ROBOTS OR DINOSAURS?
Cards were strewn in every direction, the room looked like a tornado’s warpath. In the midst of the mess, a child knelt among the cards. Her eyes darted back and forth over the many cards. Every so often, the girl would spot something among the chaos and snap it up and place in into a pile resting at her knees. Only in the indentations pressed into her bare knees from the rug beneath her could tell how long she spent looking over the cards around her.
Hours passed before she even noticed the two inquisitive eyes staring at her actions through the crack of her door to her room. One eye was that of the new resident of their house, a tiny boy, shy and reserved. The other was glazed over, small, black and beady. The host of this eye dangled from the arm of the young boy on the other side of the door. The boy held a tight grip to this bear, staring intently at the goings on within the room. Reggie stifled a giggle and pretended not to notice. She thought he was funny for running away from any sort of attention in the household, but she tried to let it go.
After some time, she couldn’t help but call out to the watcher. “Hi!” Her gaze looked up at the entranced blue eye in the doorway. It widened and then the boy turned to leave in a rush.
“Wait,” she called after the shying child, “Would you—did you want to look at these cards?”
Through the crack in the door, she saw the boy halt and slowly turn back around. He resumed his position behind the slit in the door, but took a stance of hesitance this time around.
“It’s okay David! Daddy says you might be interested in these cards?” She saw the boy gulp in nervousness. “Don’t worry David! Did you want to see my cards?” The little girl gave him a wide toothy smiled which seemed to reassure him if only slightly. Slowly, David entered the room. He treaded the room carefully trying not to step on any of the cards scattered across the floor. With a scoot, Reggie shifted over, making space for the boy. She patted on the floor beside her. “C’mere!”
Showing evident discomfort and hesitance, David knelt beside her. Their matching blonde hair and blue eyes showed the alikeness of genetic siblings sitting beside one another, rather than the adoptive ones that they are.
“We look really alike don’t we,” Reggie giggled. “I bet we’re long lost brother and sister or something!”
The boy sat silent, looking at the cards splayed around him and the girl beside him.
“See any you like?” For a moment, David looked up at Reggie, but quickly looked away. She snickered. “That’s okay! I can help you! Hmmm…” Perusing the cards, she looked back at the boy every so often, as if analyzing his preferences. “How about… this one!” The boy twitched at her increased volume as she snapped up a card just to her right. “It’s a Spellcaster! Do you like witches and wizards?” David gave a quick glance at the card in her hand only to look back at the ground again. He shook his head hurriedly. “Okay,” she placed the card carefully back where it was, “How about… this! It’s a warrior type!” Pushing the card at him, she was certain he’d like the might warrior in the card. He shook his head and resumed looking at the ground once more.
Reggie frowned. This was appearing to be more difficult than she thought. “Ooh! I know!” The boy twitched again. “You’re gonna like… this one! It’s a machine—a robot!” David’s eyes shot up to look at the card held between Reggie’s fingers. Finally, the boy nodded, but still returned to look at ground, as if in embarrassment, once more. “I knew you liked robots! How about this… How would you like it if I made you a deck of a lot of robots!” The boy’s eyes widened once more and he nodded again.
“Yes!” His cheeks flushed red.
The young girl giggled at the look of the embarrassed, red-faced boy knelt beside her. “Okay!”
