the death of bob.

i happen to live in an apartment connected to the house that my parents bought when my mum was just 18. when the parents divorced bruce stayed and my mum left. my childhood sandbox has always been out front. i noticed this morning however that the sandbox is gone. the sand is still there but the box around it is gone. sad. this brought back a flood of memories, including bob. bob was my imaginary friend. i really, truly loved bob. we did a lot together. we spent lots of time in that sandbox chatting it up. my sister hated bob. i worshipped my sister. she also hated me at the time but i think that she hated the fact that i had something she didnt have and couldn't even see for that matter. when she would happen upon me having a grand old time with bob she would get...agitated. she would insist that he wasn't real. i was not convinced. i could see him. there he was with his red shirt on and sandy fingers. there was the castle we were builing together, the shovel at his feet. the juice can used a mold in my hand. or, yeah, that's him, swinging on the swing next to me, swinging his chunky little legs and pumping away to try to get higher than me (yeah right). i would sing and he would sing too. micheal row your boat. rhiannon. good day sunshine. and then the sister. telling me i was nuts for having a fake friend that was a boy no less. i never listened. she would yell at him to leave but she never seemed to yell directly at him because she never knew where he was. until one day. bob and i were kicking it in sandbox, letting the cool sand trickle over our legs and through our fingers talking about this and that. then the sister came home and was immediately all over bob and me in the sandbox. she stormed up to us and demanded to know exacty where bob was. um. hello. he's right next to me. the sandbox~ not very big. the sister picks up a bucket. fills it with sand and dumps it right on bobs head. i freaked. what was that for? you got sand in his eyes! his mouth! and the sister laughed and said bob's dead sarah. and walked away. and poof. bob was gone. and he never came back. the power of the sister, the giver of light, the taker of life.