Hawkins Hollow Nursery Rhymes
Windowed Role Spinner
Child-facing question: Can four friends draw and erase a route, notice what changed, and leave one unfinished window as a promise to protect something living? Dominant anchor: Forward / back, high / low, draw / erase, finish / wait. Cast: Brandon Rabbit approaches from one side, tests the high window, and later folds the dry route strip; he is barefoot by default. Alice Mole approaches from the other side, tests the low window, and never wears glasses. Callen Crow opens and reverses the spinner while remaining clothed and anthropomorphic. Kaydence, with round glasses clearly visible, asks what changed, identifies the chrysalis, and preserves the unfinished window as the promise for later. Lillian and Zylar were considered as available, but the named four already complete the opposite-route, evidence, care, and delayed-promise mechanism.
Rhyme
The Window We Left Open
Two sides of reed-dock inlet
held two careful lines.
Brandon came forward from one bank;
Alice came back from the other side.
Their feet drew marks in dampened dust,
then Callen swept each mark away.
Forward / back, high / low,
the spinner pictured the way.
At moonflower wall, Brandon tried high.
Alice tried the lower view.
Callen opened the window wide.
Kaydence watched the dew.
The first route curved toward butterfly station.
One damp patch changed its shine.
“Try harder,” nearly filled the chant,
but Kaydence asked, “What changed this time?”
The footpath vanished behind them.
No route remained to prove.
Beneath one sheltered moonflower leaf,
a quiet chrysalis did not move.
Forward became back.
High became low.
Callen reversed the spinner
before butterfly station could become a stop.
One window panel stayed unfinished.
Kaydence left its corner bare.
“We can finish after the ground dries,
if this small neighbor is no longer there.”
Brandon folded the dry route strip.
Alice kept the low edge clear.
Callen closed the spinner gently.
Kaydence watched without drawing near.
The promise was the unfinished window.
The success was not a thing they made.
The chrysalis stayed exactly where it rested,
undisturbed beneath the leaf.
About This Rhyme
Performance style: Spoken opposites-motion rhyme with optional high/low, forward/back, draw/erase, stop, reverse, and open-window gestures.
Estimated spoken length: About 95 seconds.
Ways to Join In
- Trace forward, erase behind, then reverse before the final stop.
- Ask “What changed?” before repeating a movement.
- Leave one pretend window corner unfinished as a promise for later.