Part 2: The Big Slide

A lot of kids are too scared to go down the Big Slide, but not me.

My babysitter took my hand and I skipped happily across my backyard to the waiting park. It was a warm, late summer day, and of course the park was crowded. I liked to think that when I approached all the other kids stopped what they were doing, turned in my direction, and quivered in fear. Usually that didn't happen, but I still didn't have to wait my turn. By the age of five I'd already mastered my death glare, and It was enough to intimidate any kid. If I wanted to play on the money bars and someone else was already climbing them, all it took was one look and they vamoosed. I was the self-dubbed Queen of the Park, and as long as everyone else remembered that there wouldn't be any trouble.

That particular day I headed straight for the Big Slide. There were five slides in the park, and the Big Slide was by far the most superior. It was the longest, twistiest slide, and the only one that was enclosed. Going down it was a cool, dark rush. The thick plastic tube blocked off all the noise of the outside world so that you felt completely isolated in the seconds it took you to reach the bottom. Some kids tried to slow the ride by keeping their hands planted on either side of the walls. Prolonging the experience, they said. I'd tried it once, but it was more fun to just let gravity dictate your speed. Sure it was over far too soon, but it just wasn't the same if you were going slow. It was like swimming through molasses instead of flying. There wasn't the same rush, and that was what made the Big Slide so awesome.

A lot of kids are too scared to go down the Big Slide, but not me. I was two years old the first time I rode down it by myself. My father waited at the bottom, ready to catch me with his open arms. “Great job, Lennie!” He'd beamed. Then he'd tossed me in the air while I'd giggled and then set me down on my feet. “My little girl's a overachiever!” You would have thought I'd just discovered the cure for cancer.

I was never afraid of the Big Slide. My father had taught me to not fear anything; fear holds you back, keeps you from reaching your full potential, and therefore there was and is no room for fear in my life. Nothing held Lennie Hill back!

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