BY : Lois Pechony
2000©
To the Pink House: Kitty, Harley, Riki, T-NoName. Love you girls!!! This one is with all my love, to you.
1990
Two kids playing right in the middle of the playground; they are alone there, all others have failed to appear - or maybe it was already past their curfew. The darkness was slowly taking over their features, but to look closer and one could see they were a boy and a girl - mostly by the shadows of their heads. The hair was making the difference. It was almost impossible to see what was their game; but it was possible to hear their conversation.
"The thing is, that I cannot talk to you normally," the girl said.
"Why is that?" the boy asked innocently. His was voice was high and made a room for the assumption that he was no older than five or six years old.
"Well, you are a kindergarten baby. You don't know a thing from what I know."
"You are not that old, you know."
"Yes, I am. You are only five, and I am almost ten. That is a difference of four and a half years - if you are familiar with numbers, and you're probably not."
"So what?"
"So I have no idea what I have in common with you."
"Then why are you here, with me?"
"As a favor to your mother. She asked me to keep an eye on you for half an hour. It's not like I'm actually doing it for my own pleasure."
"You are not being nice, Dawn."
"Welcome to the fourth graders world," she laughed. "The truth is, you always have to tell the truth to people. What, you prefer me saying how much I enjoy your company and then find out I was lying?"
He remained silent.
"Come on, I'll take you home," she said. "Half an hour's over. I want to go home, I have homework to do. You kindergarten babies are lucky - I wish I could be back there."
"Then be back," he said quietly.
"You're funny! I tell you what, maybe one day you'll be smart - now, Zachary dear, you are as dumb as any typical five-year-old. You cannot go back to what you have been through, you know."
"Too bad," he said even quieter. "The kids are very nice there."
They came near a middle-sized house; that's where they stopped. She let go of his hand and patted his shoulder. "Go home, Zachary."
"Are you sure you don't want to be with me in kindergarten?"
"Yeah, I'm sure." She turned over and walked away. The boy watched her as she stepped on the road, then walked into the house.