Clam World
"Watch your footsteps!" dad's voice drifted through the soft breeze of Tennessee. The vast open sky spread out before us, more peaceful than ever. Feeling the warmth of the sun, my family and I were crossing a lake in our own favorite park, "Clam World". As I took small steps, I felt the slippery stepping-stones sturdy under my bare feet. These bridge of stones would lead us to the other side of the lake where everything was teeming with colors and life. "Be careful," said mom as she took my hand in hers. While I paced, my eyes were mesmerized by glistening emerald-green water tinged with turquoise. It always made the sky even bluer than it is. The lake had its own scent of sweet flowers and baked fish that I could almost taste. When we got closer to the edge of the lake, the tranquil waves slowly brushed past, tickling our feet. My lips curled into a huge smile. Soon, we reached the shore and threw ourselves on the green patch of grass. Our wet toes would squirm in the cozy grass, basking in the sun. "Such a glorious weather," my mom would often murmur to us.
Bending over to the translucent waters, my little sister's eyes were solidly fixed on clams. Big ones, small ones, gray ones and black ones, there would be hundreds of them silently hunched at the very bottom of the lake. "Fifty one, fifty two…fifty three! I see fifty three clams!" She shouted excitedly. "No, fifty four. You missed one," I corrected her. Clams blew out small air bubbles to the surface of the clear water as they eavesdropped on our conversation. Grinning, dad commented, "No wonder you two named this park, Clam World." By the time we got tired of counting clams, we decided to catch some. Searching with eager eyes, my sister and I firmly grasped thin wooden sticks that lay in the grass. Then squinting through the still water, our little hunt began. Unaware of our hunting schemes, clams easily opened their mouths to yawn. Then there was a snap. "I got it!" yelled my sister. Slowly, she pulled the stick back up to the surface. There the clam was, biting for life at the other end of the twig. "Oh my goodness! It is huge!" my mother's eyes widened. Heavy with weight, the bulky clam refused to open its mouth further. As my dad took the clam off the stick, its slippery shells shut tightly. "You've caught a fighter clam", dad chuckled. When I laid my hands on the hard shell, the clam was dead still. "It wants to go back home", I whispered. Soon, Mr. Fighter Clam sank back into the lake hoping no one would ever disturb him again. Time would fly like that.
By the time the sky dyed itself in fiery red, a flock of white geese would glide through the water, coming onto the land. Their webbed feet were stomping the ground demanding bread. "Here's some food for you, Mr. Goose!" I shouted as I threw bits of stale bread onto the grass. Gorging themselves with great speed, the geese would finish to the very last bits of bread almost digging their beaks into the grass. "Make sure they are full so they won't bother to eat clams instead!" my little sister hollered as she threw the last bread crumbs to the geese. Satisfied, they left in peace after finishing their dinner. When the sky finally dressed itself in a dark evening dress, my family packed our bags to leave. That's when tiny yellow-green lights appeared in the darkness. At first there were only a few of them. Soon, there were dozens of them almost bright enough to light up the whole park. "Fireflies!" my sister shouted with a blissful look on her face. "They are like twinkling stars," I whispered, awestruck by such small but lively lights. All this happened more than ten years ago in the U.S but the enchantment of Clam World is never forgotten in our family.
I have never seen a place like it before. It was like a village I would see in television shows or movies. I was much excited and shouted with happiness, “THIS is where we’re going to live from now on?” Every house had bit of lawn that was green with liveliness and shining under sunlight. The houses seemed like they came out of fairy tale. Some were built in bricks on ground level with small but beautiful garden. Some were modern two storied duplexes in colors of white, yellow, blue and more. Wide cemented roads stretched all the way till a stop sign appeared and it split into two opposite directions. At the far end of the road, on the left corner, was a white duplex with navy rooftops. That was my home back in the states.
ReplyDeleteThe front side of ground floor was in bricks and three windows were on the right side of the front door. Through the door, my family could see who was coming and who was outside the house. In front of the window, little bushes were planted and it kind of blocked the half of the windows keeping the privacy of our home. When you enter the house, a staircase covered in ivory carpet appeared in front and a door to the garage was on the left. If someone was coming out of garage and the front door was swung open, two doors would collide and that person could not come out. To the right was living room with green sofa, a television, a rocking chair, and the best of all, a fire place. Who would have known I could be living in a house with a fireplace? I adored fireplace in winter. Not only it heated our home but I loved the sound of crackling fire and the smoky and woody scent that it gave. I don’t know why but it reminded me of Christmas and holiday seasons.
Behind the sofa was a wooden table and the kitchen. A counter was forming a rectangular shape separating the kitchen and the table. When I came back from school, mom would be in kitchen cooking snacks for us. With a warm smile, she would say “Welcome home sweetie! Go and wash your hands first, I made burritos today.” On the left of the kitchen entrance was a door heading to the backyard and opposite to the kitchen was parents’ room. My mom, dad and little brother used to sleep in that room together since he was so little back then. A bathroom was next to it with two doors, one leading to the parents’ room and the other one leading to the living room.
When you went up to the second floor, three rooms were there. The biggest room with biggest wardrobe was my sister’s, obviously, and the one opposite to it was my room. A window was on the very opposite side of the door and white walls were covered with posters of my favorite band. A wooden desk was on the right corner and next to it was the bed with yellow striped sheets and a fluffy down quilt in flower patterns. I would snuggle down in bed with windows open, and fresh breeze whiffled creating a peaceful afternoon. The other room was used as a computer room and also as a guest’s room. A bathroom was between my sister’s room and the computer room. It was surprising to see that the restroom also had carpets but they were in dark red unlike the ivory color covering the whole house. It became a mess when anyone forgot to have the shower curtain placed inside the bath tub. The water was splattered all over and it was not easy to dry them.
On sunny days, neighbors held garage sales and my family wandered around looking for things we might need. In summer, we installed a water slide in the lawn and all the kids from the neighborhood hung out together. On halloween, every house would put some kind of decoration in their lawn and I went trick or treating with friends. In winter, the houses were decorated in fairy lights and it looked like the ones I saw at an amusement park. They were in shapes of sleighs, reindeer, santa clause and more. I cannot forget the atmosphere and the spirit of the neighborhood and the memories I had in that house full of favorites.
I posted on the wrong page. Sorry!
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