Poppy set down one of the mermaid dolls close to the stretch of asphalt road that represented the Blackest Sea. They were old-bought from Goodwill-with big shiny heads, differnet-colored tails, and frizzy hair.
Zachery Barlow could almost imagine their fins lashing back and forth as they waited for the boat to get closer, their silly plastic smiles hiding their lethal intentions. They'd crash the ship againsed the shallows if they could, lure the crew into the sea, and eat the piates with their jagged teeth.
Zachery rummaged through his bag of action figures. He pulled out the pirate with the two cutlasses and placed him gently at the center of the boat-shaped paper they'd weighed down with driveway gravel.