Page 41 - BoringStoriesPolyKidswArtwork_Neat

The other player would fling his top at yours, and, if he was able to knock
yours out of the circle while his top continued to spin, your top became his. If
he was not able to do so then he put his top in the circle and you tried your
hand at knocking his out.

At times, we would lie down on the ground just at the edge of the level area,
where the hill again sloped down towards the river, to watch the clouds
slowly drift by. We spent hours equating each cloud to a shape. From our
circle drive play area we could also hear some of what was going on in town.
We could hear the tolling of the Catholic Church bells, and if there was an
election campaign, we could hear the loud speakers perched atop the
campaign cars blare out their admonition to vote for “such and such”. If the
“fiestas” (town patron saint’s celebration) were being held, we could hear the
rockets that would be launched at noon and hear their tremendous “boom”
as they exploded overhead.
Our circle drive was connected to the main street running through the
campus via a very narrow lane that hugged the side of the hill. Since there
rarely was any traffic on this lane, it became our play area as well. As
thoroughly familiar as I was with this lane, when returning from an event in
the evenings, the shadows cast by the trees and the rustling of the grass
scared me half to death. Someone had told me that if you whistled when
scared, it would help. So, I tried to whistle as I flew up that hillside road. It
did not do much good, but I survived.

Along the edges of our front and side yards on the north were tall, graceful
pine trees that produced tiny, marble-sized round pine cones. They were
tough on bare feet, but once you got used to them, they would form a nice
cushion of carpet that was really quite comfortable. The wind, when it blew
especially strong, would cause the pine trees to whistle. During heavy
winds, they would really sing their song! From the circle drive, a sidewalk led
to our front door. The sidewalk, at each end, was flanked by solid blocks of
concrete, designed to be pedestals for urns, which we used as perches for
“hanging out”. From the front door, another sidewalk led to some outside
steps that gave access to the basement washing and ironing room that
served as our cook/housekeeper's “home base”. At the other side of the
house, a separate sidewalk led from the circle drive to our back door that
allowed entrance to the kitchen. From that back kitchen door, a very steep
sidewalk led down to a basement workroom.

35