5. Stick
Alandi was laughing.
She'd found an insect, which looked exactly like a fallen stick, and squatted down to watch it play.
"Come join me!" she called, one hand beckoning. She was eight when she found the insect, but her birthday was coming very soon. Mine was almost four months later.
"Maybe we could pretend to be something else too, don't you think?" she asked me as I sat beside her. I told her that I didn't know.
"Like what would you be?"
Alandi shrugged. "Anything."
I'll be a rock, perhaps. Or a bird in the sky. Maybe one day, Alandi can pretend that her face is smooth and clear, without the spidery patterns that mark her skin.
We sat together and watched the insect, still caught in its very own game of make believe.