It was a terrible accident, but no one got hurt - Lawrence Hamlin

As a child, death or even serious injury was hard to imagine. So it was never a part of play. Certainly we played cowboys and Indians and someone was always dying in grand gestural and dramatic form. Frequently there was denial of the imagined gunshots or arrow actually reaching their desired spot. Never-the-less, playful deaths happened. Vicious verbal fights would ensued and childhood alliances were what got wounded. But never for very long as the next game, be it kickball, baseball or street hockey helped make the brief memory of emotional injury disappear. My enemy became my best friend/teammate for the next game. Okay, you’re dead, let’s go play kickball!