When I was a little girl I don’t remember being in the house all that much. I would be outside running around and playing with my friends. I would only be in the house to eat, sleep and to use the restroom. From the time I got up in the morning until I went to bed this is how it was. We lived in an apartment complex so there was always someone to play with.
My BFF of the time Mitchell also lived there….I lived at one end and he at the other end. We were inseparable and always got into trouble together. We even went to school together though the only times we would meet up was recess, lunch, and always the special classes you know Art, Music, Gym, Library and then Chorus. Computer Lab was not around just yet. And the bus rides.
We were about 4 yrs old and in Head Start together. I had a bone that was growing the wrong way in my finger (today I don’t quite recall the exact finger but looking at my fingers I think its the right middle finger). I had to have surgery done to correct the bone. I had just came back to school after the surgery and the teachers told my friends to watch out for my hand and to be careful. And reminded Mitch and I to be careful as well because we were such trouble makers together. And Mitch was careful when he drew on my cast. A few days later we were being careful when playing in the water at his house. My mom had told us not to play in the water its against the rules in her house. We giggled and ran to his house and we played in the water there. Boats and cups and spoons were the toys we had in the small bathroom sink. Laughing and haveing such a good time. Until his mother comes upstairs wondering what we were doing. Nothing we told her as we glared at each other and I had my hands behind my back. His mother seen right through us and marched us back to my house. The whole time we were laughing and giggling at each other. My mother was livid because my cast was soaked. It was dripping with water and I had to keep it clean and dry. She wasn’t happy when Mitch had drew all over it. But thought it was ok. But now the drawings were gone because it was so wet. Mom went all over town that day looking for someone anyone that would change the cast. We finally ended up just going to the ER because no doctors offices were able to fix the cast.
Another time Mitch and I got into some trouble we were older. I think we were in 3rd or 4th grade. Another friend of ours lived in a house that was behind the complex that we lived in and there was a fence around the complex. His name was Stacey. He would either climb over the fence to play with us or we would climb the fence to play with him. On his side of the fence there were several extremely big pine trees near the fence. The bottom branches were high off the ground yet hung low enough so the 3 of us could sit under there and talk or play or whatever it was we did under there. It was a summer day and really hot. Stacey had us come over to his yard cause he wanted to show us something. It was beer. He had taken it from his father. Mitch was eager to try it and I kept telling him not too. It was the first time I ever said not to do something. He somehow ended up convincing me to take a sip from the beer. As luck would have it as I am takeing a sip and spitting it out because it was so nasty my sister came along wondering it was we were doing. She had heard Mitch and Stacey laughing at me. I will never forget how she dragged me down the street to my mother, my mother dragging me back to the house and brushing my teeth with soap so I would never ever in my life touch it again.
In the 5th grade Mitch, Stacey and I were in a classroom working on an english story we had to do but because it was not finished before Recess we had to stay in class and work on it. When it was done then we could go outside and play. I was writing about how to prepare for getting a bird for a pet. The 3 of us were clowning around and writing at the same time. When I was finished with mine I sat with them until they were done. We were talking about the English teacher and how much we hated her. Stacey said she was a B^tch and we all agreed on that. Mitch said I was too chicken to write that on my paper. I did write it at the end of my paper. Then erased it. Turned it and went on our way. They next day I get to school and Stacey comes up to Mitch and I and tells me the English teacher has my paper with a yellow circle on it , is looking for me and trying to get ahold of my mother. I snuck passed her in the hall,into my seat in homeroom when she came along and took me out of my seat by my arm and showed me what I had wrote at the bottom. It was faded out but you could still see B^tch there on the bottom. I lost recess that day and had to write “I am sorry and will not write bad words again” 100 times that turned into another 100 times because I didn’t spell check my words and it was sloppy. Somewhere between the getting the cast wet and writing bad words on report papers Mitch had dared me. Before I get into that I have to explain the wall that I will be talking about here. There were 2 parts to the complex. One part was were Mitch and I lived that followed the main road our back doors lead to that road. The front doors faced the parking lot and the other part that followed the side road at which lead to the parking lot and more houses further up the road. So its L shaped we were the bottom of the L. The parking lot was in the middle of the L yet the buildings did not connect. On the opposite side of the parking lot from my apartment there was a wall that slanted from the parking lot to the top of the hill that the others were built on. You could walk up it, sit on the wall anywhere you wanted because of the slant and it not being straight up and down…it was flat against the ground. I do hope I am giving you the clear picture here. At the bottom of this was a curb like you would find for a sidewalk. Following me here? I hope so. Anyways I had a Big Wheel bike…actually it was a Crest Toothpaste Big Wheel Bike. I loved that thing. Mich had dared me to take my Big Wheel up to the top of the wall and ride it down. He said I couldn’t do it cause I was a girl and girls don’t do things like that. I remember taking the bike up sitting on the bike and then feeling a push from behind…Stacey had pushed me down the wall so I had no choice to ride it out. Going down was fun until the bike came to the curb part I was going so fast that the bike just went up and over the curb. It had felt like I had broken my butt. I was no longer dared for anything after that. My poor bike though was broken.
