Town Children

Ten children have been snatched from our small town this century from unlocked homes and yards. We never go outside to play unless a grownup goes. Sometimes life seems so hard. At school recess is twenty minutes long. If we’re not good, we have to stay inside. So we are REALLY good! We need to play, to feel the sun and breeze, see birds that glide above us as we make the best of time. At home we have our tv’s, phones, and toys. We play inside with doors and windows locked. We’re pale, like many other girls and boys who gaze out windows wishing they could be like kids of long ago who played outside for hours at the time in bright sun’s rays and roamed in groups so freely far and wide. FICTIONAL (not true in my town--but in some towns!) Written September 10, 2019, for Julia Ward's Town Children Contest