text: A friend of a little girl’s her older sister rode her bicycle over to their house. They were playing in an apple tree, climbing from branch to branch, higher and higher in the apple tree, talking and laughing together. The little girl was too short to climb the tree. Her big sister picked an apple and tossed it down. “Here’s an apple you can eat.” But the apple was green. The little girl felt hurt that her sister would tease her like that. And she felt sad and lonely that she couldn’t play with her big sister, two years older, and the friend of her sister, who was two more years older. Then her older sister and her friend climbed down out of the apple tree, and the little girl felt happy and hopeful that maybe she could play with them. But they made plans to go back to the friend’s house. The little girl begged to come because she wanted to play with her big sister and her sister’s friend. “Sure,” said the friend, deviously, “if you can keep up with us.” The friend hopped on her bike and rode just fast enough for the big sister to run and walk beside her. But the little girl’s legs were short, and being two years younger, she could not keep up with her big sister and the big sister’s friend, who was riding the bicycle. “Wait for me!” the little girl cried. She was all out of breath from running. “I told you that you would have to keep up with us,” replied the big sister’s friend. “Besides, we’ve got to get away from the boogeymen. You’d better run faster too, or the boogeymen will get you!” The little girl didn’t know what a boogeyman was, but when she looked behind her, to her horror, she saw two men in green uniforms with guns at their sides. She had seen men like that go by her house before and hadn’t been afraid. But these two men were ‘boogeymen’ and they were out to get her, and they were walking faster than she could run. The big sister and her friend were out of sight, because they had turned on to the street where the friend lived. The little girl was all alone now and she was sobbing as she tried to run as fast as her little legs could go. “I just have to make it to that friend’s house before those boogeymen get me!” she said to herself. So, she kept going when it felt like she couldn’t run another step and finally made it to the big sister’s friend’s house without the boogeymen getting her. The mom of the big sister’s friend, saw that the little girl was tired and had been crying. She invited the little girl into the house, sat her at the dining room table, got her a nice cool glass of water, and asked her why she was crying. The little girl sniffled while she drank some water. She was feeling embarrassed that she had been crying, but she had been so scared.... So the little girl told the mom why she had been crying. “Your little girl came over to our house to play with my big sister. I wanted to play too, but they climbed up the apple tree, and I can’t reach the branches yet. They threw down an apple for me to eat, but it was green. When they finally came down the apple tree they decided to come here to play. I begged to come along. They told me no. I begged some more and finally your little girl said I could come, but that I would have to keep up with her riding. The sun is really hot out and I ran as fast as I could to keep up, but every time your little girl saw that I was catching up, she rode a little faster. The white road is hot and dusty. My feet hurt, and I couldn’t breathe very well. My big sister can run faster than me, and I got behinder and behinder. Then your little girl told me that the boogeymen were going to get to me if I couldn’t run any faster. When I looked behind me I saw two men in green clothes and they had guns. And I was scared that they would get me cause I couldn’t run any faster.” The little girl started crying again. She was so tired and afraid. “All I want is to play with my big sister and your little girl.” The mom called her little girl and scolded her for being so mean. “You are grounded for two days. You may not leave this house to go play with your friends. You will go to your room right now, young lady!” The mom scolded the big sister, too. “You know better than to tease your little sister about being gotten by boogeymen when you know full well that there is no such thing. You go into the living room and find yourself a seat until my husband comes home from work, and he can take you both home. No reading books, either.” That night I could hardly eat any supper. I was thirsty and asked for seconds on a glass of lemonade. And I was unusually quiet. “What’s wrong?” Mom asked me. The I started crying. “Mommy, what is a boogeyman?” “Why there is no such thing as a boogeyman. Who told you there were boogeymen?” “Becky and her friend, Pam, said that there were boogeymen behind me and that they were going to get me if I couldn’t run any faster. And I saw two men behind me and they had guns, and I was so scared. I tried to run faster, but Pam rode her bicycle even faster and I couldn’t keep up with them, and I finally couldn’t even see them anymore. And I was all alone, and I was so scared!” “Come here,” said Mom. She set me on her lap giving me a comforting hug. Dad said, “Go to your room right now, young lady.” He went to get the paddle to give Becky a spanking. Becky cried crocodile tears. She knew if she cried hard enough she would stop getting spanked. But Becky wasn’t at all sorry for what had happened. Sharon always wanted to play with her and Pam, and she was such a nuisance. And after Dad told her she was grounded for two days, Becky thought to herself, “Pam is grounded for two days too, so we can’t play together anyways. And giving that green apple to Sharon and running ahead of her and teasing her about the boogeymen was so much fun--I’d do it again in a heartbeat!”