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turned her back to me and started playing with the soldiers again. She'd always been a good, obedient kid, and I'd never known her to defy me so openly before. Frankly, I'd taken pride in the fact that I'd rarely had to yell at her, and I'd always felt that she respected my authority. This time, however, something seemed different, and I figured I needed to nip her rebellious streak in the bud.
    “Lucy,” I said firmly, “I'm being serious now, give me the toys.”
    I waited, but there was no reply.
    “Lucy,” I said again, “give me the toys.”
    I waited.
    “Lucy -”
    “No, Daddy!” she hissed, still with her back to me. “Just leave me alone! I'm playing!”
    I sighed.
    “They're mine now,” she continued. “No-one else can have them!” She paused, before looking down at the toy in her left hand. “Why?” she asked after a moment. “What kind of fire?”
    She turned to the other statue.
    “I don't know how to do that. I'm only little, I don't think I'm old enough to try -”
    She turned back to the first statue and waited, almost as if she was listening to something.
    “I can try if you really want,” she said finally. “Can't you get someone else to do it, though? I'm just a kid.”
    She paused.
    “Okay, but you'll have to tell me how it works. I can't do it by myself.”
    “Did you scratch Mommy's face?” I asked finally, feeling as if I was losing patience.
    I waited, but she was holding one of the statues closer to her ear now, as if she expected it to whisper something.
    “Lucy,” I continued, “I asked you a question. When Mommy asked you to give her the soldiers, did you scratch her face?” I waited, before reaching out to grab the statue.
    “They're mine!” she hissed, pulling her hand away before I could get close enough.
    “Did you scratch -”
    “It's not my fault!” she continued, sounding annoyed. “Mommy thought she could take them away from me, but she can't! She's not allowed!”
    “But it was an accident, right?”
    I waited.
    No reply.
    “Lucy, you only scratched Mommy by accident, didn't you?” Glancing toward the house, I saw Katie staring out at us with fear in her eyes. Turning back to look at the back of Lucy's head, I realized she was ignoring me again.
    I paused for a moment, before getting to my feet. The last thing I wanted was a confrontation, so I figured I'd try a more diplomatic approach.
    “I'm going to go get Mr. Pandy from your bedroom,” I told her, “and I'm going to bring him out here, and you're going to play with him instead. You're going to give me the soldiers and play with your own toys. Do you understand?”
    I waited, but once again she was ignoring me.
    “I'll be back in two minutes,” I added, turning and heading toward the front door. I knew I could have handled the situation better, but I didn't want to be one of those parents who ends up shouting at his kid. As I reached the steps, I glanced at Lucas and saw a mournful, sad look in his eyes. “We're taking another trip to the post office,” I told him. “This afternoon. I'm gonna post those things back to the guy in Wisconsin and just get them out of our lives.” I hurried to the door, before looking back at the dog. “Not because they're evil, but because they're pissing me off! Just to make that clear.”
    “I thought you were going to get them away from her!” Katie said as soon as I made my way inside.
    “I'm in the process of doing that, honey.”
    “You have to do it now!”
    “I'm going to get Mr. Pandy and -”
    “I'll do it!” Pushing past me, Katie hurried out to the driveway.
    “You don't have to be so -”
    I sighed, feeling as if she was being just a little over-dramatic. Hell, everyone so far had reacted to the soldiers with some form of hysteria, and I was starting to think I was the only person who saw them for what they really were: two dumb little chunks of wood that had been painted to look like old-time soldiers. Heading through to Lucy's bedroom, I