Wagon Rides
by Kelli Vander Laan
They were the perfect neighbors; their names were Don and Judy Schierbeek. They were my next door neighbors for almost 10 years. Both of them were special, but Don was my favorite. He was kind of like a second grandpa to me.
When my sister broke her arm and my parents had to stay at the hospital with her, Katie and I stayed with Don and Judy. Don would take out the little blue Smurfs for us to play with while we watched cartoons. He would let us go play house in his motor home, or pretend like we were going on a big road trip.
Then Don would show us his hand and say, I took my thumb off to let it rest. Even though his stub of a thumb terrified us we would always love to hear all of his stories about why he didn't have a thumb. And being young like I was I would believe every one of them.
Let me take you for a wagon ride. And up and down the sidewalk I'd ride. Up and down, up and down.