Friday April 1, 2005
2:30 - 4:30 pm
Memory is a bizarre phenomenon. I had completely forgotten about the Lawn Bowling Club two doors down from Grandpa and Grandma's place, but as soon as I saw it, I remembered everything. I remembered walking by it as a kid on the way to the park, watching the old people in their grey hair and sun visors partake in this bizarre foreign sport. I remember that they moved very slowly, like they were doing Tai Chi. Only I wasn’t worldly enough to know what Tai Chi was when I was a kid walking to the park.
In the park, there used to be a huge two-level structure made of wooden posts. It was like a massive tree house without the tree. I remember children everywhere - climbing up and down chaotically like a pack of monkeys. There was also a tall pole with steps running around its sides for climbing on. It went up a very long way, or at least it seemed that way to me. Being a timid child, I would only stay on the lower echelons and refuse to climb any higher. But I remember, one day, I did it. I climbed all the way up. I climbed all the way up and back down again and I survived. It felt amazing, like I had already graduated from high school or something else momentous.
All that is gone now, replaced by safety tested playground equipment.
By now, it was almost time for school to get out. I was plastering a poster on a pole next to the Crossing Guard, when she sauntered over and had a look at what I was putting up. This is an approximation of what she said to me:
“I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t for a lost cat or something.”
“What is this about?”
“Oh great!”
“That building over there? Oh great!”
“So this is exactly what she wrote?”
“Fantastic!”
“So what is this down here?”
“That’s your Grandma’s handwriting? Wow…”
“So what school do you go to?”
“Oh. Well I look forward to seeing more of them!”
“Great! Yeah…take care!”