Before and After

Playtime

"What do you think? Do you think it's good enough for a king?"

Mike and I were at the playground, playing in the sandbox, and Mike had sculpted a sandcastle. It was pretty mediocre, especially since he had to work around the cast on his broken wrist, but it was the best one I had ever seen, so I thought it was magnificent.

The sun had barely risen, and there were no other kids on the playground. It was one of those rare days when Mommy was in a good mood and let us outside. Mike knew because she had made him waffles, something she only ever did when she was happy. I remember eating her waffles and how delicious they were. I had already asked him why he insisted on getting up so early to play, but he wouldn't say. I would find out why later.

"What's a king?" I asked. I didn't know much, but Mike was always willing to explain things to me. Earlier, he had attempted to explain the differences between the different flowers that grew around the park. They all looked the same to me.

"It's a guy who rules over other people."

"Do we have a king?"

"No, but other places do."

"You think I could ever be a king?"

"Sure you could."

Just then, some boys a little older than Mike entered the gate to the playground. I could feel Mike grow nervous, but I didn't know why.

"We should go now," he said as he stood to his feet.

"No!" I replied, and without even really meaning to, I took control. I got back down in the sand. "I want to build my own castle, the biggest one ever!"

"We really need to go," he pleaded.

"Just a minute. We just got here, why should we leave now?"

There were three other boys, and the biggest one stood right in front of me. He had shaggy brown hair and he had on dirty jeans and a filthy white shirt.

"Hey there, pipsqueak. Whatcha doing?"

"Building a sandcastle."

"Run!" Mike shouted, but I saw no reason to. I didn't understand why he was so afraid.

"Is that so? Here, let me help you."

The boy stomped on the castle I had been building, and Mike's.

"Hey! Mike worked hard on that, and I wasn't even finished with mine!"

The boy gave me a strange look. I searched for Mike in my mind to ask why, but he was nowhere to be found.

The boy grabbed me by the neck and shoved my face in the sand. My eyes burned and I couldn't breathe. He let me back up, and he and his friends started laughing and left me alone after that.

It took several minutes for my eyes to stop burning. As soon as I could see again and my eyes stopped watering, Mike came back.

"What happened?"

"I know why you wanted me to run. I remember coming out here with you now, and how those boys would pick on us, and they still do. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you, but why do they like being mean?"

"I'm smaller than them, and they just don't like me."

"Where did you go? Where were you? It's like you weren't even in my head anymore."

"I don't know, I just, went away. It's like I fell asleep. I don't remember any of it. It happened when that boy came, and I got really scared. I'll try to stay next time."