Lucas was walking on the old forest path to gather raspberries. His mum had sent him, and although he would have liked to play with his friends better, the promise of sweet jam made the sacrifice easier. Besides, it was a nice summer day. Bees were trundling through the air in search of flowers, and the sunlight dappled the ground, shining through the green treetops. He hummed a tune from a song his dad had taught him and was glad he didn’t have to clean the chicken coop instead. He picked up a stick and pretended it was a sword and held his basket to his side like it was a shield. He marched like the king’s soldiers who had come through their village a while ago, his face grim. He’d been a little afraid of the big men (though he would never admit this to anyone), but they had been kind despite their rough demeanor. He’d proclaimed to his parents that he would be a soldier too when he was grown up, and his father had laughed and ruffled his hair, though his mum had given him a disapproving look.

He was trying to remember the many interesting words the soldier’s sergeant had shouted at them when they did something wrong, or did just about anything, when he saw the skeleton sitting on a big boulder. He knew what a skeleton was, of course, although the only human one he had ever seen was when a traveling merchant had been in the village and had one hanging from a hook. His best friend Jamie had said it was made of gypsum and not a real one at all. This one was sitting on a big moss-covered rock, with its skull resting on one hand, as if it was deeply in thought. Its bones were smooth and white and clean, not yucky like the ones his mum would get from the butcher for soup sometimes. It turned to him as he approached.

“Hello, little boy. Do I know you?” it said in a voice that was hollow and high. It had no lips or a tongue, of course, but its jaw moved as it spoke. Lucas stopped, puzzled by the question, though he kept his basket shield protectively in front of him and grasped his stick sword a little tighter.

“Uh, no, I don’t think so. I don’t know any skeletons.”

“Pity. You don’t happen to know someone who knows a skeleton?” Lucas thought for a moment before he answered.

“No, I don’t. Sorry, Mister, uh, Skeleton. Did you come all the way from the graveyard?” The village cemetery was on the other side of the village from here, quite a long walk. His grandpa was buried there; he’d been at the funeral. The skeleton looked down for a moment, as if lost in thought.

“No, I don’t think so. Unfortunately I can’t remember my name, or where I am from. I don’t believe I crawled from a grave at all. I think I’d be dirtier.” It looked down at itself. The bones looked shiny and very clean, not a speck of dirt on them. Lucas thought about his parents’ telling him not to speak to strangers, but hadn’t they also told him to help people in need? What was it he was supposed to do again? Ah yes, find an adult and ask them.

“Maybe you could talk to the priests at the temple and ask them to bury you properly,” he suggested. He imagined the skeleton walking up to the old and stuffy Father Barley and demanding to be buried, and had to laugh at the picture. “Sorry,” he said as he went a little red with embarrassment. The skeleton seemed to consider this.

“I have a feeling they wouldn’t be very happy to see me. But thank you for trying to help.” It looked away with its empty eye sockets and looked deep in thought again. Lucas’ brow furrowed as he wondered who else would know what to do with a skeleton that didn’t know where to go. He knew that a skeleton walking around wasn’t right, but it was also polite and clean and not spooky at all, particularly on this fine summer day with the sun shining. He still had a job to do.

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“I’m sorry, but I need to pick raspberries for my mum now.” An idea struck him. The brambles were prickly and there were sometimes swarms of bugs around them that flew into your eyes and mouth. A skeleton wouldn’t mind those, would it? “Want to help? We could go to the village together afterward.” The skeleton considered this.

“I suppose I could. I don’t have any other plans right now.” It stood up. It wasn’t very tall, but still much taller than him, maybe around his mother’s height. He took a step backwards. It lifted a foot and looked at it. He saw now that it had leather boots on. Nothing really fancy. They looked like the ones people in the village wore sometimes, but the leather was fine and they looked well stitched.

“Nice boots.”

“Yes, they really are. At least I won’t get my feet dirty. Wonder why I’m wearing these, but nothing else?” Lucas had no answer to that.

“It’s this way.” They set off, walking side by side on the dirt path. “My name is Lucas. What’s yours?” Lucas asked, and then remembered that the skeleton had forgotten who it was. “Oh. Sorry. But what do I call you?”

“Good question.” It seemed to think for a moment. “How about… Charlie? That’s a good name, I think.” Lucas considered this. A question occurred to him.

“Is Charlie a boy’s or a girl’s name?” The skeleton shrugged.

“It could be either. I don’t remember if I was a boy or a girl.” Lucas thought about this and came to the conclusion that it didn’t really make a difference right now.

“Alright, I’ll call you Charlie. Nice to meet you, Charlie.” Lucas stopped and stuck out his hand to shake. The skeleton turned to him and looked at his hand for a moment, then bent down and shook. It was like grasping a bunch of twigs, but not unpleasant. They walked on. After a while, Lucas said, “What’s it like, being a skeleton? Does it hurt? If you don’t mind me asking.” he added quickly. The skeleton seemed to think about this for a while before answering.

“It doesn’t hurt, no. In fact, it doesn’t feel like anything. Maybe that’s as it should be, since I don’t have anything to feel.” Charlie gave a quick side glance at Lucas. The skeleton was, in a manner of speaking, always grinning, but it seemed to him like it was grinning a little bit more for a moment.

“And you really don’t remember anything? Nothing at all from when you were, uh, alive?” Lucas had another bout of embarrassment. He wasn’t sure if that had been a rude thing to say.

“Am I not alive now?” Charlie gave him another quick grinning side glance. “No, I understand what you mean. I really don’t. “ Lucas thought hard, trying to figure out what else could have happened to the skeleton.

“Maybe you were always a skeleton, and you fell and hit your head, and you forgot your name and where you were from and everything. My friend Jamie said his uncle said he knew someone who got kicked in the head by a cow and he forgot everything, even his wife’s name and how to go to the toilet.” Lucas grinned at the last bit, but immediately felt embarrassed saying it to an adult, or at least an adult skeleton. He didn’t need to, since the skeleton laughed at this. A hollow sounding laugh, but clearly an amused one.

“It’s a good theory. But I think I would need a brain to concuss, and I don’t have one. See?” Charlie stuck a bony finger in one eye socket and wiggled it inside, in the space where a living person’s brain would be. Lucas saw the wiggling finger through the other eye socket and shuddered a little. He grinned again.

“The raspberries are that way,” Lucas said, pointing down the path, and went on his way with his new friend.