the sand box

There was a dog

They called his name

BINGO

BINGO

BINGO

And Bingo was his name oh

Children, the sounds of voices of children playing in the near by park

The wind rustling leaves

The garbage men speedily dumping our garbage into trucks

The wind is serene

The sun blistering heat from its spotlight in the sky

The musical creaking of rusted chains

The children singing in the playground

Walking down the deserted street

Im a fortunate man

I am to be the observer

Haven’t been out of my apartment in months

Locked down with a torn meniscus

Barely escaping …

There was a dog they called his name

BINGO

BINGO

BINGO

And Bingo was his name oh

An American goldfinch just landed on the sand chirping its song

The wind innocent as a child asking for his mamma

Michael is playing in the sandbox he fiddles with the plastic shovel

Scooping up a trinket of some sort

He looks at it in the shimmering light of the son

A heart shaped locket of some sort

He places the locket in his pocket

Michael continues to dig

Maybe if I dig long and hard enough I can find more treasures he says to himself

He keeps digging until his plastic shovel hits something

Michael starts scooping up sand with his hands, he finds a photo

Brushes away the sand dust

To reveal a photo of himself and his mom

Who just passed away

He doesn’t dare open the locket nor tell anyone about it

Michael

Michael

James calls out

Brother I went to get some popcycles

Here you can have the chocolate

Or the orange

Which one

Michael takes the orange one

And they walk off

James is in charge of a group of children from the near by theater

I take care of these children like my own

Yet Michael is the special one

A soft kid

With a soft voice

He shows me what he found

And I find it strange

Very strange indeed

Don’t know what to do with it

I keep it to myself not notifying my supervisor

Michael keeps the locket to himself also not daring to open it

He thinks about marguerite his mom who just left this earth

James holds Michaels hand as they cross the street

The locket remains a mystery

Michael treating it as a toy

And james wondering what is that thing around Michaels neck that he didn’t have before

James has been his teacher for many years and asks him openly

Michael what is that locket on a chain round your neck

Michael stays quiet

He comes from quiet parents

In a quiet town

Every thing is quiet around here

Michael takes the time and takes the locket off and hands it to james

James asks Michael if he can open it

The locket opens in two hart shaped halves

On each side a photo

A child

A mother

Nothing strange about this situation

When I was a kid I used to find much stuff in that sandbox

Michael to outsiders seems like a deaf kid

Yet he is just super quiet and connects with james in almost a psychic way

James understands

James takes a napkin from his pocket

And wipes Michaels mouth from the dripping popcycle

And wonders how on earth a photo of Michael and his deceased mom found itself

Not only in a single photo yet in the locket in a mini version

They walk back to the theater

From the playground

The sounds of the other children ministering away in the wind

The sounds of creaking rusted chains from the swings

The songs the children sing on the see saw

The songs and love of children

Innocent and holy

He takes a drink out from his pocket

Waiting for Michaels father to pick him up

On this stuffy and hot afternoon

James heads home

And calls his rabbi

To get more questions then answers to his questions

Finishing his can of Utopia soft drink

He crushes it and slams it in the garbage can

He wonders

All night…

Awakening in the morning

He looks in the mirror

And sees his face