Sunday in the Park - Bel Kaufman

Sunday in the Park is a short story about a family of three who went to that park one Sunday afternoon. They were the only three at the park that afternoon, and they were watching their three year old son playing in the sandbox. The sea saws and swings were motionless and the slides were empty. Only in the sandbox there was motion where two little boys played, on Larry the son of the family which was mentioned earlier and another boy who was about Larry's age. The other boy was playing in the sandbox unsupervised and the only thing going through Larry's mother's mind was where his mother was.

But then Larry's mother noticed another large man sitting on another bench and supposed that he was the boy's father. As the two boys were playing in the sand, one of them through sand at Larry. Larry's mother noticed and she immediately scolded him. The man on the other bench replied and told his son to throw all the sand he wanted and that it was a public sandbox.

Morton, the lady's husband, then felt the need to intervene in the situation. He was telling the man that even though it was a public sandbox it doesn't mean that his son can throw sand at Larry. But the larger man cut him off and said if his son feels like throwing sand he will and they should take their child and leave if they don't like it.

As the argument heated up both men were at their feet with their fists and teeth clenched. The larger man took a couple of steps closer to Morton and then stopped. Morton being the bigger man decided to get his kid and leave. But when he went to get his son he began kicking and screaming shouting "I don't want to leave, I want to play more!"

Without listening to their son, they gathered their things and walked out of the park. As they were leaving, Morton explained to his wife that a fight wouldn't have solved anything because the man was much bigger than Morton. His wife agreed, but inside she felt it was more than just a defeat, she felt that it had something to do with Morton and her.

As they continued to walk home, Larry was still crying, and Morton snapped and asked his wife if she could keep him silent. She replied with an angry voice saying "what do you think I've been trying to do". Then Morton began to get more angry, not just because of his son crying but because he was defeated in front of his family. He told his wife that if she couldn't discipline him he would. She said to him "Indeed, you and who else?" This was what the larger man at the park had said to Morton when he tried to stop him.