Chapter Text
1979
4 years old
Leslie was so excited about starting preschool the next day, she couldn't sleep a wink that night. She kept running into her parents room and waking them up to ask if it was time to go yet. And each time they would tell her no. Then one of them would pick her up and carry her back to bed. This time was her dad, Robert's turn. It was 3am and he could barely keep his eyes open. But he tucked his 4 year old daughter into bed and held her tiny hand.
"Leslie, sunshine. I know you're excited about school. But you'll enjoy it even more if you're well rested for it."
"But daddy, I'm not sleepy at all." Her father smiled at her sweetly.
"Well, how about you just close your eyes for a minute and I'll sing you our song. Would you like that?"
Leslie clapped her hands and kicked her legs under the covers excitedly. "Yes yes yes!"
Robert laughed as she closed her eyes and he began singing, slowly and softly.
You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy
When skies are gray
You'll never know dear
How much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away
By the time he sang the whole song, Leslie was fast asleep.
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Benji didn't like his new room. It was too quiet. He couldn't sleep with it so quiet. He was use to loud cars driving past, horns honking and sirens blaring. Everything was different here. It was scary. He climbed out of his racecar bed and walked down the hall to his big brother Henry's room. Henry was 7 years old, Benji was 4, and they had a 1 year old baby sister, Stephanie.
He opened the door and walked toward the twin sized bed against the back wall. It was dark and he wasn't familiar enough with this room yet, so he tripped on the small rug in the middle of the floor. He stood back up and hurried over to the side of the bed.
"Henry? Henry?" Benji nudged his brother awake. He was crying a little now, sniffling quietly. Henry rolled over and slowly opened his eyes.
"Benji? What's wrong?"
"I can't sleep. My room is too quiet and I think there's a monster in the closet and I'm scared and I miss our house. Can I stay in here please?"
Henry scooted over and let his baby brother climb up. He gave Benji a big hug and told him everything would be ok. And Benji relaxed after that. Tomorrow he would start preschool and everything would be ok. Because Henry said so. And his big brother was always right.
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Leslie was having an amazing start to her day. Her mom, Marlene, made her waffles for breakfast with extra whipped cream! And her dad packed her a delicious sandwich for lunch.
She had been the first kid to arrive at school that morning. So the teacher, Miss Adams, let her pick out the book for storytime. Leslie picked The Cat In The Hat by Dr Seuss. It was her favorite!
Once all of the other kids arrived Miss Adam had each of them introduce themselves. There was...
Tom, who was wearing a suit and tie like Leslie's dad wears sometimes.
Ann, who was so pretty that Leslie was convinced she must be a princess.
Ron, who asked Miss Adams if he could have a screwdriver to tighten the loose leg on his chair.
April, who looked really bored already.
Andy, who immediately started eating glue.
Donna, who walked in looking like a movie star with her sparkly sunglasses.
Jerry, who tripped walking in and had to go to the nurse.
Gayle, who was the only one to help Jerry up when he fell.
Chris, who smiled more than Leslie and kept repeating everyone's names.
And Benji, who had crazy hair and kept his dinosaur lunchbox held close to his chest from the moment he walked through the door.
Most of the kids seemed almost as excited to be there as Leslie was. Except for Benji. He seemed really shy, keeping his head down. But at one point he looked up and right at Leslie. She smiled and waved at him. He smiled and finally set the lunchbox down to wave back. That's when she noticed his shirt. The Cat In The Hat! Leslie decided right then and there that he was going to be her friend.
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After storytime they practiced their alphabet and numbers, mostly with fun songs. Then it was time for arts & crafts. For today that meant fingerpainting. The other kids painted rainbows, flowers, animals, blobs. Benji painted Mount Rushmore. His parents promised to take him to see it someday. He hoped that was true. Miss Adams hung up everyone's papers to dry, and he saw what the nice blond girl that had waved at him had painted. He was pretty sure it was The White House. That made him smile. Because that was another place he wanted to go see someday.
"These are all beautiful you guys! Great job!" said Miss Adams. "Now, in about 30 minutes we'll sit down for lunch and then it will be nap time. But first...who wants to go play on the playground?"
All the kids cheered and lined up at the door, ready to go. Once he got outside he went straight for the swings, away from everyone else. Benji didn't know how to make friends. He just wanted to go home. To his old house in Indy. He missed his room and his yard and his treehouse. He didn't like Pawnee.
"Hi!" Benji jumped as the nice blond girl ran up to him. "My name is Leslie Knope."
"Hi. I'm Benji Wyatt." he replied in a quiet voice, lowering his head.
"I like your shirt! The Cat In The Hat is my favorite."
He perked up. "Really? It's my favorite too! I liked your painting. I wanna go to white house when I'm bigger."
"Me too! I'm gonna be the president when I grow up. You can come visit me!"
"Really?" he asked, in awe.
"Uh huh." She smiled at him. "Hey, do you want to be my best friend?"
He smiled back, really big. "Yeah!"
They giggled and took turns pushing each other on the swing until it was time to go back inside. Benji couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the school day. Because he finally had a friend.
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Leslie talked her dad's ear off the whole way home. She told him every single detail about every single thing she did that day. Including meeting her new best friend, Benji.
"He's really shy and doesn't talk much. But he's nice and funny and he loves The Cat In The Hat and he can swing really high up in the air and he painted Mount Rushmore and he's gonna come visit me at the white house when I'm the president!"
Robert chuckled when his baby girl finally stopped to take a breath. "Well he sounds like the perfect friend for you, sunshine."
"BEST friend, daddy."
"Right. Best friend." He smiled at her in the rear view mirror as they pulled into the driveway.
"Daddy, can I play out please?"
"Ok, but just until mom gets home. And make sure you stay in the yard. Deal?"
"Deal!"
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When Benji first got in the car his baby sister was crying. His mom, Julia, was trying to shush her from the drivers seat but it wasn't helping. Benji leaned over her carseat and Stephanie reached out and held his finger. He sang her Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and she stopped crying. That always worked. But only when he did it.
"Thank you, Benny." His mom blew him a kiss and he smiled at her as he buckled up and they drove away. The ride home felt like it took forever. After his mom picked him up they had to drive 20 minutes to pick up Henry from his school across town. And after that they had to go to the grocery store. He was so tired. All he wanted to do was go play with his toys in his new room and pretend he was still in his old room.
But as soon as they got home and stepped out of the car, he heard his name being called. He turned toward the white picket fence that separated his house from the one next door and smiled when see saw who was on the other side.
"Leslie!" He ran over to meet her at the fence line.
"Benji! Is that your house?" He nodded quickly and she started jumping around, cheering. "This is my house! We can play together all the time now!"
"Benji, mom said to come put your things away before you go play." Henry walked up next to him and Benji grabbed his hand, pulling him closer.
"This is my big brother Henry." Benji said, and Henry waved to her with a smile.
"Hi Henry. I'm Leslie Knope. I'm Benji's best friend!"
"Cool." Henry turned to Benji and patted him on the back with a smile. "Here, I can take your bag inside. You go have fun."
"Thanks Henry!" Benji handed over his stuff and climbed the fence into Leslie's yard.
They played and laughed ran around for over an hour until her parents called her in for dinner.
"I gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow at school!" said Leslie. And then she gave him a great big hug. "I'm so happy we're best friends, Benji."
She pulled away with a smile and ran inside. Benji just stood there in her yard for a minute. So happy, he couldn't move. And that night as he laid in his new bed, in his new room, in his new house, in his new town, he thought to himself...I think I'm gonna like it here.