This is my very first story. It is rather short and to the point, and yes I see
the mistakes, but I will always keep this story in its original form. I remember
when I had completed this I thought it was wonderful and I felt so good about it.
That good feeling is what writing is all about.
A MOST TREASURED FRIENDSHIP
Eureka! I finally found the photo, I have been looking for. My friend Debbie
Leonard and myself, aged about 10 years old. We are dressed in costume,
for a concert we were doing. It was about "The Queen of Hearts", and we
were to be two of the knaves. We are posing with our hands on our hips, and
both with big smiles. Looking at this photo, sends me back many years.
Let me tell you about, my mate Deb. She first came to my home town, when I
was about 7 years old. "Carnamah", is a small wheat belt town, about 200
miles north of Perth, Western Australia. She moved into the same street as
my family. As she was the same age as me, we were in the same class at
school. We soon became very close. People that didn't know us, used to
think we were twins. As we both were little "blondies", looking very much
alike, and you would always find us together.
Most weekends we would have "sleep overs" at each others place. I had my
own room, but Deb shared with her older sister Julie. We slept "top & tail",
which means in the same bed, but at opposite ends. We would chat for
ages, often hearing "Get to sleep you girls", then we would giggle and lower
our voices to a whisper. Two little girls, sharing there hopes and dreams. No
doubt sometimes talking about our last mischievous deed. More often than
not, it was I, who got us into trouble.
I have a special memory, that I would like to share, of playing at the creek
with Deb. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, this is just a special
moment, with my mate Deb that I will always cherish.
This creek was just across the road from my house. It had no specific name,
just known to us as "The Creek". We were about 8 years old, and full of
laughter as usual. We decided to take one of my dolls for a walk, in my dolls
pram. We headed off to "The Creek", and as the path was rather bumpy we
would have been going nice and slow. We were pretending we were "grown
ups" going shopping. As we walked, we collected things off the ground,
which was our shopping. I remember spying a discarded can, which I of
course put in our shopping bag. We walked right down to the bridge, before
heading home taking lots of goodies us.
I am very happy to say, we are still the best of friends, even at the age of 36
years old (only 11 days separating our ages) Deb is married with four kids
and I have three, and we live only about 10 minutes apart in Perth. I have
shared this memory with Deb, but unfortunately she does not recall it. She
has a terrible memory, which we often joke about. Once, after putting all her
shopping away, she could not find the curry powder. She looked high and
low, but could not remember where she put it. She found it about a week
later in her ensuite bathroom cupboard. Not knowing how it got there.
I love Deb like a sister, and I can envision us both with grey hair, sipping our
cups of tea together. Many of our chats are bound to start off
"Do you remember when .........."
by Tracy Willet
August 1997
For you Deb
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