Elizabeth McMahon 4/25/10 Dialogue Piece – A Meaningful Place ACE 8/9 I’m running as fast as I possibly can, but my short legs don’t take me very far with each stride. I take a sharp turn around my neighbor’s house and get ready to dart across their backyard, aiming for a bush at least three houses down. I take a quick glance behind me to see that my friend Susan, who was visiting me for the day, was no longer following me. “Come on. What are you waiting for? They’re going to catch us!” I whisper frantically, not wanting to give up our position. “That’s someone’s backyard,” Susan shyly stated. “What are you talking about?” “We can’t just run through there. It doesn’t belong to us. It’s someone else’s backyard.” I glance back over at my house and then back at my neighbor’s, ending my gaze across the expanse of yard that lay before me. I pondered the issue for a minute before replying: “Oh, I suppose it is.” “So, lets go find some place else to hide.” “Why? I’m going to run through here.” “We can’t go that way.” “Why not?” “IT’S SOMEONE ELSE’S BACKYARD!” I took a quick peak from behind the house, trying to remain vigilant as we continued the conversation. Despite the fact that we were located in an inlet garden alongside the house, where we were almost completely shielded from view and could in no way be seen from the street, I didn’t want our voices to alert anyone to where we were stationed. “There’s no fence, so what your problem?” “They’ll be mad if we go through there.” “No, I’ll be mad if we don’t go through there and we get caught.” “You can’t just go anywhere you want, there are rules. You don’t own the world!” “Hey, I don’t know about you, but I’m going this way. This is my block, my world, and it’s all I’ve ever known – all I’ve ever needed to know or wanted to know. I’ve ran through these yards for my entire life; played any game you can think of throughout them. So, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to go hide.” I look over my shoulder, crouch down real low and begin to sneak along the side of the house. I took a deep breath and, still crouched over like a hunchback, ran across the group of backyards to my hideout beyond the bush. Once I was safely hidden from viewed. I scanned the land to see Susan not far behind me. Once she was positioned beside me she whispered: “You really do this all the time? No one complains?” “I told you, this is our block.” “Who else do you share it with?” “It belongs to me, Alex, Zach, Cierra, Amber, Danielle and Alexis. We practically run this place.”
“This is pretty intense,” Susan murmurs. “Of course it is,” I replied dumbfounded. “This is hideandgo seek we’re playing right now!” Notes: My most meaningful place is my entire block. Throughout my whole life, my neighbors, family and I have spent countless hours playing games and making memories out on the street and within all the yards. Especially as children, my neighbors and I loved to have space, to be free to play hideandgo seek, capture the flag, or whatever game someone had made up that morning, with the entire development as our playing field. The dead end block was not only our comfort zone, but our entire world. I feel like this fictional, yet plausible, excerpt effectively portrays how comfortable and at home I felt playing throughout my street. My neighbors and I took no notice of traditional property boundaries and no one really minded us running around their lawns barefoot. No matter rain or shine, if we were all home, we were all outside looking for a good time. I’d imagine that to an “outsider” who did not grow up on our block as we did, our actions could easily be interpreted as not just eccentric and indecent, but inconsiderate as well. Even, today, however, on certain nights we can all be found outside, sitting on our quaint little street just hanging out and enjoying each other’s company. There is no doubt in my mind that the memories that were made throughout the years on my block will remain within me for the rest of my life.