Park Hunters

On the way home from the metro today, two young girls ran in front of me on the path through the park and yelled, "YOU CAN'T PASS!!"

"Are you monsters?" I replied.

"Naw, we're hunters. We're hunting the squirrels and the birds. We live in the park over by that tree there."

"What do you do with the animals after you hunt them?"

"We eat them, of course."

"How do you cook them?"

"With fire." She pointed to a small pile of sticks a little ways away. "See, you rub them sticks together until they make smoke, and then you get fire."

"Ah yes," I answered knowingly. "I've tried that before. It's hard."

The look of wonder spread across her face and her eyes opened wide. "Have you did it?"

"Nope! Like I said, it's hard. But I bet you could do it."

Then they took me for a tour of park, pointing out all the special trees--one was a couch, a shower, a TV, a refrigerator--and told me all about being squirrel hunters in the park. Then I thanked them and wished them luck, and came home to cook non-make-believe food for dinner.