34th Block

It's a late summer night and all you hear is the sound of someone smacking a ball. They were playing volleyball in the streets where the bright yellow streetlights shine. The girls count how many times they have hit the same car, and if it appears to be too many, they'll move to the next street light post. But they will never stray too far from the tiny white bungalow with a medium size pine tree and black steel fencing that separates the sidewalk and their front doorsteps because Amy doesn't live in the best neighborhood as Victoria always says. Neighbors that live around her are both young and old. An old lady who's obese to the point that it's hard for her to walk, wears a white cotton crew neck tee shirt with a pair of faded light blue jeans, a gold cross necklace and worn out white athletic shoes sits with a little girl that wears plaid Bermuda shorts with a pink cotton swoop neck tee shirt, tiny floral flip flops and a head full of disheveled light brown hair are sitting on a bench that's on their porch watching the girls bump the white beat up ball back and forth. Across the street, are three guys with bald faded haircuts, mint white air force ones, big saggy black jeans with huge back pockets and bright red crew neck shirt that sit on the little steps of their porch watching the girls bump the white beat up ball back and forth. Occasionally, they would say things like "ay shawty! come closer so I could getta betta look at chu" because their "type" are those who wear short shorts, flip flops with a V-neck tee shirt and hair tied up in a messy pony tail. The girls, Amy and Victoria play till 11:30 and a Chinese lady that speaks mandarin, has curly black and gray hair, wearing ugly red and green pajamas with house slippers comes out and yells at them for bouncing the volleyball late at night. They both have no idea what she said, but she seemed sort of mad so they stop playing and move back to the front doorsteps to have long deep talks about their future and desires while sipping on bottled Ice Mountain water until she they both feel like playing again. It's almost 1 o'clock in the morning and they're still not tired, so they move to the Cermak store that's down the block to play in the wide open parking lot.

That was how our summer nights were spent until the beginning of high school. This was when we both thought that nothing could ever be as perfect because we were both young and beautiful with big dreams. Little did we know, our plans and desires changed to the point where we don't even see one another in our futures. So this summer, I'll still be playing volleyball but with someone else, or maybe just by myself because I love this sport to much to miss out on any chances of playing it. She'll be out with her new friends and doing different things because she loves to be around different people and trying new things. As she moves on the from the past and into the future, I'll still be dwelling on our past.