Sydnee goes about 4-foot-11 and weighs in at 86 pounds. Her game is basketball. She likes to play her games on a court, not a video screen. Her favorite subjects are math and science.

“In science, we’re learning about streams and water and we do really fun things.”

In math, it’s the “times tables.” She really likes the times tables.

When she gets home from school, she likes to play “school” in the dining room. She uses a slim bamboo rod as her pointer.

“I imagine the students,” she says.

This is a very neat kid who gives her age the same way a lot of young girls do — by the next birthday coming up. She’ll be 10 in December.

She might not want to rush this growing up thing, though. She can look out the window of the house on Aberdeeen Street in West Warwick and see what the grownups have been up to. It isn’t pretty.

Sydnee’s father, Bill Castaldi, a Warwick police officer, calls it a case of “adults behaving badly.” He laughs only a little when he says it.

It started with a stone. But it really got ramped up with the letter from Progressive Insurance on Aug. 31. Since that letter, Sydnee is pretty sure she is the only student in her fourth-grade class at Wakefield Hills Elementary School being sued.

She doesn’t have a piggy bank, but if she did she knows it wouldn’t contain enough to cover the $919.28 Progressive is demanding.

But first, back to the stone. Beck Castaldi, Sydnee’s 18-month-old brother, had it in his hand back in early August when brother and sister were playing in the yard. Sydnee took the stone from her brother for fear he might do some damage with it. She tossed it aside.

Thus began the tale of the rolling stone that apparently took some pretty crazy hops.

There was no particular notice taken of Sydnee’s sidehand toss at the time. But Bill Castaldi recalls that when he came back to his house about two hours later after taking the kids to a playground, his neighbor told him the stone had broken his car radiator.

The fairly narrow strip of property between the two houses on Aberdeen Street began to grow wider. A neighborly friendship got seriously strained. Things happened that no one really wanted to happen. There were disagreements over what mechanic could be trusted to assess the damage and determine whether the stone could have caused it. Things borrowed were abruptly returned. Joelle Castaldi, who admits to a bit of a temper, said some things when she heard her daughter accused of something for which she didn’t think Sydnee was responsible.

August was an uncomfortable month. It ended with the letter to Sydnee from Progressive:

“A claim has been filed with Progressive Insurance indicating that you are responsible for a loss that occurred on 08/02/09. We have the right to recover from you for this loss.”

An envelope was enclosed for Sydnee’s convenience in returning the payment.

I contacted Progressive. I had a couple of questions: Is the company aware it’s putting the hit on a 9-year-old girl? Was any effort made to determine liability?

I received no reply. The Castaldis had similar luck.

It’s uncertain what the next step might be. From the outside looking in, I have a suggestion: Let Sydnee handle it. For it is Sydnee who has taken the biggest hit here. At 9 going on 10, she takes things hard.

“When my Mom opened that letter, I heard her say ‘you gotta be kidding me. They’re suing Sydnee?’ I started to cry. I feel like it’s all my fault. I didn’t want to put anyone through this.”

Joelle Castaldi says her daughter has taken on the whole crazy situation as if she owns it.

“For her, it’s an emotional thing.”

And that’s what stinks. Sydnee sometimes cries on the way to school. The fun she has always been able to create is now colored by this silly neighborhood soap opera that the grownups got started.

“I believe grownups can be like I never knew they could,” says Sydnee.

Yeah, they can. Bill Castaldi had it about right — adults behaving badly.

And the kids get hurt.

So send Sydnee next door. Let her visit the friend she used to play with. Let her explain how this tale of the stone has gotten totally out of control and how silly it is to let such a thing mess up a good place to live. She can do it. Spend a few minutes with her and you can tell.

And to the folks at Progressive Insurance, the name is spelled Sydnee, not Sydney. And she really is 9 years old. And right now, you’re looking like just another helping of grownup gruel.

bkerr@projo.com