Well, I'm CERTAINLY not going to quibble about word length. (grin) After all, dialyn's count, I believe, was 872! But since NEITHER was tedious, it didn't matter. In fact, both were over before I "knew" it. Personally, I was too young to remember the Commie scare even though I was born in '51. Or else, it just didn't matter to me (or my family). I wet the bed till I was 6 and THAT was the single most important thing to me at the time. I also remember wanting a pair of pedal-pushers. But we were poor. I hesitate to suggest a few word thingies, I and my unhoned skills but... "...and went to the other side of the field, and tossed his kite..." It's the same thing I said to kialyn. Why does it bother me to the point of mentioning it? To me, it should read: "...went to the other side of the field, and tossed his kite" Of course, it doesn't really have anything to do with the sound story. And for clarity's sake... "the 2 lines crossed... changed to "...but the 2 lines crossed..." Those of you who know me through this forum might suspect I'm a softie. Therefore, it should come as no surprise I was wondering if, after a small spat, she was going to offer to fly the kite together. I really enjoyed the story. And, of course, I HAD to chuckle at her retort about her mommy being told to fly a kite. (grin) Thanks for sharing (AND responding)!