No, I'm not going to spend my junior year looking out for some freshman. I got around school just fine on my own and I'm sure he'll make friends and be just fine by himself."
      "But Nicky-"
     He cut her off before she could protest. "I'm sure he's a nice enough boy and all, but if he's anything like Super-hyper never stops chattering Mae, I'm not so sure I'll be able to stand him." He took his midnight snack and disappeared into his bedroom before she could say anything else.

     "So you have a brother, Amy?" Mason tucked his legs under himself on the couch and took a sip of the tea he was drinking before she arrived.
      "Yeah, a pighead of a jock, with blond hair and blue eyes. Name's Nicholas, but calling him that is asking for a beating. Everyone calls him Nick, 'cept for me, I call him Nicky. So does Mae when she wants to annoy him. You'll probably meet him next week when school starts. He goes to Wilson too. Junior."
      "Ahh. Does he live with you?"
      "Yeah. We've live together since I moved out and our parents kicked him out."
      "You said he goes to Wilson, right? Well, if he does and you say anything about me to him, will you conveniently leave out the fact that I'm blind?"
      "Huh? Well, okay. . . if you're sure. Can I ask why?"
     Mason smiled. "You can ask, but I might not tell. No, just kidding. He'll probably find out next week when school starts, since I'll be the newest novelty at school for a while."
      "Ahh. Okiedokie then."
     The sound of the front door opening startled them both, as Mae walked into the room. "Hello all," she said with a smile, proud of the fact her only family and her best friend were casually sitting on the sofa, chatting like old friends.

End notes: Now we're into the actual story. I probably should have titled the other two parts Prologue 1 and Prologue 2. Oh well, I'm too lazy to go back now and you needed to know those parts anyway for any of this to make sense. Hope you like this part, I'm pretty proud of it!!