In Twenty Years

Twenty years from now, that light will vanish. Replaced with more flickering ones, the kind that you see in parties. But those branches around, they will still be there. Not them, exactly. Not the ones in there are at present, but their sons and daughters and probably a few grandkids.

And that girl, who never ceases to look up to the light every time she passes by it, she'll be older. Twenty years from now, she'll go from the young girl who chased her shadow around to a lady in heels coming home from work.

And that boy, who always bask under the light's glow, he'll grow, too. He'll no longer be the boy who swatted fireflies winging around the post. Instead, he'll be a man coming home from a mean day's job.

Who knows, maybe they'll end up walking under it together.

Photo by: Oblivious Dude

The Robot

Its existence was not something it would wish for everybody else. It wanted to be something more than what kids could dismantle when they had tantrums. It wanted friends and a future that extended to an almost infinity.

At the toy store, everything else envied its family. All the young boys wanted them, more than guns and bows and arrows. But nobody knew what happened to its brothers when they were bought. It did not know, too, before. And always, it envied its elders when kids chose them.

Until a young boy walked into the store one day and went for it directly. It was delighted. Finally!

The following days were fun. The boy never let it go. It even got to sleep beside the boy. It was given a seat by the boy's meal plate. It took a bath with the boy.

But one day, a car was brought in by the boy's father. And suddenly, the car was everywhere too. Then one day, the boy just played with the car.

The robot was forgotten. The dog came in and munched on one of the robots legs but the boy didn't mind. There were days when the robot spent hours under the bed or the sofa. But the boy never looked for it.

And that day, when the robot was mourning its existence, the trash truck was being emptied into the dump site. The robot was capped with a banana peel.

Photo by: Adam Dorman