My guns became real

I remember playing cops and robbers as a kid. We would run around the yard, chasing each other with sticks made to be guns. Arguments would break out on whether the cop tagged the robber running from the bank. Red marks would glow from our wrists, showing where our rope handcuffs would sit. Bases were announced at the beginning of the round. Straws were pulled assigning roles to each kid who had wandered into the playground. Mouths imitating gun noises echoed through the yard. Sticks bobbed up and down in innocent children's hands, following the sounds bouncing back and forth between kids. I never thought that one day, those guns would become real.