straypup
Secrets of the Hill
The edge of the town, the boundary of neighborhood and woodland, occured abruptly near the top of the long hill. At the very peak, massive concrete water storage tanks stood like grey sentinals against the sky. A single steel plated tower rose high above all, dominating the hill and the town below. Beyond a wooded wilderness stretched to the horizon. Beneath them, a field of heather, broken by outcroppings of granite, was littered with sections of concrete pipeline. The pipes were wide enough for the neighborhood kids to hide in, and many childhood hours were spent stalking one another. High above home, and school, and the quiet residential world around them, the neighborhood children found here a place to use their imaginations in new and daring ways. Each year, spring brought a melting of the snow, and a rediscovery of the awkwardly random distribution of the mysterious pipes. Not a summer went by, in which scrambling through their dark cool interiors was not gathered and saved as a memory. Until they shrank mystically, became less accomodating, and more familiar, and childhood interests were captured by libraries, baseball fields, and the lure of downtown.
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Jumping from one pipe to another, the boy teetered at the rim, almost losing his balance...."woah !" he thought. "That was close !" He stood knees bent on the cement flange and straightened up slowly to his full height. His blue eyes followed the tops of the pipes that lay scattered around the field, some tilted and leaning against others. He was looking for that girl. He thought her name was Alice, but he wasn't sure. But he'd seen her playing alone up here before. She had run off when he approached her, though, and it had made him feel foolish.
Yesterday morning, at mass, he sat with his parents in the balcony, while his mother prayed and his father kept looking at his watch. Suddenly, looking across the church at the other balcony, he saw the girls face. She was looking right at him and smiling and he felt a rush of excitement in his heart. Dressed for church, she looked older than she had looked when he first saw her up by the water tanks.
After school the next day, he climbed the long hill, past the private homes and cottages that lined the street to the small cluster of newly constructed tenement buildings just under the hillcrest. He had left his backpack and schoolbooks at the top of the stairs, and then, rushing back out into the street, he raced up the hill past the last few houses and across the last street that had houses on it and into water tower field.
Now he stood quietly looking for her, hearing only the beating of his heart.
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Alice crouched in a small triangular patch of grass, formed by the broad concrete pipes.
She had been waiting there for over half an hour, hoping that the boy would appear again. Soon, her father would come driving up Logee Street, in his Chevrolet Sedan. He would pull into the driveway and park in front of the wooden single car garage that leaned peculiarly to the left. He would walk around to the front of the house, and would be expecting her to be sitting on the porch sofa doing her homework. She thought of her schoolbooks lying open on the sofa.
Her hands were sweating and the back of her neck felt prickly as she peered over a cool cement surface towards the boy. He was stepping and jumping aimlessly from one huge pipe to another, watching his feet, arms stretched out to side for balance, his lips moving as if in conversation with himself. As she watched, he stopped, raising his head and looking around, his body stretched to it's full height.
Quickly ducking her head, her mind racing with embarrasment and excitement, she made a daring decision.
She pulled herself astride one of the great concrete mounts, and stood up straight, presenting herself to the boys sight. When he looked her way and saw her, she smiled and raised her arm waved slowly. Then, as soon as she was sure he had noticed her, she jumped to the ground, and made an escape, slipping swiftly through and around the great concrete tunnels and disappearing into the woods that bordered the street.