The twin suns are starting their descent over Owen Lars's farm. In a pit of soft, warm sand behind the house, a little boy sits and plays with a toy spaceship, pretending to save his homeworld from certain doom. He pounds a fist into the sand, trying to make a dramatic landing for his toy Naboo Starfighter. Unsatisfied with the dent in the sandpit that resulted, he picks up a handful and throws it up into the air, shutting his eyes tightly so that they don't get sand in them. He smiles to himself, pleased with the mini sandstorm he created.
"I'll save you, Tatooine!" he cries out, picking up a Jedi action figure. He takes an action figure of a Rodian in his other hand, and starts to smack the two toys together, making up a dramatic fight scene between them.
"Luke!" Aunt Beru calls from the window. "Luke, you have to come in to eat. And then you need a bath!" Luke looks over at her, and she disappears into the house. He wants to play for just a few more minutes, but the last time he stayed outside for "just a few more minutes", he played until it got dark out, and then a little group of Sand People came up to him, and scared him to tears. That was a week ago. He's pretty sure it still hurts where Uncle Owen's hand connected with his back side. Uncle Owen said that an eight-year-old should not be playing outside when it's dark out. Especially when he knows he's not supposed to be. Luke picks up his toys, and stands up. He looks down at the little houses he made in the sand.
"Actually, Tatooine," he says. "I'm a rancor!" He takes a big breath in, puffs out his chest as far as it can go, and lets out his best roar. He jumps on the little sand city, and it squishes between his toes.
"Luke!" He looks at the window again to see that his Aunt magically appeared.
"Coming!" He looks around him quickly, just in case some Sand People come around, and he puts his boots back on his feet. He runs into the house, pretending that his Jedi action figure is flying the Naboo Starfighter.
He plops himself down at the table across from Uncle Owen. "Guess what I did today, Uncle Owen!" Uncle Owen gives a little smile.
"What did you do? I see you're covered in sand." Aunt Beru sits down beside Luke, and ruffles his sun-bleached hair with her fingers. Sand sprinkles down onto his shoulders. She wipes her fingers on the skirt of her dress.
"Yeah, what were you doing? You're going to need a really good bath to get all this sand out of you!" She reaches over to the middle of the table, scoops some Womp Rat stew into a bowl, and places it in front of the boy. Luke takes a bite of stew.
"I tried chasing a Womp Rat this morning!" He looks down at his bowl. "You didn't cook him, did you Aunt Beru?" He takes another bite, and continues. "And after that, I was being a pilot with my toy shuttle, and then I made a city in the sand and started playing with my Starfighter and my Jedi!" He takes a third bite of stew, and smiles happily.
"Sounds like you had quite the day!" Aunt Beru pats his shoulder lightly. Uncle Owen blows on his spoonful of broth.
"He's full of energy," he says quietly. "A lot like his father when he was young." Aunt Beru shoots Owen a look from across the table, and Owen shoves the spoon into his mouth. Luke doesn't really hear what Owen says. He looks at his uncle and wrinkles his eyebrows.
"What did you say?"
"Uh, after you're done eating, you have to comb the sand out of your hair and have a bath. And then you need to go to bed. We're going to have a busy day tomorrow." Luke's eyes light up.
"We're going to Mos Eisley?" He asks excitedly. Uncle Owen nods, putting another spoonful into his mouth. Luke grins. "I get to play with Grizz and Fixer tomorrow!" He pushes his empty bowl in front of him, jumps down from his seat, and runs off to his bedroom.