What Happened to the Kids?

When joy turned into fear

The innocence of youth was in full expression as the children played on the shores of the lake. The kids were young and free and undomesticated. We domesticate animals and we also domesticate our children through the system of reward and punishment and fear.

But there were no adults around. The kids were wild. Restraint and judgment had not yet been fully drilled into them although the domestication process had begun resulting in some self-restraint and self-judgment. But in the presence of the other kids those mental patterns were easily dropped and their wildness came pouring out.

They were simply having too much fun being themselves.

They had no fear of death.

They played but there were no games. And no rules. They screamed and laughed and giggled. They chased each other. They fell. They got up. They twirled in circles. They sang. They danced. They bumped into each other.

Then little Clayton picked up a rock. It was a round, flat and smooth rock. He remembered seeing his dad skip rocks over water so he turned to face the lake and threw the rock side-armed over the lake. It bounced off the surface of the lake one time then it plopped into the water.

In that split second when the rock skipped off the surface of the lake everything suddenly changed. Instantly there were no longer any children playing on the shore of the lake. They disappeared into thin air. All of them.

In their place were several older adults, all dressed in black. They were not playing and laughing and being free. There was no joy at all. Sadness and fear permeated the air.

They had just come from a funeral. With heads down, they walked slowly in somber silence along the shore (where they had played together so long ago), each of them wondering who would be next.

Copyright by White Feather. All Rights Reserved. This is a work of fiction.

Speaking of youth…