Water (gun)

You asked me
why 
you couldn't play with the 
water gun today.
Your eyes
looking up at me.
You barely able to reach the faucet
to fill it up.

Eyebrows scrunched,
hands frozen under
the water
waiting
for a response.

It doesn't even look like
a 
gun.
Not really.
It's electric blue
and
fluorescent green.
Shiny plastic.

Anyone
would
see it
and know
it wasn't
a
real gun.

But I 
couldn't imagine you
spraying
the liquid
innocently
toward the fence
without seeing
faces
as small 
as yours
covered
in blood.

But you
wouldn't understand.

I tried to explain
to you
that
it just
isn't a good idea.

Today.

Or

any
day.

So you abandoned
the water
weapon.

Now 
it's 
spewn across
the sink
getting
everything
wet.