Story #32: Playground

Playground

Three hours of pure agony. Three hours of thinking. Three hours of waiting. And

Finally the teacher said, “Alright everyone its recess time!” I couldn’t have been any

happier. I rushed to the cubby hole, grabbed my jacket, and ran to the door as fast as I

could. I was jumping up and down in line, trying to contain my excitement. Today was

the day. I was going to impress Lilly. Lilly was so cool. She has already lost six teeth

and her favorite t.v. show is Spongebob Squarepants. Its love. Today I was going to

make it all the way down and back across the triangular monkey bars. No boy in the

first grade could do it, and I was about to be the first. When I got to the play ground I

told everyone that I was going to complete the impossible. Everyone gathered around

to cheer me on. Then out of nowhere comes Denny Wilson. Denny was the biggest kid

in our grade and he liked Lilly too. I couldn’t let him stop me. I marched right up to the

monkey bars, but he walked right past me and pushed me over. I didn’t want to cause

a scene so I let him go first. Denny grabbed the first triangle hanging by a chain,

swung his body, then pushed off with his feet. He made it to the second one with ease,

but it took him a couple swings to get to the third one. Once he was there he hung on

for a long time. He was starting to sweat and his hands were turning white. He

desperately reached for the fourth triangle, but let go too soon and fell to his feet on

the rocks. He stood up and brushed himself off, kicked the rocks around, then said,

“Your turn”.

I was so nervous. My chest was pounding, and my head had a pulse. It was too late

to back out now. I puffed out my chest, clinched my fist and marched up to the ladder

like David marching up to Goliath. I put one foot on the highest part of the ladder, and

reached my hand out for the chilly metal triangle. Once I started to swing my weight, I

just kept going. I couldn’t believe it, it was actually all easy. Everyone was cheering

and egging me on. I reached the end and stood on the ladder to rest for just s second.

Then off I went! I had so much adrenaline running through my body that I wasn’t even

tired. And then just when It seemed as though I could taste victory, my dreams came

to a halting stop like a car with a brick wall thrown in front of it. Denny Wilson had

pulled on my feet and I fell hard to the ground. The thud took my breath away, and I

fought the tears as I stood up. I couldn’t be caught crying in front of the love of my life.

Everyone gasped, but then went back to playing once they realized I was ok. I sat

down on the bench and wiped my nose, facing the udder defeat that hit me in the face

all so fast. Then, a very familiar face sat down beside me and grabbed my hand. “Your

hand is cut up, would you like me to walk you to the nurse’s office for a bandage?”

asked Lilly. I nodded yes with a big smile and followed her. My pain was gone, I wasn’t

sad anymore, and I was holding hands with a sweet babe.