Kyle looked around his new room.
His sleeping bag lay on the empty floor.
"I hope the moving truck comes soon," he thought.
Kyle went down to the kitchen.
He opened the refrigerator and found it was empty too.
"Ugh," said Kyle.
His mom walked in with a box.
Kyle heard dishes rattling inside.
"We'll go grocery shopping later," she said.
"Why don't you play outside for now?
Maybe you'll make a friend."
Kyle went outside and walked down the sidewalk.
He found a park.
But the place was empty.
"This stinks," he thought.
"Hi," said a voice.
"Huh?" Kyle looked around, but he didn't see anybody.
"Who said that?"
"I did," said the voice.
Kyle spun around.
The voice was coming from a tall oak tree!
"A talking tree?" said Kyle.
"That's right," said the tree.
"Want to be friends?"
Kyle scratched his head.
"How can we be friends?" he asked.
"I'm a person, and you're a tree!"
"Does it matter?
By the way, I like cats," said the tree. "Do you?"
"Yes," said Kyle.
"I like playing soccer," said the tree. "Do you?"
Kyle couldn't imagine a tree playing soccer.
But he answered the question because he wanted to be polite.
"Yes, I love soccer," he said.
"I'm in fourth grade," said the tree.
"What grade are you in?"
"I'm in fourth grade too!" said Kyle.
"But how can a tree go to school?"
"Climb up and find out," said the tree.
Kyle grabbed a branch and climbed up.
A girl was chuckling on a branch.
"Hi," she said. "I'm Pearl.
I like cats and soccer and . . . climbing trees."
Kyle laughed.
He had a new friend!