bad Luck

Sami had felt bad for ages about what she had seen late at night over her fathers shoulder as he picked her up to be put back into bed “for the hundredth time”.

Dad didn’t help much. Every time she asked about the boy he would act all dumb. She got angry because he wouldn’t understand. She told him “the boys all blown up” but he would just say “what boy honey?” and she would cry.

She tried to tell her mum but she said it was just a bad dream she was remembering. Sami knew it wasn’t. Late at night when she was supposed to be asleep she imagined talking to the boy and telling him he was OK but she wasn’t very convincing because thinking of him being all smashed up made her sad. She cried too loudly and mum came in to the room. “It’s OK honey I’m here it’s all right”. But it wasn’t. The boy was hurt. She knew it was true: she had seen it on TV.

Finally she knew how to tell. “I saw the boy on TV get smashed up with his mum and dad”. “Oh....., no darling that was just a TV show with actors and stuff. No one gets hurt when they make a move. We have talked about them before”.

Sami thought about that for a long time.