Memory Assignment for Psychology Class |
I remember... When I was a child, maybe around six or seven, how it was during the summertime in my hometown of Enterprise, NWT. It was a small community, so mothers felt secure in letting the kids have free reign, and we took advantage of it. I remember how our legs stung at the scratches of branches ripping at our bare legs as we tromped through the forest that infringed on the community, looking for lost trails, a hideout, or sometimes just a good tree to climb. I remember the sticky feel of sap on my fingers and the roughness of spruce bark when we did find such a tree. I remember how the air smelled, hot, damp, and with the hint of living things all around us but hiding from our sight. I remember the crunch of rocks under our feet as we walked down the railroad tracks (just "the tracks" to us), feeling like bad girls because we knew we shouldn't be there, where our parents thought a train could run us down any minute, but we knew we would hear it coming from miles away, and could run off, back into the forest if we needed to. I remember the sounds, all around the community, of frogs calling, ravens cawing, squirrels scolding, and the wind blowing through the leaves of the poplars. The sounds of our voices yelling in the playground, of mothers yelling off their front porches ("Kiiiimmberly! Jeeeenifer! Time for supper!"), of phones ringing and ATV's roaring by, and the distant rumble of semis on the highway. I rememeber the thrill, the exhileration and excitement we felt when we succumbed to each other's dares and ventured into the empty buildings parked around the community, brought there and then abandoned by ex-residents of a mining town that died. I remember the wonder we felt at finding a bird trapped in the double window of one of those buildings, and the conflict between reluctance and honor we had to go through when we decided we had to let it go, fly away and be free again. What I remember most is the freedom of those days, before the boredom of adolescence overtook us. Being out in the sun tasting the air of life that surrounded us, sometimes running and laughing, other times just walking down the hard packed gravel roads, talking endlessly about everything and nothing, and trying to thnk of what new adventure awaited us. |
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