Paddy Clarke Snippet

We thought she was an alien. We would be swimming in the pool, Laura, Nick, Daniel, Nicole, Joshua. We always played this game. If she came to the window you hid behind your boogie board so that she couldn't suck out your brains. If you saw the curtains move but weren't fast enough, you were out.
-I'm not out.
-Yes you are, you didn't hide. Your brains are gone.
I was always the first out or the first one picked on. Just because I was the youngest. I thought being at my house would help but it never meant anything. Just that if we needed something I had to go get it. Daniel knew where everything was too, but he always made me do it.
We didn't know that Misses Edick wasn't a real alien. We'd look up and see her starring outside from her window, and just knew she was always watching us. She was a nice lady though. When I had to learn Polish for a school project, she was the one who taught it to me. She always bought from my school fundraisiers too. But none of that mattered if she was an alien. Her buying cookie dough and cheese from me just gave her stuff to eat with our brains.
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I couldn't hop the fence. Laura, Nick, Daniel, Nicole, and Joshua could, but not me. They always had to get a chair for me to climb onto and a chair for me to step onto on the other side. They always complained but usually they did it. If not then I had to walk all the way around the block to get to Laura and Nick's house. When I was younger they used to just lift me over. But I guess I got too old for that. They tried to teach me, and sometimes I'd get to the top, but I'd get stuck. It hurt to sit on the top of the fence. I could never get my other leg over without getting hurt. Finally they gave up.
-Hey guys, coming over.
-Ok, I'll go get the chairs.
They weren't the nice chairs that had cushions. They were just the plastic flimsy ones that tipped over if you stepped too close to the edge. I didn't feel too bad about stepping on those chairs.
Kathy told me that when I was a baby, she'd lift me over the fence and play with me. Whenever her sister saw her she'd take me and walk all the way around the block and give me back to my mom. I don't know why her sister didn't let me stay. They were both grown-ups. I used to go over and make mud pies in their garden. They never complained. Sometimes Kathy would even help.
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She had a huge backyard. We'd play manhunt and hide and go seek and tag, and someone would always hide behind her house. There were no fences, but she always got mad if she saw us back there. During the day we'd play baseball or catch, or I'd pick the pinecones off the tree. It was huge, and I'd count the number of seeds still in each pinecone. She didn't mind us being there during the day, or maybe she jus didn't notice. The backyard made it easier to go to Laura's house or our house. You could get to Nicole and Josh's house too, but it was easier to just walk. At night, we would hide below the window or behind the tree and wait. If she heard us, she would lean out the big window and yell at us.
-You kids get out of my backyard or I'm calling the cops.
She was only mean when we were playing though. Every Christmas she would give me and Daniel a giant plastic candy cane filled with chocolate kisses. She was an old lady with red hair who lived in a green house. Sometimes we'd hide next to her car too, but she never noticed.
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Connie loved animals. She had bunnies and fish, but her favorite were her birds. We'd go over there across the street every once in a while to play with the animals. She was really nice and always gave us stuff, like jewelry she had made or candy. She taught us how to sew, and showed us some of her paintings. Alot of them were pretty flowers. During the summer she'd play kickball in the streets with us if we needed another person. She was an adult, but she almost acted like a kid. One day I was over there and she was watching TV. A show came on called Sex and the City and she sent me home. When I asked why she said I was too young to see that show. I don't remember my mom's reaction.