Kids and Other Wild Things

“Wow, I actually made it out alive!” I thought as I closed the door of our house in

relief.

I must rewind a bit for you. It was a sticky summer. It might as well pass by with

boredom, but it didn’t. I just couldn’t sit still. I called my friend and neighbour, Oliver. He

kept me and my sister, Elisa, company. My sister was always very imaginative, like me.

We went out, and made dramatic adventures. Hours earlier, my sister came up with

something less than her regular and fun adventure, or at least we thought.

“Let’s have a picnic, but not any kind of picnic, let’s have it by the big, old oak

tree,” Elisa shared, “up on the hill”. We cheered with excitement. Our whole cheery

happiness didn’t stay for long. I remembered one small little detail that sent us flying off

like scared little chickens.

“But, what about the snakes?,” I mumbled with the thought of those stingy fangs

going into my leg. I knew Elisa was scared inside, but a big sister isn’t allowed to show

that.

My sister responded, “Well, we can just take some long sticks to slap the high grass and

scare them away.”

In fact, the grass on that steep hill was very high, I could barely see where I was

going. It made a good playing area at the bottom, but never at the top, which was one of

those small snakes’ favourite place to hide. This was not the usual thing I do when my

sister came up with these crazy ideas. This time, it was different. I was scared, I did like

the picnic part, but she never came up with something so horrifying, at least it was so,

for me. I didn’t get why no one else was listening to me, in my head I was thinking

“Hello! Wake up, we are talking about snakes here, come on, isn’t that kind of

dangerous?” I was having this crisis in my mind, and no one knew about it.

Ignoring my uncomfortable shifting back and forth, Elisa was once again being

her bossy self.

“I’ll get the picnic basket, Oliver you find some long sticks under the tree in the

garden, and Valerie, get the picnic blanket” she clucked.

“What are the sticks for?” asked Oliver which was apparently not paying attention

on the most important part of this adventure.

“For the snakes, of course, silly,” Elisa added as I tried to gape out something I

thought would be “NO”. Okay this is kind of getting ridiculous, no one could get in their

head that this is kind of getting out of hand!

After we got our things together, I was still a bit uneasy about the whole snake

part. Then, “we”, or better, “they” rushed out with excitement, through the garden gate

and started to climb the steep, grassy hill. I came behind still a bit lost in my thoughts,

but making sure that I slapped the grass with all my force with every step I took. It

wasn’t so bad, the robins kept me happy with their lovely melody in the bushy trees

nearby, it reminded me of Mary Poppins singing to the bird in the window. We were still

getting the hang of not tripping over some big grass roots, when I glanced down at my

sandals because some unusual stinging on my feet.

I screamed,“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, GET THEM OFF, GET THEM OFF!” I

changed direction, racing down the hill as fast as my feet could carry me, onto the

pavement, and stomped my feet, that they started to hurt. This wasn’t a snake, it was

something else, something far less scary and far more painful, it seemed for me.

My heart was beating, although it was just ants. Wait, scratch that, RED ants. I

was crazy scared of bugs, and the ants were just crawling over me biting till I had a

bunch of red dots on my toes. We apparently landed in some ants’ kingdom. I still

remember the pain of those crawly little creatures. The thought of snakes haunting my

thoughts caught me off guard, I wasn’t sure what I was doing. I knew this was a horrible

idea from the start.

Why do I always listen to my sister anyway, I always wonder from that day on.

Back then, it didn’t stop me from having the perfect picnic under the shady leaves of that

old oak tree. The picnic wasn’t the problem, just getting to the place we wanted to have

the picnic.

I was still shocked when I found the courage to run back up the hill, dodge the

ant nest, and sprint to where my sister was waiting me. I knew they were going to think I

was some weakling just because of some ants. Pfff, what was I thinking?

“Oh my gosh, that was the scariest thing,” I then called out dramatically.

I would have exploded into tears, the way I always do when something hits me so

sudden. Inside I was so terrified, I was kind of new with all the “get out and explore a hill

full of snakes thing”. It was so silly.

“Wow that was some break down you had there, I thought one of those snakes

got you,” said Oliver a bit relieved.

“Well, we should keep moving, let’s go,” Elisa said all impatiently.

Once again, we then started climbing the rest of the hill, this time being extra careful

and had our eyes pinned open for anything unusual. Finally, I took the last big step to

the flat area at the top. I smelled the clear, humid air, passing over the big hill. It was

windier up here, it was refreshing. We took some time to observe what we are actually

looking at. The oak tree was huge, it looked so small from the bottom. Oliver started

hugging the tree to see if he can get his arms around it, he didn’t, I giggled. We joined

in and stretched so that our fingertips touched each other.

I then spread the blanket on the ground, and Elisa joined me with the setting up. I

didn’t talk, and even Elisa didn’t talk. We were exhausted and deserved some lunch with

the hot sun beating down at us all day. I’m glad we took a big juice bottle. Oliver brought

the sandwiches.

“Yummy,” Elisa mumbled as she took her first big bite.

“That was worth it,” I added. It was, I thought.

I guess every day, you somehow learn a lesson. This time, it took me something way

more than courage. It took pain to have that picnic, I think that’s not what a lesson is

supposed to sound like, but that’s not really the point. On that day, I only partly regret

my “life lesson”. I did get what then covered my fears of snakes and vicious red ants. I

had that perfect picnic under the branches of the oak with those precious sunrays on my

back. Although I did have that nice picnic, I will still remember that day as my “lesson”.

First of all, don’t let everyone tell you what to do, and then don’t let risk everything, it’s

not worth it. And then, don’t go explore a hill of snake, I have experience.

“Happy and hooking, read this a t home

with a c up of hot c hoc ola te and your c hildhood memories will c ome

bac k to you” –Fanc hon Dehillotte, p rofessiona l memoir writer

Rights Reserved

Childhood

play isn’t

always what

it seems. It

can be

dramatic,

fake, and fun,

but you won't

find that in

this memoir.