by Focus
© 2000 Focus, all rights reserved
Charity watched Walter shyly, as she colored her picture. Charity liked Walter. But he never noticed her.
He was over in the corner, playing with blocks. He would build a tall tower, then knock it down, then build another tower, as tall as he could, then knock it down again. While he built, his pale eyebrows came together in a serious frown of concentration. But when it was time to knock the tower down again, he laughed with glee, and jumped up and down in excitement.
He used a different method, each time, to knock that tower down. Once he pulled the bottom block out, and the tower came tumbling down around his hand. Once he kicked the tower. Two blocks flew into the wall, then bounced back into the heap with the others. Once he rammed into the tower with a Tonka truck. Every time it was different.
Charity watched Walter, and colored in her picture. She was very careful with her drawing, as she was with everything. She carefully stayed within the lines. She had a blue sky, with white clouds over a yellow house. There were purple and pink flowers in front of the house. Beside the house there was a big tree, with apples Charity had never seen an apple tree, but she knew apples did grow on trees. She was drawing the perfect home, so she put red apples in her tree.
She put herself in the picture too, standing by the tree. That looked good... but she looked lonely. She decided to add one more thing. She drew Walter, climbing the tree. He had an apple in his hand, and a big smile on his face. Charity liked that! She held her picture up to admire it!
Suddenly something hit her paper, and ripped a hole in it! Charity looked down, and saw a block on the floor by her desk. She looked again at the paper - the block had destroyed her tree, and had ripped the drawing of herself. Her perfect drawing was ruined. Charity's eyes filled with tears, and she put her head down on her desk and began to sob.
A hand touched her shoulder. "I'm sorry," Walter said. "I was knocking my tower down with this stick - and one block flew and hit your paper. I didn't mean to ruin your paper!"
Charity looked up at him and saw that Walter really was sorry. But she was angry, because her picture was ruined. So she said, "Go away and leave me alone, you monster! You should be more careful!"
Walter looked at her sadly. Then he picked up his block and went back to the corner where he had been before. He started building a tower again. When Charity saw him go away, she felt even sadder than she had before, so she put her head on her desk again to hide her tears.
After a while her sobbing stopped, but she kept her head down because she was so unhappy. Then she got a strange feeling, as if someone was looking at her. She looked up, and there was Walter. He pointed to the new tower he had built... it was the highest tower he had ever made!
"Oh! That is a tall tower!" she breathed.
He held out his hand to her, and she took it. He led her over to the tower. "You knock it down this time," he said.
"But that is the part you like best!"
"This tower is for you," he said. "You knock it down."
Charity thought a second. She knew she had to find a new way to knock the tower down. She got a chair, and pulled it over by the tower, while Walter watched her. Then she ran and got the dodgeball. She climbed up on the chair, and held the dodgeball as high above the tower as she could. Then she let it fall.
The ball hit the tower smack in the middle! Blocks flew in every direction!
"Woweeeee!" Walter cried. "That was the best yet!" And he looked at her with admiration in his eyes.
Charity ducked her head shyly. "Want me to help you pick the blocks up again?"
Walter nodded. And they knelt on the floor together.