it was an overcast afternoon. three kids were out of school and en route to the domestic universe by way of myrtle. hunched over outside of a women's clothing store, very eagerly examining what any former child knows could only have been an insect. the three of them, crouching around a sidewalk tree. two girls and one little brother, huddled down beneath the branches and oblivious to the pedestrians.
they were doing child experiments on the bug, seeing how it reacted to various stimuli. one of the girls stomped the ground next to the bug to see if she could get a rise out of it. the other two leaned in on their knees to see what would come of this. these little people did not exist in the twentieth century.