|Second Look |

Roger hates the sound of children laughing. Something about it made him angry. He had been working at the playground for two weeks now and he began to wonder. Maybe it wasn't the sound of Children laughing that unnerved him. Could it be that little Dexter with his funny smile and happy giggle brought back memories he'd rather forget. Roger set there and watches the kids. He started to wonder why he took this job in the first place, He really was beginning to hate it. He couldn't help but yawn and kept falling to sleep and waking up.

He finally couldn't take it anymore. He was sleep sound asleep. No more laughing children and no playground around him. No Dexter and his funny smile. He had fallen deep into dreamland.

Something hit Roger in the head and he woke up. He didn't see anything or anyone in sight. What it looks like around him wasn't a playground. There was no kids playing or their laugher filling the air. This place reminder him of something in his past. But what he did not know. "Where am I? What's going on?" "Hello Hello anybody here?" Roger found himself in a big house in a upstairs room. He pinches himself a few times to see if he is dreaming. But he can feel each pinch. Roger decide to try the door and see if it will open. It open and he walks out. Roger could hear no voices or anything that would say someone lived here. He stumbles around for what seems like hours, to try and hear a voice of some kind. He would yell out every now and then "is anybody home?" Roger isn't sure if really wants to anyone to answer and say there here. He has no clue what here is. He paces the hallway trying to find the room he came out of. As he walks the hall he see the ugly wallpaper of color and spirals all around. The walls had weird pictures hanging around. The kind of picture that would give young child nightmares. Roger keeps walking and walking it like a hallway that never ends. It just kept going on and on. Roger stops walking. "What was that?" there was a sound. Yes finally there was some kind of sound. A sound of laughter. It came from behind a door. That appears in front of him. "Mmmmmm...." Roger decides to do in the door. So he opens and finds himself with a bunch of little kids. One of the kids looks like roger at age six. The little kid came up to him and said " my. Buck can I tell you my prayer request?" It all comes back to him. He's at his childhood church in Sunday school as his favorite teacher. But why and what was all that before.. He turns back and sees the door he came though is gone. "Mr. Buck?" "Huh?" "Can I?" "Can you what?" At this point Roger is confused to what just happened and to why he is here. What happen to the playground? Roger stands there with this look of confusion on his face and the little kid stands there afraid. "Can I tell you my pray re..........re.........re........." "Request?" "Yea that what I say" "Go ahead" "That my daddy will come back home." "Where did your Daddy go?"

"He went away mommy yelled at him. he went gone" "What's your name?" "Silly, you know my name" " Can you just tell me again" "My name Roger. People call me Rod" At that moment Roger was in another place completely different. He was in another house. It was smaller then the first house and looked like his childhood home. Roger is standing in a living room and he sees this kid playing with toys laughing. The little kid turn to pick up a toy truck. Then roger was his face. It was himself at age eight. Playing with his toy trucks. He could hear a cracking sound. Which seemed to be on the other side of the wall. Roger puts his hand against the wall. He could feel warmth like there is a fire roaring on the other side.

Little roger sits there unaware of what's happening. He continues to play with his toys. A few minutes later Roger could hear the Fire trucks outside and the people calling in. The firemen rushed in and pulled Little Roger out of this house. At the same time Roger appear outside the house too. Now He remembers why he could stand the sound of laughter of children. That one- day changed his life. Little Roger screamed as the fireman cleaned him off "Mommy, I want Mommy" By the time he finished speaking those words the whole house was up it flames. Little roger stared and cried. Under his breathe he kept saying "mommy". A fireman came over to Little Roger he asked him "Your mommy at work?" "No she in her room"

The part of the house where little Roger's mom room was, It was the first side to burn, and was only ashes now. "Do you know where your dad is?" "He left us two years ago"

Roger stands in the distance crying. He remembers this day. Everything Changed from him that day. He lost his mom in the fire. He had lost his Dad two years before. Now that his mom was gone, he Dad still didn't want anything to do with him. Roger grew up in foster homes. He turns eighteen and he is on his own. Working at the playground with kids who have no parents, while He is going to college. Roger wakes up sitting on a picnic table. Where he had fell asleep. The laughing kids were all around him again. He saw little Dexter with his funny smile and little giggle. Roger now realized why he had chosen this job. He wanted to help kids who had no parents. He wanted them to feel like they matter cause they do matter. Roger so wanted to do this because in all the foster homes he had been in. Not one of them did he ever feel he belonged or that he was important. He now saw what he was there for. The kids' laughter didn't bug him anymore. It just a reminder to why he choose to work there.

Roger continues to work there all thought college. He adopted little Dexter for his very own son. When is Finished college he took over the place. He hired highschooler to spend time with the kids and he adopted a lot of them. He found a family for the ones he didn't adopt himself. Dexter Grew up as Roger's son and Roger fulfilled the dream he had forgotten.

By giving a home to children who didn't have one.