The stripe of line led him confidently along the pine straw littered road. He imagined it to be the magic spot. One side was surely the biker’s domain, the other designated for walkers. Aaron was neither.

Soon after his blonde baby hair began to darken Aaron discovered the betweeness of his world. Inside, outside or the doorway. In the grass, on the pavement, or the dusty little strip between. Those were the places adventure awaited. Aaron loved adventures.

Trouble was, people were always shouting, “stay in the yard.” “Inside or outside, pick one!” And his most dreaded shout of all, “Bedtime means sleeptime mister!” Aaron disagreed.

Bedtime was a good time for chancing the possibilities of tomorrow and just thinking. He thought about how standing in a doorway held the magic of feeling the warm outside breezes at the same time as the cool interior. And how while he held the door open insects were always buzzing by, mostly to get inside, but sometimes not. He could recall how the day before he found the tiniest toad sitting right on the edge of yard and road. Aaron loved the toad.

The line stretching out in front of him was the perfect opportunity! It was a path sure, but he could not see the end. The bend just there in the road kept his mind wrapped up in the mystery. He was neither here nor there. And for once no one was halting his pleasure. His little mind ran through a myriad of imaginings, some exciting, some observational, some scary. In fact, what if there was a dragon eating a princess up there? Aaron felt a little tingle of fear.

As his fear grew, he thought he could even hear the gnashing of large teeth. A little sweat meandered down his back. And then he remembered, he lived in between. He turned around just then, stayed on his line so as not to be a biker or a walker; and ran, yes ran, to his laughing Mama, who was just behind him, also on the line, but in between. Aaron loved possibilities.