Amber can't ignore Sam pounding on her door. |

|"Stop it, Sam." |

|"Where is my kite?" Samuel shouts.

"Who knows," said Amber.

|"You had it last," accuses Samuel.

|"Not true," Amber shouts!'

"You two might as well help each other," calls out Mom from downstairs. |"We don't leave until everyone is packed up and ready."

"The kite is in the attic, where Mom put it away last fall."

|"I can't reach the latch, Amber."

Sighing, Amber leaves her room and unlatches the attic door. |"You need to learn to do things for yourself." |

|Sam ignores her and clambers up the attic steps with the puppy in hot pursuit.

It's the first Saturday of summer vacation, and it's high time for a picnic. |

| It was Dad's idea, but just as they open the door to leave, Dad's cell phone rings. |"I'll catch up."

Warm summer days and picnic plans cannot stop phones from ringing or people from answering. |Samuel runs ahead with the puppy pulling on the leash. |"Who is walking whom?" wonders Amber. |Amber and her mother follow at a pace warm days invite.

One unclaimed picnic table remains at the park, and they quickly grab it. |Amber complains that Samuel isn't helping to set the table. |Before Mom answers, Samuel runs off with the kite. |Amber's complaints continue, but fall on deaf ears.

Dad shows up, offering Samuel help. |Samuel refuses. |He tries to send the kite up, but cannot catch the breeze. |Eventually, Sam gives up. |He flings the kite down and sulks at the table. |Now Amber will have her revenge.

Amber picks up the kite and takes a turn. |She deftly sends the kite up into the blue sky. |It feels good to put Samuel in his place. |She worked hard learning to fly a kite, but Samuel gives up too soon.

Yesterday, Amber saw Samuel at the top of their backyard tree, clinging to the branches with only his knees. |He stretched out his arms like a bird and pretended to fly. |Flying is all Sam thinks about. |Why can he climb so high without effort but struggles to master kite flying?

As the light breeze sends the kite even higher, Amber remembers when she learned to fly it. |Dad showed her how. | She remembers getting too frustrated just one time: she even cried. |(Samuel doesn't need to know that.) | Amber cried, but she was young. | Why, she was just Sam's age.

Amber slows. | "Well, why doesn't he just let Dad help him," she wonders?

| But now her own advice comes back to her. | "You have to learn to do things for yourself, Samuel." | Amber pauses.

Now Sam demands another turn and he tugs at Amber's arm like the wind. |Amber hesitates for just a moment, then carefully passes the flying kite to Sam.

|"Look at Sam fly," she shouts. |"Keep it up, Sam!"

That night at home, Amber makes a note in her diary.

| Sam climbs high up the tree. Up. Up. |He climbs the tallest tree. Up. Up. |He climbs until the only thing above him is the clear blue sky. |He clasps the branches with his knees, spreads his arms like a bird, and dreams of flying.