Elementary and the first half of Middle school were probably the years when I played, ran and hurt my knees the most. I have vague memories of the classes. Now and then I remember sitting in the small rounded tables; we used to have in Elementary school; pulling out a brilliant colored, Disney’s tiny tablecloth and showing the four others sitting in the circular table, how pretty mine was. Moving some years forward, I remember the struggle with choosing the most colorful backpack and the lunchbox with the most famous cartoon of that time. It is funny how having the prettiest things were just our concerns at the beginning of the scholar year.
What I remember the most, though, is the recess time. I used to wait, for what seemed forever, for the bell to ring. We used to wear skirts for school and the gymnastic uniform; which included tennis shoes and pants; was only allowed two days a week. So the three remaining days, we had to use skirts, formal shoes, white long socks, and the polo T-shirt we always wore. I used to love running around the playground with the boys. Every now and then I would play “family” with the girls but it was rare.
The playground was a wide open space. It had partly a grass ground and partly a hard granite floor. We had a food store just for us; bathrooms; a metal climb-bar game; two wooden “jungles” with sleds, a handrail, and a net made of rope to play in. It also had three big concrete sleds; two turtle climb-bar games; and seven concrete giant rings. Later on, they added a metal jungle and a set of nine swings. But I used to play the most in the wooden jungles.
I played this game called “Thieves and Police Officers” almost every day. It consisted in making two groups, the thieves and the police officers. The thieves would run wildly and the police would try to catch them. If you were caught, you were sent to prison and your teammates would have to rescue you. Well, I was always a thief. I ran like crazy, but it was difficult with formal shoes; so I ended up in the floor. My skirt ended just above the knees so I always had them scrapped, but didn’t mind and kept on running.
In other recess we would play “Shark” at the sleds. One person was the shark and six small children would sit at the top of the sled. The shark’s mission was to pull one of the kids until the end of the sled and run as fast as possible to the top, so the other person would now be the shark. It was hilarious. When the sleds got too slippery and I had formal shoes, guess what? I fell down on my knees.
The tiny wooden house was a totally different story. The girls would fight with each other in order to get it all for their group of friends only. One of the girls would be the mother, someone else the father, two or three the daughters and the one no one liked, would be the dog. That was cruel. Luckily, I was never the dog. But I guess I didn’t like the cruelness of it and preferred the other savage, but fun games.
When it was too cold to run, I would sit inside one of the giant concrete rings; always the red one; with my best friend and play-pretend we were inside a spaceship. We were captains of the most rapid, indestructible spaceship. The holes in the concrete were our switchers and engine buttons. We used to talk too, but I do not remember much about it. I remember how comfortable I was with him there. We were safe inside.
I also used to play “Spider” with my big brother and his friends. We played inside the rope net. Outside, someone was the spider and inside the “spider web” we were the bugs. We would climb to the top and if the spider was about to catch us, we would throw ourselves savagely down to the ground. Elbows, knees, foreheads and arms ended up scrapped because of the rope. We had plenty of fun and ignored the injuries.
One year, I spent all my recess collecting ladybugs in a can. Five friends and I would collect bugs and keep them in our “secret base”; which was a drain hole big enough for two kids to enter. Once we found a big bug. Although it may seem disgusting, we even named the poor bug, “Pepe”. I do not remember how long we had Pepe. Now I think we only had him for two days.
They say the most shocking days are the day you meet someone for the first time and the day you say goodbye. In this case, it literally was this way. At least in my mind it did. We buried Pepe inside a pencil sharpener on a small garden near our class. I remember I cried in the bathroom.
Recently, I went to that area, to the playground. It was as if all my memories went straight through my eyes. I pictured myself moving ants form their ant’s nests to others built by me; collecting ladybugs; running and shouting. It seems like it was so long ago. Now we are all grown up, and no longer play in the mud or chase ourselves. I felt very happy to see that the old place, my old playground, was still as fun and pretty as I remembered.
Now, I can reach the counter on the food store; climbing the bars is as easy as climbing a stair; the sleds no longer have room for five people and the little house is gone. My knees are no longer scrapped and now I leave the insects alone. My childhood memories include dirt and some blood stains in my white long socks; but also, they include laughter and good memories, back there, in my old playground.
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