The warm afternoon sunshine glistened through the elm leaves as it trickled to the ground. The towering branches overlapped high in the air in front of the old house creating a canopy over the entire front yard. Further out in front of the house and its large wrap around front porch and beyond the shade of the elms a side walk swept gracefully around the exceptionally large cul-de-sac. The sidewalk had long since begun to settle and crack making random portions of the concrete surface uneven allowing wind and rain to fill many of the sunken corners with dirt and gravel. Blades of grass and dandelions defiantly pushed their way through the small crevices and bristled occasionally in the afternoon breeze.

     On the sidewalk, in front of this grand old structure, a group of children played. Barefoot and dressed in jean shorts, t-shirts, dusty feet, sweaty hands and smudged faces they giggled and laughed while occupying themselves with their child games. They were quite enamored at the moment, playing with something that caused some of them to bend over frequently, pick it up and toss it fervently into the air. Some would squeal and rapidly brush their faces and rush across the yard toward the wrap around porch then stop, whip around and point back at the rest of the group playing on the sidewalk. A few of the girls stood away from the rest of the group with the palms of their hands pressed against their cheeks warning the boys not to do it again. The boys of course were having great fun with this as they would bend over once again pickup the something and run toward the girls with it sending them screaming and squealing across the cul-de-sac to an adjacent yard a safe distance away.