Ralph

The vacant lot is all just tall weeds and rocks and little ditches, with a big For Sale sign in the middle. I got at one corner of the field and Lou at the other and we started walking in a straight line, head down, kicking at stuff, all the way across, then turning around and walking back the other way a couple feet over. This is looking for bottles, how it’s done. It’s very boring.

But it’s one of Lou’s favorite things to do. I know how she feels. I used to be her age. I used to think there was a good chance of finding a dinosaur tooth or a bag of pirate coins.

Or even a trap door.

I used to think maybe there’d be like a trap door just under the dirt, a cellar door, with a rope handle, and I’d open it and go down these dark stairs and come out in a story. I’d be The Boy Who Went Down to the Land Below. And what did he find there? I had no idea. Could be very beautiful, with flowers and fountains. Could be very scary, with dungeons and dogheaded men. Probably very beautiful and very scary. But anyway I’d be in a story, you know? I’d be a boy in a story. I wouldn’t even have to make anything up.

Today so far I kicked up a Dixie cup, a small blue mitten, and an empty box of Luden’s Wild Cherry Cough Drops.