CW Post #3

p.92 #8: Write a very short piece about an incident that occurred at a secret place you favored as a child. Now, rewrite the piece from another kid's point of view. In a third version write from the point of view of your mother, who stumbles upon the scene.

After school we would gather in the courtyard that was set in-between our rows of brick town homes. You could tell that this was a nice place when it was first built, and though now not completely run down, it definitely lacked an element of elegance. Aaron was the older boy who lived in our complex. Not much older, only about two years, but old enough for us to follow him, and do what he wanted. That day after school we walked into the courtyard and sat underneath the basketball hoop that was missing a net. Aaron pointed out a dead bird a few feet away from us. Being young boys we all ventured over to have a look. “Lets poke it,” he said. I was not ok with this; it was already dead, lets just leave it alone. The other guys however thought this was a grand idea. Aaron picked up a nearby stick and started poking the bird. I squirmed inside. The poking continued until the bird opened up. This was too much for me to take. The insides of the poor creature started to fall out. Oh shit I thought, here it comes. Suddenly my insides began to pour out. On the ground in front of me you could see chunks from my cafeteria lunch. We had hot dogs that day.

I watched out my window as the boys gathered by the basketball hoop. I wanted so desperately to play with them, but I knew my sisters would not approve. I had always been the tomboy in the family, and having two sisters didn’t help much. Living with them and my mom under one roof got hectic often; three girls and one woman, in a small two bedroom unit. The boys seemed to do fun things, I would hear about them in class from Peter. Today did not look like something I wanted to join though. I watched anxiously as Aaron picked up the stick, hoping he wouldn’t offer it to Peter. I knew Peter wouldn’t do something like that, and I had warned him about Aaron before. Something about that boy wasn’t right. Boys can be cruel and I was seeing it with my own eyes. Peter just threw up. The sight of it caused me to gag, and I ran off to the bathroom.

This isn’t exactly how I wanted my life to go. Having my third grader be a latch key kid was not in my life plan. Soon, we’ll be able to get out of here. Very soon. I watch as he plays outside with the neighborhood kids, and hope to myself he isn’t having to hear or go through the same things I did at that age. They say history repeats itself, and I always said I would never go back to the projects. But look at me now. Its ok though, we’re getting out soon. I quickly put on my happy face as he runs up the steps to our door. However, he doesn’t look as happy as I’m pretending to be. He tells me the story of the bird. Maybe this is normal. No its not normal. You know what they say about kids that torture animals. I dry his face off and we head out to the car. Its going to be a McDonald's night. Soon, we will get out of here.