My mac and cheese
stares at me from my favorite Elmo plate.

taunting me.

Mommy says I can’t play
until I finish my dinner.

So I eat
really, REALLY
fast
and run up the stairs
to my playroom.

I take out my G.I. Joe’s.

POW POW!
“Take that Agent Farticus!” I scream.
The soldier clutches his heart
and falls for the last time.

Now General Lou steps in,
avenging the death of his fallen man.

Planes zoom overhead
trailed by Twizzler jet-streams,
dropping popcorn bombs.

The enemy may have a better Air Force,
but they will be crushed by the wave of our Navy!

Water.
All of this fighting has made me thirsty.
I march down the stairs and
land in the kitchen.

Mom is watching T.V.
A man is talking
and he has funny hair and bug eyes.

Mommy stares hard at the screen as a video plays.
It’s just a blur of red and green.
A scrolling message at the bottom
shows a big number that is followed by the word:
casualties

Hey!
It’s General Lou!
How’d he get into the television?

The video ends and it switches back to the man
with the funny hair and bug eyes.
Mom looks sad,
it must be from staring at his ugliness.

I finish my glass of water,
run up the stairs,
and continue
the game.