Shabath #18

Two young boys playing - a little fantasy in the world as seen by five and six year old boys.

"I'm a spider"
"I've got a gun to shoot the bad guys"
"I shoot web stuff at them"
"I just stop them"
"And my other power is to catch them"
"And then I get them in jail"
"We're getting a lot of bad guys aren't we"
"Yep"

As they are running around the lobby of the church after a Saturday evening service.

Running and jumping and falling and smiling and laughing and simply enjoying the playing.

Barely missing the cuts and bruises and bloody noses and skinned knees that are microns and light years away from their bodies.

If their mothers saw them ... well the bumped heads and torn pants and dirty shirts would be seen way too soon and, of course, this isn't the place to be playing like that ...

But only an older man saw them and remembered ...

how great it was

to just play
to make up the game as we went along
to do it without adults grooming us for the future
to work out our differences ourselves
to have the hurt
to feel the pain
to know the fun of getting through it
to be free

to play like the young boys in that lobby

he remembered,
he was both with these two and with his buddies again

he smiled

Shalom