The Crash

We saw it up in the sky. Then it was gone. At least Jamsey agrees with me. He saw it, too. Ask him, he's eight, and he lives on my street. I'm only six, but soon I'll be seven and eight comes after that.

    Anyway, it was night, and we were sitting on the railing looking up at the stars. The railing goes around the porch, and Mom says it keeps people from falling off, and I told her that somebody would have to be stupid to fall off. The porch, I mean.

    I wasn't supposed to be outside. Janice was babysitting, She's fifteen, and she always watches TV and forgets to call me in. I was sitting with Jamsey when Tommy began to cry. He's my brother. He's only two.

    ! said, 'Shut up.' I know that's not nice, but ! was mad, so I said it anyway. Tommy always cries, and then Janice remembers that we aren't in bed yet.

    That was when we saw it. The thing, I mean. I saw it first, and then Jamsey saw it, too. Then it was gone, and it looked sort of like a shooting star, but it was green.

'Annie, did you see that?' Jamsey whispered.

    I nodded, and we saw it again. tt was bright green and blue, and it was getting closer. There were lights on it. Jamsey was so excited he was wiggling, and he never wiggles. Not even at the circus.

    The thing got really near, and we could see that it was burning. Tommy was howling, and Janice was shouting at him to be quiet.

    The thing kept falling, and it got greener and greener, and I said maybe it was a fairy that ran out of fairy dust and couldn't fly, but Jamsey says there's no such thing as fairies, and he knows cause he's eight.

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