"Kid," Hopper says to this five year old with all the patience of a man having his first cup of coffee at 11AM. "Why are you not in school?"
"I was," Steve says defensively, climbing onto the stool next to him at the diner's bar. "Then I leaves 'cause Mama picked me up to go to the doctor. It was not fun and I missed lunch."
Hopper takes a sip of his coffee, "And your mother is...?"
"Outside," Steve says like, duh. "She told me to find us somewhere to sit 'cause she needs a break from me."
"Not 'cause she don't like me," He adds. "Dr Edgar peed her off 'cause he was mean to her. He was mean to me too 'cause he jabbed me with a needle. He didn't even say hi. He just jabbed me...That's rude."
"I did get this cool bandaid from Nurse Kay- Mama! Mama, come sit over here with me and Mr Hopper."
Angela Harrington barely acknowledges her son when she walks through the door. She barely looks in his direction when she walks to the back of the diner.
"That's okay," Steve says more to himself. "Mama wants to be alone right now 'cause Dr Edgar is a butthead. He said she's a bad mom. She's not! She's the best mom."
"Cause I’m little," Steve says and shrugs. "Dr Edgar said that Mama is spendin' too much time fixin' her hair and not enough time in the kitchen and that's why I'm little."
"I’m just five, Mr Hopper," Steve justifies when he sees the cop frown. "I'll be big when I'm six. It's okay to be little when you're five 'cause sometimes you get sleepy and your dad will carry you to bed."
"My dad hurt his shoulder a long time ago so sometimes he can't pick me up," Steve continues. "If I’m big than I'll be too heavy to pick up at all and I'll have to sleep on the couch."
He adds, "Mama is bad at cooking anyways."
"Did your pediatrician say that you were small for your age or underweight?"
Hopper knows as soon as he asks that he will not get an answer.
He can see the gears turning in this kid's head right before he gets an allusive, "I can't tell you what Dr Edgar said. It's a hippo violation."
"I’m gonna sit with Mama now," Steve says, jumping off his stool. "Bye, Mr Hopper. Love you."