I am a giant, playing in the sand.  This is my favorite place to play.  It’s warm and there are all kinds of things around to play with.  I picked up some sand and dumped it on my head, and laughed as the sand rolled down my back.  It tickled.

 

I looked down at a man lying in the sand.  I’d seen him before.  He was green, hard, and not moving.  He was holding what my big brother had called a “gun.”  I picked up the man, who laid stiffly in my hand.  Laughing, I smashed the man on the ground twice, then threw him across the sand.

 

I then stood up and stomped across the sand.  There were more green guys lying about, but I just kicked them out of the way.  After a few steps, I saw some cars.  I picked up two of them and smashed them together, laughing joyfully.

 

Just then, a pair of hands picked me up.  It was Mommy.  “Sarah, don’t be so rough with your brother’s toys.  Do you want a cupcake?”

 

I didn’t really know what a “cupcake” was, but I saw all the other kids running to get one.  That made me want one too.

 

There are a lot of people here.  They’re all laughing and playing in our back yard.  The bigger people are drinking something strange – it smells funny.  Daddy was drinking a lot of it, and it made him seem happier than usual.

 

The cupcake was delicious!  I tried to get another one, but Mommy said no.  I started to whine, but she cleaned me off and put me back in the sandbox.  That made me happy again.   

 

I played for a while, until I saw a cat standing by the side of the house.  I watched it for a moment, as it stood there and looked around.  Then it disappeared around the side of the house.

 

I wanted to see what it was doing.

 

I stood up out of the sandbox and started walking toward where the cat was.  Everyone was too busy having fun to notice.  When I reached the corner of the house, I looked and saw the cat standing by the front yard.  It turned to look at me, then walked away again.

 

Curious, I continued to follow the cat.  It was walking toward a long stretch of gray with yellow lines – there were big shiny things with wheels moving very fast on it.  But I didn’t pay any attention to that – I was too focused on the cat. 

 

I walked toward the big gray ground.  The cat was standing in the middle of it.  Suddenly, there was a loud noise – it came from one of the big shiny things with wheels.  It scared the cat, who ran in the woods across from our house.

 

Where was the cat going?  I’ve never been in those woods before.  My brother goes there all the time.   I wonder what’s in there.

 

I stepped onto the gray ground, hot in the sun.  I had to hurry and find the cat.

 

Another big loud noise, coming from a big shiny thing that was coming straight at me.

 

I just stared, curious …

 

A pair of hands snatched me out of the way.

 

“Sarah!  What are you doing?  You can’t go out to the road – it’s dangerous, sweetheart!  Oh, my Lord … you almost got turned into a pancake!”

 

It was my aunt.  She is so nice and plays with me a lot when she’s here.  She hugged me tight.  I could feel her shaking.

 

She brought me back to the backyard, to Mommy.  Mommy cried when my aunt told her what happened, and she hugged me tightly too.  Everyone came by and gave me a hug and a kiss.

 

I wonder why everyone seemed so scared.

 

When everyone had calmed down, Mommy put me back in the sandbox to play.  She was watching me much more closely now.  One of my brother’s toy cars caught my eye, and I picked it up.  I realized suddenly that it looked exactly like the big shiny thing in the “road.”

 

I smashed it on the ground and threw it out of the sandbox.