A Most Memorable Memory

Danica, or Dani as she was more commonly known, always thought that she was a happy girl. At the age of twelve, she was successful in most of her classes, except for dreadful gym class (but secretly she thinks that her teacher has it in for her), and she was enrolled in the music enrichment program at her school. Except that was the root of all her problems, or so she would like to think as that shifted all blame off of herself and onto it, onto him.

As she disliked physical exercise and the class that went along with it, she often got a ride from her father, early in the morning. She arrived early to school on the days that she had band practice before classes began and that was when it happened.

She’d walk down the very empty halls and listen to the echo of her own footsteps as she put one foot in front of the other. Sometimes she could hear the custodian whistle as he worked, if he was still near the band room when he was cleaning. The floors still had a shine to it that proved that it was still early in the school year as the floors were still waxed. Normally she’d arrived early and there was not another soul in the building, save for that whistling custodian who’d tip his hat towards her when he saw her in the early mornings.

But he was there. Wearing a ratty grey sweatshirt and black jeans and old sneakers and he was sitting cross-legged on the floor with a scratched black trumpet case next to him with many different stickers on it, glittering from the lights on the ceiling. His dark chestnut hair was hanging over his eyes, and his eyes were framed by pale skin and light dusting of brown freckles.

“Hi, I’m Michael,” he said, and he held out his hand as he introduced himself.

And there it was. Dani blushed a little and felt her cheeks slowly getting warmer and held out her hand and shook his. It felt so odd to be touching his hand, especially with all the thoughts inside her head.

She liked him, she decided, she really liked him.

And that was how they met.

Over the course of the five months yet to come, they would get to know each other better. He played sports (soccer, did a little bit of indoor rock climbing) and loved to joke around and he would often wear a baseball hat even though he knew that she had a tendency to borrow it without asking. And it would involve a game of cat and mouse where he’d chase her down the hallways, both of them laughing and he would put his arms around her to catch her and he would carry her back down the almost empty hallway and set her down in front of the band room door. He trapped her with his hands on either side of her and asked politely for his hat back.

“Come on, Dani, give me back my hat,” he would say, a smile on his face that reached his eyes. He had dimples, two on the left and one on the right. She loved his dimples.

“Or what?” she challenged him, her hands clutching his hat behind her back. She loved his hat but most of all, she liked the fact that he’d pick her up and carry her just to get his hat back.

“Or else I’ll have to tickle you,” he said, solemnly as if he really didn’t want to go through the effort of doing so. But he would, Dani knew, he’d done it before many times.

“I’m not going to give it back to you,” she said, smiling inside but looking so tough on the outside. Then he started his assault of tickling, making her giggle and laugh and her voice echoed through the halls as they were almost empty, except for the two of them.

“Say ‘uncle’,” Michael pressed her to call for ‘uncle’ so that he’d stopped. It was a little game that they played. And even though she was ridiculously ticklish, he’d never gotten her to say ‘uncle’ before.

Dani continued laughing but she didn’t say uncle, she tried to grab at his hands but missed as he moved them quickly, tucking her sides as she tried to make herself as small as possible and not allow him to tickle her. No such luck.

“I think I love you,” she blurted out and that instantly stopped the laughter, the giggling, the tickling.

“What did you say?” Michael asked with wide eyes, surprise etched across his face as his hands dropped to his sides.

“I said that I think I love you,” Dani repeated, her heart was sinking as he was taking so long to answer back.

But by then, people were beginning to fill the hallway and they’d pulled apart quickly. Or rather, they repelled apart, instantly to their respective sides of the band room as clarinets were on one side and trumpets were on another.

The next five months proved to be very difficult. They were no longer as close with each. No more stealing of hats, or sheet music, or trumpets, or tying of shoelaces together. Small smiles passed between the two of them and that was it. There was no more laughter in the hallways before band began.

But really, there was little regret in Danica. She’d taken a chance at something she believed to be real and she wasn’t unhappy with it. Although one could always wish that their friendship could have continued at such a comfortable level, no one can always get what they want. It marked the ending of a carefree childhood and the beginning of when a young girl turned into a young woman with a simple sentence blurted out while one was being tickled relentlessly. When asked what her most memorable memory was of her childhood, Danica often would just smile and say that it wasn’t really part of her childhood as it marked the ending of it, but it is a most memorable memory as she remembered how she’d put her heart on the line for something she believed in; and there is little else that one can do other than risking it all for the sweetest reward of all: growing up.

Written February 14 2006.