Silly Story of my Childhood

There I was still crouched behind Kayla’s backyard fence looking into her front yard. Many cars had come and gone, in and out of the driveway, and my bike still sat on the front lawn waiting for me to run through the house, go outside, and ride back home. I had hoped to erase everything that happened that morning, which seemed to be about four hours from this momentary pondering. Even though my mom dropped me off at Kayla’s every day, today had turned out very different.
That morning I was so anxious to go to Kayla’s, more excited I guess than any other day. I was up early and ready to go. However my mom had a different plan, she still needed to take a shower. This to me, as a child of age four, seemed that it would be centuries before we left to go to Kayla’s. So I had asked my mom, “Can I just ride my bike to Kayla’s?” This seemed a lot better than waiting for her to get out of the shower and finish in the bathroom with what ever she did in there everyday.
“No,” my mother responded, “They are probably asleep anyways, there is no need to go there early, just wait for me to finish in the shower.”
I was smarter than that, “Can I just call to see if they are awake?”
“No Sarah, just wait I won’t take long at all.” My mom sounded so reassuring but it didn’t help me at all.
I decided to call them anyways; my mom was in the shower and she would never know. Even though I was only four years old I knew very much how to use the phone. My brothers and sisters and I would spend so much time calling the house with one phone and the other would pick up and we would talk to each other from opposite sides of the house. My parents were never pleased with this, but we always found a way to hide it from them, at least that’s what we thought. Anyways, I went on calling Kayla to ask her if she was awake.
“Hello,” this was Kayla’s mom.
“Hi,” I said timidly, “is Kayla there?”
“Yes she is, give me one second and I’ll get her for you.” Kayla’s mom was always so nice. I don’t know why I was always so scared to talk to her but I guess I was scared to talk to all adults even my own parents. My friends were my family. I was the youngest of six children so I didn’t have close relationships with anyone at that time. That and my dad was always gone I didn’t know him, except what he looked like. However sometimes he would sing me to sleep with his guitar, with songs I still remember today. Then everyday my mom would drop me off at Kayla’s so I had the majority of my childhood memories at Kayla’s house.
“Hello,” Kayla sure sounded awake to me.
“Hello Kayla, this is Sarah,” this is always what I said as if rehearsed. Its how my parents and my friend’s parents had taught us to start our conversations on the phone.
“Hi Sarah,” also a rehearsed line.
“I was just calling to see if you are awake,” I explained. “Are you awake?”
“Yes?” Kayla seemed confused but didn’t ask any questions.
So after my phone call I went to tell my mom, but she was still in the shower which didn’t surprise me at all. “Mom!” I waited for a reply from behind the noise of the water.
“Yes Sarah what do you need?”
“Just wondering if I can just go over to Kayla’s now.” I answered very hopefully. I felt like I was almost pleading. “I’m positive that she is awake,” however I caught my self there, my dad had always told me that only fools are positive. Now I know he was only joking.
“I’m almost done and then we can just go together.” my mom seemed to be surprisingly not irritated at all. Well I was tired of waiting and was just going to go by myself. It’s not like I didn’t know the way. My friends and I always walked back and forth from each others houses. Plus, Kayla’s house was only one block from mine. So I grabbed my bike and started over to her house. I was so grateful that my dad had taught me how to ride a bike; no I wouldn’t have to worry about running from grassy lawn to grassy lawn trying to keep my bare feet from burning on the sidewalk.
I was so excited to be at Kayla’s that I didn’t even stop at the candy house. This was the house of a nice old lady that would give my friends and I Werther’s Originals every time we came knocking on her door. I seemed to arrive at Kayla’s very fast. I didn’t even remember my quick trip there, and I soon forgot about how I had just left the house without telling my mom that I was leaving. Of course this was because I knew that she didn’t want me to go with out her, but then again I was so excited and I knew that Kayla and her mom were awake. So I didn’t find any wrong in what I was doing at the time.
While at Kayla’s the both of us were taking turns on my bike in her front lawn. It all started during Kayla’s turn on the bike. Her turn seemed to be lasting forever. “Hey, it’s my turn now,” I tried to explain to her.
“No,” Kayla protested, “I just started my turn.”
“No you didn’t!” I seemed to be getting irritated very fast. I ran along with her beside the bike and held on to the handle bar, “It’s my turn you need to get off!”
“Get away,” Kayla turned the bike but I was still holding on to it and the bike fell over onto the ground. “Ouch, I’m telling my mom what you did,” Kayla ran in to her house leaving the bike on the front lawn.
“No, don’t! I’m sorry it was only an accident.” I could feel tears coming to my eyes. I always tried to find a way to get out of trouble. It seemed to be my biggest fear. I hated getting in trouble and having the grown-ups talk to me in that harsh tone of voice. I was scared so I ran into her backyard and around behind the small R.V, that they had on the side of there house. That’s were I stayed, hoping that if I hid than it would be like nothing ever happened. I looked in between the cracks of the fence and saw my bike still sitting there on the front lawn were Kayla had fallen. I could hear Kayla and her mom looking for me and calling my name.
“Sarah! Where are you?” yelled Kayla’s mom.
“Sarah!” came the voice of Kayla.
For some reason I couldn’t move. I had been hiding for so long that I felt as if I had to continue hiding. I soon heard a car start and watched as the mini van pulled out of the parking lot. Then I looked back at my bike sitting on the grass. “This is it,” I said to my self, “just run outside while they are gone and ride back home.” But then I suddenly noticed that I really had to go potty. I had to go so bad and I couldn’t move, I could try and run to the bathroom but then Kayla and her mom might be back. I finally got to where I could stand and be able to run inside and go to the bathroom, but then I heard two cars pull into the driveway. I was so mad that I still had to hide that I didn’t recognize that the second car was my mom’s. Soon both of the cars left and I was still sitting behind the fence peering out to the front yard. I had completely lost my need to go to the bathroom, but I still couldn’t get my self to move. It was almost as if I was just like all the little rocks that I was crouching by, still, alone, and too scared to travel beyond where I had destined myself to be.
It felt like almost two hours had gone by since the driveway had become empty. It was very quiet and I sat pondering if I was ever going to be found. I knew I could get up and just ride my bike home, but I didn’t know how much trouble I would end up being in once I got home. I thought about how I had just left my house and thought about if my mom was worried, or if she just figured that I had left like I said I wanted to do. I wondered why Kayla and her mom left the house and why they never looked behind the R.V, but maybe it was because they knew that I knew I wasn’t supposed to be back there. It seemed like today I was lying and disobeying more that I usually did.
I had dozed off for a bit, but when I woke I peered through the gate and suddenly realized that I was in a lot more trouble than I had expected. There were many cars outside all over the street and in the driveway, but the one that caught my attention was the Police car staring me into the face between the wooden cracks of the fence. I felt my heart beat quicken and I started to get light headed. “What did I do? I should’ve never left home this morning. I should’ve waited for mom to get out of the shower.” Then I saw him, the black uniformed police man, tall and muscular. I began crying uncontrollably, so much that I could barely see the man. He was very gentle and walked slowly towards me.
“Its okay, you can trust me. You’re not in trouble,” he said almost as if he knew that I thought I was in the most trouble I had ever been in. “Come with me I’ll take you to your mother.”
“Okay,” I said so pathetically, but it was all I could squeeze out of my scared crying face. I grabbed tightly around his neck as he carried me through the house as if he was my protection for whatever laid for me once Kayla’s mom found me. She would get her chance to tell me how I shouldn’t push Kayla off of the bike and how I should learn to share and take turns. That’s when I heard a familiar voice.
“My baby!!” cried my mom. Her eyes and face were covered in tears and I couldn’t help but wonder why she was crying. I was so surprised to see her actually. That’s when I realized that she really didn’t know where I had gone that morning. I didn’t even see Kayla’s mom when I arrived at Kayla’s house I just started playing with Kayla. The only person that knew where I had been was Kayla, and I couldn’t imagine how hard it would be for all the grown-ups to try and find me with only Kayla’s knowledge of where I had been that morning. It was seeing the Police man and having my mom take me from him and seeing her face as she reached for me that clicked in my head. This memory is what has stayed with me for all of my life.
I learned that day that I can’t just hide from my mistakes and fears, that I have to face them, and that I can’t just do what I want and get away with it. Everything I do must be faced, every decision, accident, and fear. Kayla tells me now that she thought I was playing hide in seek. In a way I was playing a mental hide in seek. I was hiding from my consequences and from the chance to build my bravery. It took a long “time-out” between an R.V. and a wooden fence to realize the need to face my actions. To face the importance of living up to an honest life, with a braver soul that is able to move beyond that stationary place of a tiny rock that lives to be destined to one fate: still, alone, and too scared to move.