the twilight zone: sandbox episode

 The other day, my four-year-old stopped suddenly beside the sandbox near our apartment. "WHAT???" she shrieked.

The source of her shock? One of the grounds workers had raked the sand. This is not out of the ordinary. What was out of the ordinary was that instead of a haphazard raking to quickly remove any debris that may have fallen in, the grounds worker had carefully started in the center and raked a spiral path to the outside, leaving no footprints behind.

The girls were speechless and just stood there.

 

Then my two-year-old piped up. "Look like a snail!" she said. Quite a brilliant observation, I thought.

They soon began running around and around the perimeter of the sandbox, unwilling to mar the wonder that lay before them.

Until my older daughter finally dared to disturb the pristine spiral. She reached her foot into the sandbox and left a footprint. The spell broken, they both began dancing through it, leaving ample evidence of their brief visit into this childlike version of the Twilight Zone.