To Smile And Remember

                             To Smile And Remember.                  Alicia Smyth.

               1

Here I am sitting in my kitchen enjoying the peace and quiet with my family all out for the day. Sitting down with a lovely hot coffee staring at the wall, going into one of my usual daydreams. ( Which I’m very well known for. ) Before I know it, I begin to reminisce my childhood days.

Our wonderful little gang, our exciting adventures, the boiling, glorious scorching weather. The amazing fun and sound of laughter all around.

I thought of my best ever childhood friend, Mary Forrester, and could feel myself smiling. I loved everyone in our little gang, but Mary was such a character and a terrific full of life person who we all admired and looked up to. She would always be the one to suggest where we should go or what we should do. Her ideas were always exciting adventures.

Once all was agreed upon, Mary would shout. Right my lovelies let’s get rollin, throwing us a cheeky wink, and we would all laugh heartily. She had the most vivid and exciting imagination, more than anyone I had ever known. It was like she had a light bulb switching on in that amazing wonderful mind of hers. Whenever I was off in a world of my own, I would always get brought back down to earth with a familiar voice.

Mary, saying in good fun, hey Pam the bam, you daydreaming again,

Wandering in space. She had a great way of saying things that made everybody laugh.

                2

Now, on a more serious note, I remember one adventure we all had, and not one of us were laughing. Mary suggested this day  we should head up to the local hills to an old farmhouse miles from nowhere to sound the place out. ( It was haunted of course. ) Maybe even tell a few ghost stories- she laughed chillingly for effect. The old derelict farmhouse had been abandoned years ago. Part of the ceiling had collapsed, slimy green moss had overgrown up the walls giving it a creepy eerie look. Reluctantly after a short time, we finally talked ourselves into going inside the house. Acting brave but deep down we were petrified.

                     3

We treaded carefully, and slowly, not wandering to far from one another, staying pretty close tight. One of the boys, wee Joe, had kicked something. We watched as he went to pick it up. It turned out to be a small clear bag, not bigger than your hand, knotted at the top. The contents of the bag turned out to be ten little coloured marbles.

Ten marbles, ten of us. It was a sign. We all gasped, and by now our imaginations were running wild.

                      

                    4

Adrenaline high, we moved on feeling scared and excited at the same time. We stopped abruptly at the entrance of a  long hallway, nerves starting to get the better of us. We couldn’t all agree to go check the four doors dotted along the creepy corridor. Mark, Brian, Mary, and of course terrified who got talked- into -it me volunteered to check the doors out with the other six staying back adamantly refusing to come along.

                   5

The first two rooms felt cold, damp and eerie. Upon entering the third room, all four us literally froze stiff to the spot, staring wide eyed at the big rocking chair sitting in the middle of the room. It was so uncanny.

Suddenly, out of the blue, it began to rock back and forth, back and forth. We were all mesmerised, numb with fear. Broken only, when we heard the noise in the distance, a shrill like screaming, followed by moaning and growling. Then came the petrifying high pitched scream.

It was all happening so quickly, the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up, it felt like fingers were running down my spine. I felt i was going to collapse with fear. A deafening silence filled the room.

                     6

Suddenly Mark shrieked, move it, we need to get the hell out of here.

Believe you me, we didn’t need telling. We bolted as fast as our legs could carry us. It felt we were running for our lives, shouting to the rest of our little crowd who were far ahead of us by now. Fear carried us down the hill, vowing never ever to return to the farmhouse.

                     7

We all took a marble each as a keepsake of our scariest adventure ever. I’ve still got mine, even after all these years.

The old farmhouse has recently been demolished to which i read in my local paper. One person’s comment reading. Not before time, the place is a bad memory to a lot of us locals. The haunted farmhouse. This made me chuckle.

                     8

Here I am sitting in my kitchen, my coffee as cold as ice, totally away in my own little world. Remembering Mary and the gang warmingly and lovingly in our adventurous childhood days. Suddenly and ever so clearly a voice whispers in my ear.

Hey Pam- the- bam, you daydreaming again, wandering in space.

Mary Forrester, my best ever pal, sadly died fifteen years ago.

     Cousin Alicia.

         First story

             Tribute to Mary.

Reviews

[Mrudula Rani]

Alicia, I loved your reminiscence of your childhood memories, they were absolutely beautiful with adventure, friendship and the innocence of youth. You are keeping memory of your best friend Mary Forrester fresh through these recollections as well. She will be with you as long as you wish. All the best.

[Paul Bell]

Alicia. She penned a great true story.
Pity she hates the internet.

[Mrudula Rani]

Then give her my best wishes and congratulations for this wonderful story .

[Julie McCarthy (juliesp..]

Love this
Poignant


Beautiful heartwarming

[Black Rose]

You are really lucky you had a gang like that. And this little tribute to your friend is making her immortal (as now she is in our mind and thoughts as well). I am a day dreamer too well to be precise not a day dreamer I like to imagine the things which I know can never be fulfilled. This spooky little tale is sufficient to give goosebumps. And your friend mary I feel like she lived her life with no regret did what she ever wanted to. :)

[Paul Bell]

Thanks. This was actually written by my cousin. Who strangely enough hates technology. She sent it to me to have a look. I thought it was brill. So i just had to post it.

[Black Rose]

Oh okay but this is really a brilliant piece :)

[Paul Bell]

I'll drag her into the 21st century yet. lol

[Black Rose]

Haha that's a tough task because all I can imagine is the beauty and comfort of the time before technology. Actually humanity and social interaction (around neighborhood ) existed in that time. I don't think a person who is still living in that time would ever want to come in this reality. Haha

[Paul Bell]

You maybe right.

[Valentine]

Sounds like the neighborhood gang we hung with when I was young. So much innocent fun, no drugs, no booze, just fun and games, also adventures that would have got us a whipping if dad ever had found out. Thanks for the memories. Valentine

[barleygirl]

This is a great story full of vivid memories & playful fun. I was completely taken in from top to bottom & I had to fight my mind to stay focused on reading & not wander off on similar memories from my own childhood. I loved your initial lengthy description of Mary & her effervescence. That would have to be the most awesome tribute ever written, bringing to life a person so unique & memorable. The suspense & scary pops thru-out were well crafted & built the spooky mood of the adventure.

[Paul Bell]

The girl did well. If i could only get her to go on line. We might hear more of her.

[Samuel Dickens]

This little tribute to your childhood friend is, even with the sad note at the end, a very enjoyable read. It reminded me of the little gang I went on adventures with so long ago. Vietnam, car wrecks and such took some of them away, so I really can feel Mary's loss.
There are some issues with punctuation, but I still found it quite readable.

[Paul Bell]

Thanks Samuel. Punctuation is down to me. I never write stories, because they take to long. So i rush through as quickly as possible. It was actually written by my cousin. Yeah, think a lot of guys came back from Nam wondering why they went in the first place.

[Ruth]

My favorite line: "hey Pam the bam, you daydreaming again,
Wandering in space."
Really enjoyed reading this. The rest of the story makes you want to stay tuned. Only thing is: it has nothing to do with Mary. How is she connected? It starts off talking about her, then takes another tack entirely where she isn't even mentioned until the end. I don't get the connection.

Thanks for writing!

[Paul Bell]

It was actually a story my cousin wrote. I suppose you interpret Mary coming through in her daydream. I sort of think of it as Mary telling the story.

[Ruth]

Perhaps. I didn't get that when I read it.
I really loved the story overall, and hope to hear more from the author. I encourage your cousin to take another look at the story, maybe after putting it down for a little while. Sometimes things get clearer when you've left them alone for a little bit.
There are a lot of pieces at play in it. Mary, then the ghost story. I know they all fit together in the author's mind - as an audience member, it's just not made clear how.
:)

[Paul Bell]

I get what you mean. She actually joined a writing club, so this was her first attempt at a story.

[Lorry]

Nice one Paul. Must be the cynic in me, but I expected a boom at the end, instead of the chill up my spine. Nicely captured.

[Paul Bell]

I didn't write it, which is possible why. lol

[Paul Bell]

Well done Alicia. Great story, great tribute.
Think your best ever friend Mary would be proud of you.