White1

Hakeem White

19 November 2012

Ms. Harmon

Pre AP English 10

Title

The Place Where it’s cold

It seemed as if it dragged on and never ended. I couldn’t count how many there was. They were all alone the color line of brown. On a hot and sunny day it sucked to walk on them. It was the most mysterious rock road that I had ever known. You never knew what you were going to find or see. One time it was a black snake that we thought was dead. When we went to pick it up it magically stood up and hissed at us. When we jumped, he slides off into the woods. We kept our long walk, to the candy lady.

            “Who you think gone get there the fastest” asked one of my cousins.

            “We all know who’s the fastest out of us” replied Timothy, the oldest of us all.

This was all before I left for the Windy-City. I was along the lines of 6 or 7. We walked to her house daily. Although it was a about a 1.5 mile walk just to get there and of course the same back, but the reward was worth it. She had all of our favorites to satisfy our needs. After eating our “junk” , as my grandma called me we stayed and played basketball at the court by the candy lady house. I began to see myself grow as a person with my cousins and family and as long as it took me to realize it, it vanished.

Moving to a foreign place where no face was familiar, no street recognized and no building stepped upon, wasn’t easy, at the age of seven anyways. A place where you have no biological family, no friends a new school and a climate that could and would drop below 20 degrees at any given winter night was not bearable and very uncomfortable for a while.

Although getting comfortable was a big issue I had something that saved it all. Having something so elegant and beautiful and frail which before I had maybe seen and touched once or twice. It seemed as if before it was something that happened never to seldom then I got use to it.

Going into the 2^nd grade I made the biggest decision yet. I was a nervous wreck.

“Are you sure that you want to go through with this” was his first words to me.

I stood and watched what they were doing before I responded.

“Yes sir, I want to play football” I told him with pride and joy.

All I wanted to do was “play”. All of my new friends that I had adapted to were on the team so I decided to join. I joined because I was alone in the 3 to 4 hours that they were at practice. I joined they quit- what a commitment. When they quit I had made up my mind that I was going to at least finish the 1^st season. I grew to like the sport almost loved it, almost. It was a hard process but” no one promised me anything so I expected nothing”. I liked how I stuck with it up until this point now I could say I loved it.

Graduation was maybe the biggest thing that I had accomplished yet. In “Ab state” we graduated from the 8^th to the 9^th. It was by far what felt like my slowest but yet my easiest and probably my favorite year of school. I’d give credit to my teachers whom made it very easy on us and we, of course went alone with the ride. The year went by so fast and about time you looked up we were all emotional with our caps and gowns on. I looked around at the wet faces and it all hit me. The people that I had grown with since the 2^nd grade were all being disburse after that 3 hour ceremony that was being held to acknowledge our accomplishments. It hurt me so bad to the point that I couldn’t cry. So I tried my best to comfort others for my own sake.

I looked up and I was back on the same rock road that I dreaded for so long, now I cherished that road it leads me back to where I belong, home.