Halloween Countdown Day 16: Just A Few Blocks Away

Just A Few Blocks Away

I remember

Way back

When I was in

The fifth grade

One day

After school

I rode my bike

To a friend’s house

I had never been

To his neighborhood

But he told me

How to get there

We goofed around

Doing stuff boys do

Like breaking sticks

And throwing dirt clods

But soon it started

Getting dark

And I had to head home

For supper

I rode back through

His subdivision

With curving streets

That intertwined

But I took a wrong turn

Or maybe went too far

And soon I was lost

On unfamiliar streets

I circled round and round

Hoping I might see

The familiar street names

That I’d know for years

But their names were all strange

Like Lone Pine Court

And North Hidden Way

And the sun kept sinking down

The wind buffeted my ears

As I pedaled my bike hard

Turning this way and that

Trying to recall where I’d been

The streetlights were coming on

And on the corner ahead

I saw a street sign

With a familiar name

I knew this street ran

Right by my school

But I wasn’t sure

Which way to turn

Left or right?

Neither way looked

Very promising

As shadows loomed

I went to the left

Vowing to ride four blocks

And then turn around

If it didn’t seem right

Just before the fourth block

I saw my school

And the playground

Where we played kickball

And I then realized

Though I had felt so lost

That I had really been

Just a few block away

Relief washed over me

And newfound speed

As I pedaled excitedly

In the direction of home