“This is Elliot,” the brunette introduced him. She smiled and gave his shoulders a squeeze. “These nice people will show you the horse, okay? I'll be right over by the door if you need anything.”
The little boy nodded without looking at her. He was too busy looking at the horse.
“Elliot is a little shy,” the woman explained. “He has a hard time with eye contact, but he's very excited.” She squeezed his shoulders one last time before leaving to go help another kid.
Ella dropped down to his height, putting a knee in the dirt. “Hi, Elliot. I'm Ella.”
Elliot didn't look at her. He tried, but he couldn't maintain eye contact. “It's very nice to meet you,” he said softly.
“This is Jace, and my friend Ethan,” Ella continued.
“Hi.” Elliot smiled, but didn't look at anyone's face. That's when he saw the dog. “Can I pet your dog?”
Ella smiled. “He's not wearing his working ves
t today, so yes. You can pet him.” She made a hand motion and Jupiter came over from his spot, his tail wagging as he approached. “His name's Jupiter.”
Elliot's face lit up and he looked at Ella's face for the first time. “Like the planet?”
“Yeah, just like the planet,” Ella told him.
The boy held his hand out for the dog to sniff before attempting to pet him. He gave the golden dog long, soft strokes. “Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun. It's the biggest planet, too,” Elliot informed them. “It has a big red spot and over sixty moons.”
“Wow, you know a lot about space,” Jace said, kneeling next to the boy and petting Jupiter with him. “I'm impressed, Kid.”
“My name's Elliot,” the kid said politely. He stopped petting the dog and looked at Ella. “Where are your other seven dogs?”
Ella cocked her head to the side, confused. “Seven other dogs? Why would I have seven other dogs?”
“Because there are eight planets in the solar system. This is Jupiter, so did you bring Mercury, Venus, Mars, Earth, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune with you, too?” Elliot asked, his small face completely serious.
Ella grinned. “No, we just have Jupiter. Only one dog.”
“What about Pluto?” Ethan asked, inserting himself into the conversation.
“What about Pluto?” Jace asked, looking up at him.
“You guys forgot Pluto,” Ethan said. “And there's nine planets. Not eight.”
Elliot shook his head, like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. “No, I didn't forget Pluto. Pluto isn't a planet.”
Ethan scoffed. “Pluto isn't a planet? It's the ninth planet. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto.”
“Have you been living under a rock?” Jace asked, looking at Ethan in disbelief. “They demoted Pluto to a dwarf planet in 2006. I can't believe you didn't know that.”
“They did?” Ethan asked, not quite believing what he was hearing. “But it's my favorite planet. How is it not a planet?”
“Pluto is actually smaller than our moon,” Elliot said, jumping in like he was a Wikipedia article. “It doesn't have enough gravitational strength to qualify as a planet.”
“Says who?” asked Ethan.
“It just didn't meet the criteria to be a planet. Neil deGrasse Tyson and some scientists decided this like ten years ago,” Jace said.
“I think you just ruined my day,” Ethan told Jace. He looked over at Elliot. “What about you, Elliot? What's your favorite planet? Hopefully they don't take it from you when you're my age.”
“My favorite planet is Mars,” answered Elliot. “NASA is planning a mission to go there. I'm working really hard at school so I can be the first kid on Mars.”
“That's pretty ambitious,” Ella said with a smile. “I like it. Did you know Mars is red and there's a robot named Curiosity on it right now?”