Playing God: A Fun Game for Kids

Steviee Geagan

Granddad’s thick, tree root fingers seized the strands of Spider-Man’s webbing strewn onto the

worn cotton of my pajama shirt and heaved my grass-smeared slippers up the moss-padded

cement steps to where my little graveyard lied.

Below the patio table, a row of halved worms rested peacefully. Each one with their own

headstone crafted of syrup-stained popsicle sticks. The jokes (respectfully) scratched out with

Crayola.

A gust of wind entered through the hollow in Granddad’s face. Why exited.

To see if one half could live without the other.

His roots unearth from my shirt.

I sucked the dried mud from under my fingernails.

Steviee Geagan is an emerging writer born and raised all around the Western Pennsylvania area. He has appeared in Pulp, The Siren, and was a finalist in the Roadrunner Review’s 2019 Writing Contest. When Steviee isn’t reading submissions for BatCat Press or Pulp, he desperately pleads with his well-loved Mr. Coffee to brew enough joe to last the night.