World War Whatever

"Okay you're with me."
"I want to be with him."
"Okay you're with him and he's with me instead."
"Okay."
"When you're shot, you're dead."
"And you have to fall wherever you are."
"That means even in thistles."
"I'm not falling in thistles!"
"You have to. That's the rules."
"That's stew-pa!'"
"It's not stew-pa. I can do it. Look."
Pause while I fall dramatically onto thistle.
"See."
"I'm still not doing it."
"If you don't you're out."
"That's not fair!"
"Yes it is. If you don't fall wherever you are, you're out of it."
"I'll fall in thistles then. But I'm not falling in shi'."
We consider. Even I who'll fall in thistles won't fall in shi'.
"No-one has to fall in shi'. Only you have to fall near the shi'. "
"Okay."
"Now, we're after youse."
"No. We'll be after youse."
"I have the real gun. Youse only have sticks. So we're after youse."
"Alright then. But you have to count to fifty. No. A hundred."
"We'll count to a hundred then. One. Two. Three..."

The day is punctuated with boys shouting: "Dar! Dar! Dar!" and clouds of thistle seed blowing by on the breeze. No-one fell in shi'.