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A small pebble came crashing down in the center of the tallest turret of the town. A black haired boy grinned and loaded another, reddish, rock into the center of his tiny homebrewed catapult, made of sticks and grass and a carefully placed hair rubber-band. From the supports stuck one jaunty black feather, the kind which littered the boy's arms, sandy from the ground on which he was propping himself. One eye closed, he lined up the shot, punched a few numbers on a playfully coloured pocket calculator, then nudged it to the left slightly. Firing, the red pebble completely demolished the rest of the turret, and he lifted a small fist in silent victory, spraying sand from his feathered arms.

Aaron stumbled backwards in a sort of crab walk from the girl towering over him, slightly confused at her anger. She was supposed to play back!

When she shoved him, he heard a crunch and sadly pulled the remnants of his catapult out from under his elbow.

So much for playing.

He stared at the dog-eared girl in the best look of utter disbelief he could muster up. She was nuts! Sitting here building more buildings for him to knock down, finally, playing like she should, AFTER she'd made him smush his catapult!

This girl clearly was not getting it.

With a glance first over at David, who was sitting on a park bench several yards away still babbling furiously about something, he gave the girl a suspicious look, then began piling up his own sand, using the broken sticks of his catapult as supports. He was going to show her how it was supposed to be done.

Not recognizing the intent behind the gift, Aaron took the rock with only a cursory glance and stuck it in the pocket of his baggy pants as he stood to continue building his tower. It was getting even taller than he was, and his taloned toes dug into the sand as he strained to pat flat the layer of sand on the top. Sand rained down from his feathered arms over Shay's head.

Aaron placed a small tee-pee'd bundle of sticks at the very top carefully. Pulling his hands away quickly, he breathed a sigh of relief when the tower stayed put. Reminded somewhat of one of his favourite games, Jenga, he smiled. Time for the finishing touch. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the stone, admiring it for the first time. It really would be a perfect topper. Waving his hand impatiently in front of the puppy-girl'd face to get her attention, he waited, stone in hand.

Before Aaron could even process the tears streaming down the girl's face, he was seeing the tower shudder then begin to collapse in upon itself. He froze and stumbled backwards, shaking his head, before tripping to the ground and covering his head, the stone clutched in his sweating hand. A whining sound is all that came from his curled up body.

The girl's hair was tickling Aaron's face. He scrunched up his pointed nose and cracked open one eye. Behind the girl was a harmless pile of sand. Afraid of sand! Aaron scrunched his mouth up as well. How dumb! The sweat cooled on his exposed skin and he uncurled himself, revealing the stone that he had been about to place atop the tower epic-ly. Was he broked? Yes, that would make a good cover for his silliness! Frowning, he pointed at his foot as he curled his toes under and nodded at her sadly.