22 Friday Mar 2013
Posted in Childhood, Impressions
When I was five, my mother put me in a bath while she did the ironing. After a while I noticed a spider floating in the water and I screamed. My mother ran into the washroom to see what was the matter. I pointed at the spider. Bravely she scooped it up and stuck it onto the side of the tub to show me that it was only a piece of sock fluff. Ever since that day I have had a fear of spiders.
02 Tuesday Nov 2010
Posted in Childhood
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It was an honest mistake that I walked into the washroom at our school’s basement after four o’clock and witnessed Nina Halliday throwing shreds of toilet paper into the air. Nina is called The Terror at our school. I think the sisters started it. No one likes her very much because she picks on everone, and the sisters, too. Seeing her as she watched little bits of paper floating down so harmlessly was very strange and it caught me off-guard. There’s a small window near the washroom ceiling. As the shreds fell, the tiny amount of sunlight that made its way inside turned them into bright little insects as they hovered lazily in the stale basement air.
She caught me looking, because I couldn’t sneak away fast enough. She swore at me and made me cry. Then she made me swear not to tell anyone, or else. And I said I wouldn’t, but I’m angry at her because I thought she’d just leave me alone after that, and she didn’t. My parents were angry at me today when I brought home my textbook which was all soaking wet and my notebook which was soggy and all ripped up. When they yelled at me to explain myself, I was too scared to say anything.
19 Friday Jun 2009
Posted in Childhood
There was Angeline and Jeannie at the back of the classroom. Those two were never meant to be sitting beside each other. By miracle of assigned random seating order, those two were sitting beside each other at the back of the classroom. Usually, Angeline would be in the front, two seats to the right of centre. Jeannie would have been second or third row from the back, or standing next to the door if she was caught talking or late.
20 Thursday Mar 2008
Posted in Childhood
Selima, my friend, woke up with a start on a cold, clammy wet morning, full of possibilities, possibilities! The sky was clouded over, and her brain, woken up with a start by her heart-stopping alarm clock so that her blood felt drained and tingly, thought it was still the previous day. All days, these days, are the same now, in their dullness, and we can forgive her (at least once in a while) if she forgets. See, today was very, very special. Selima turned a year older today. Yes, it’s just a number after all, but what wonderful, wonderful effects that raised digit can have on a person’s life! Selima might have felt it….no, it looks like she forgot. Continue reading
15 Thursday Feb 2007
Posted in Childhood
Sarah always ate with a tempting *smack!*smack!* sound that she makes with her mouth. The delicious sound of food being savoured with air could fill a room with delight, the way she ate. So, when I was finally alone with her in the stairwells at school, only when everyone else of significance had already departed, I fed her some chocolate, just to hear that delectable sound.
19 Sunday Nov 2006
Posted in Childhood
*click* *click*
The sound of her knitting needles were the only sound on a long, dark winter’s day. She was knitting something for me, again, I think.
*click*
I, too, wanted to learn how to knit. It seemed so easy whenever Lelena did it. Her fingers would gently touch the yarn to the tips of the needles, and then again, and again, until the row was done, and she would flip the entire thing over and repeat.
“It’s very easy,” she always said to me. “I’ll teach you,” but she never did.
Quiet As Day 