Abigail was a dreamer.
She was the kind of kid every parent hopes to have—smart, sweet, and
creative enough to entertain herself for hours on end. She could play with anything, giving voices
to whatever inanimate objects were strewn about the house. She never really complained, always ate her
vegetables, and was polite to everyone she met.
Her parents were away on business a lot and they would frequently
leave Abigail with her Auntie. Auntie
was single, had no children, and absolutely loved Abigail. They had a special relationship that neither
of them fully understood, but each was the other’s best friend and closest
confidant. One time, Auntie had to take
a long phone call, so she gave Abigail a deck of cards to play with. Being the creative little girl she was,
Abigail entertained herself for the rest of the night making up different
games. Auntie ended up giving her the
deck of cards.
The other kids at school weren’t quite as accepting of
Abigail’s individuality and, as kids often do, they teased her. They seemed more fascinated than hateful,
usually testing the limits of her creative mind. On this particular day, Abigail brought her
new deck of cards to school. It was time
for recess and Abigail was all about the card games, playing by herself and
daydreaming all the while.
The other kids decided to play a game of their own in which
they would sneakily take a card from the deck every few minutes. They wanted to know how long it would take
before Abigail would notice that she wasn’t playing with a full deck.
But Abigail was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she
didn’t have a clue. Or if she did, she certainly
didn’t let it affect her.
