This evening I had the chance to hang out with the Andy sisters. We were neighbors up until T. and I were in the 6th grade. Sophie came with me. It was the oddest thing--spending time with people from the opposite ends of my spectrum.
We hadn't lived in our house on Lawman Ave. very long when they moved in. It was early evening at the beginning of September, and my mother was allowing me to make my first practice run darting across all the neighbors' backyards to return home from my grandparents' house on the other side of the block ("Don't stop anywhere. Don't talk to anyone. Come straight home."). I sincerely didn't MEAN to stop. I was running home with my tangled hair flying behind me when I spotted the two girls who weren't there earlier. I stopped in my tracks.
They were exploring their small fenced in backyard. Girls to play with. I was terribly shy and had absolutely no idea how to approach them, so I did the next best thing and stared openly at them from behind the trunk of a tree. The tree in which we would eventually spend so much time. They quickly spotted me and called out. I froze in terror. I felt silly continuing to hide at that point, but I had no idea what else to do.
Soon after I found my hiding spot, someone came home and brought the girls food from McDonald's. Oh, surely these were the luckiest girls alive! My stomach growled watching them eat their dinner. One of them--I can't remember which--held out some french fries in my direction. An invitation. Food! My shyness couldn't resist and I left the safety of the tree. I completely forgot that I was supposed to be going home for dinner.
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