“Mary wished to say something very sensible, but knew not how.”
Jane Austin - Pride & Prejudice
Childhood Memories
When I was a child I used to visit my grandparents every fortnight. They used to live on a big property in the mountains, with lots of trees to climb, and lots of fruit trees to scavenge.The other day I was telling my boyfriend about some of my adventures in the forest with my brothers (did I mention the property backed onto an un-touched forest?) and he was intrigued.
Every now and then my cousins would visit at the same time as us. They were big, loud and vulgar; very, very different from ourselves. Needless to say, we didn’t much like them. They were oafish (is that a word?), uneducated country bumpkins, and we had nothing in common. My petite brothers and I, on seeing their car arrive, used to stuff our pockets with whatever fruit was in season, sprint to the nearest climbable tree, and race up to the highest branches. My cousins, being large of both bone and cowardice, were too scared to climb up after us. They used to stand below the tree and bellow up to us to come down. Occasionally they would try to climb too, but would chicken out after the first couple of branches.
Sometimes, when we were feeling particularly vindictive, we would entice them up the tree with some juicy fruit. Despite being from the country they did not have our knack for picking the sweetest and juiciest fruits, so they would inevitably be induced to attempt the tree. Their terror once they had reached the dizzying heights caused us fits of laughter. We sobered up, however, when they couldn’t get down again – thus trapping us up the tree too.
As I related these memories to my boyfriend I found myself remembering more and more of our games, tricks and imaginary worlds. My boyfriend thought my stories were reminiscent of Enid Blyton/Roald Dahl/Paul Jennings. He has convinced me to try to write a novel based around my childhood experiences. After all, very few people spent their childhoods trekking forests as I did.
Should I give it a go? I’m not sure if it would amuse the audience as much as it would amuse me. Maybe I’ll just see where the Muse takes me this time. I am feeling particularly inspired…
