I get to be at the Playground
every day.
Dada takes me there
and tells me to wait.
I get to play
every day.
I always play by myself,
but I like it.
I get to run around,
and swing,
and sometimes
The Ice-Cream Man
is there, and
he gives me Ice-Cream.
He lets me pick
WHATEVER
I want!
Sometimes the grownups ask why I play by myself.
I tell them ’cause I’m a
BIG BOY
now!
I’m
FOUR!
The Ice-Cream Man
sometimes talks to me,
when there’s no one at the
Playground.
He says weird things.
He says
“follow your dreams.”
He says
“everything will be okay.”
He says
“your dada loves you very much.”
I don’t know why he says that.
Sometimes he reads to me.
He brings books,
and shows me the pictures.
They belonged to a boy he knows.
Some nights,
he gives me food and
waits for Dada to come get me.
He shows me stars.
He names them.
They have big names.
He asks me questions, like
what do I want to be when I grow up.
I want to be lots of things, like
a fireman and
an Ice-Cream Man.
When I said that, he was
sad.
He picked me up
for the first time then.
After that he hugged me a lot.
That was when Dada started being
later,
and later,
and later.
We saw more stars.
The Ice-Cream Man
said that they move.
R
e
a
l
l
y

S
l
o
w
l
y.

Today, it is cold.
The Ice-Cream Man
lets me have Ice-Cream anyway.
There aren’t that many people in
the Playground.
After I have my Ice-Cream,
the Ice-Cream Man
tells me about how
Ice-Cream is made.
Then I run
around
and
around
the play structure.
I climb it.
The Ice-Cream Man
calls me over,
and we eat a sandwich.
Then we wait for Dada.
The Ice-Cream Man
sits with me,
on the floor.
It’s the first time he’s done that.
I start getting sleepy.
Dada’s very late,
The Ice-Cream Man
says.
But I can’t go to sleep.
I’m a
BIG BOY,
and
BIG BOYS
stay up and wait for their Dadas.

When I wake up, there are people
talking.
And lots of
red and blue lights.
The Ice-Cream Man
is holding me,
and talking to a
Policeman.
I don’t get what they’re saying.
The Policeman
says that someone was on their
way here when
IT
happened.
The Ice-Cream Man
holds me tighter.
He says something I don’t
understand.
He says,
“I can’t believe it.”
He says,
“What did he do to deserve this?”
He says,
“He doesn’t deserve this,
this taste of
Death’s
Kiss.”
What is
Death’s?
Why does it kiss?
They talk more,
and I start
falling
back
asleep.
But then someone is
moving
me.
The Policeman
is carrying me, and I
don’t like it.
I want
The Ice-Cream Man.
I start crying, and kicking.
The Ice-Cream Man
waves.
The Policeman
puts me into a car.
The car with the
red and blue lights.
The Ice-Cream Man
still
waves.