Hometown Borrow
Emma P ( 8th Grade )
I was out of breath , partially from running and partially from excitement . I could see my destination a block in front of me , the rocky sidewalk lead me right in front of 5718 Walnut Street , my best friend ’ s old house . I took off towards the navy blue pillared porch , jumping over the lip in the sidewalk that caught me almost every time . I jumped up the steps and banged on the front door as I looked through the golden mail slot on the left door . As I saw Gracie ’ s mom approach the door I quickly shut the mail slot as to not be rude . The door creaked open just as my parents finally reached the top step of the porch , but by the time the first “ hello ” was exchanged I was running up the stairs with Gracie to the third floor . I kept looking back to check that we weren ’ t being followed ; I felt like a bank robber , just less extreme . I took off up the first flight of steps to where Gracie was waiting for me . We looked at each other with a knowing look and ran , straight up to the top of the second flight of stairs . I looked up from my bear-crawl-run to see the lip of the gray carpet that covered the third floor . We were on autopilot as we made a sharp left turn into the small guest bedroom . Against the wall was a bed with a patterned blue and white cover that looked as though it had the texture of silk . Next to the bed was a tall brown cupboard that stood twice as tall as me . For all I knew , the cupboard held nothing , maybe some old clothes or games , but I didn ’ t care . Because , most importantly , there was a white window seat with three doors on top of it . Above the window seat was a large window that overlooked Walnut Street , with yellow checker board curtains that draped over the small doors of what we called Hometown Borrow .
I didn ’ t know why we called it Hometown Borrow or how that name came to be but I cherished it nonetheless . We escaped the reality of the real home and dove into our own - we were in charge here . I looked out the window to see a dog walker , a family with coffee , and a business woman and I thought how strange it was that even though they might be able to see us standing in the window , they would never guess what we were actually doing . It was the biggest secret of our friendship at the time , not even our parents knew what we were doing . I thought about what could happen if my parents found out , or if her parents found out . All the possibilities of what could happen flooded my brain as I stared out the window . “ Emmy ?” Gracie looked at me with a curious eye , and as I heard her voice I was brought back from my thoughts . As long as I wasn ’ t the only one getting in trouble for this it would be fine . We climbed through the small doors , Gracie going through the left one and me through the right , no one went through the center because then they would sit on the chocolate chips and flashlight . I laid down in such a way so that the wood panes inside the box-like structure wouldn ’ t poke me too much and so that my feet could curl around so there would be room in front of me for go fish , shadow puppets , and chocolate chips .
There was no other place that I wanted to be at that moment , the walls cradled me as I pressed against them and the small doors let in a sliver of light that reassured me of the dark . As I got comfortable ( ish ) I got in position for our famous shadow puppet show , starring dino and bunny ! I knew what to do with my hand and I knew what Gracie would do with hers , because it never changed . We used an old flashlight behind our hands to put on the same show over and over again where the dino slowly approaches the bunny and then attacks it . Every time , the bunny ( Gracie ’ s two fingers ) got more crumpled and broken as the dino attacked it . I watched this show with joy and pride as my dino hand puppet conquered all its battles against the bunny . We finally laughed so hard that we just couldnt take it and moved onto playing Go Fish . My face
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