Backyard and Beyond

Our front yard was flat and grassy, with a giant oak tree.
Under the tree, a concrete sidewalk extended straight from the street to the covered front porch which was a step up from the sidewalk and bordered in red brick.
The porch floor was made from polished, red stone pavers of different geometric shapes held together by concrete between the pavers.
The straight sidewalk was replaced in later years after a driveway and carport were added.
A new sidewalk was laid that went straight from the driveway and then took a 90-degree left turn to the porch.
But the tree remained undisturbed.

On the right side of our house, a grassy hill sloped down extending beyond the back of the house to a flat area where Dad grew a garden.
As a youngster, I used to roll down that hill, just for the fun of rolling.
Sometimes I'd camp out, by myself in a sleeping bag on that hill, stargazing and looking for space ships and hoping I'd meet extraterrestrials who would bring peace or take me away.

On the left side, the hill sloped down to the back of the house where there was a first-flat area, before the garden-flat area.
On that left hill, there was a 3-foot high, 2-foot diameter, cement cylinder with a cement top.
That was the well.
Sometimes the electric pump for the well would break or the power would go out.
Our neighbors, the Younts, would let us have some of their city water until Mom and Dad got the pump working again or until the power came back on.

A swing set stood on that first-flat area.
Sometimes I'd pretend the swing set was my ship; I was the pirate.
Other times I was a princess.
It wasn't a swing set with individual swings.
Instead, it held a wooden-slat porch swing.

Beyond that first-flat area, the hill picked up again and sloped downward about 12 feet to the other flat area where the small garden with lots of weeds grew.

Beyond the weedy garden lay the horse pasture which grew grass and trees and weeds, including jimson weed.
A creek flowed through the back half of the pasture.
It was big enough that it had a swimming hole.
Sometimes us kids would catch crawdads, and then let them go.
We'd make bowls out of the sparse gray clay.
Most of the creek soil was red mud and sand and rocks.
After the clay dried, we'd paint the bowls purple with polkberry juice.
Sometimes Marie and I pretended to be Cherokee or Apache with our ponies on which we rode bareback.
We gave the ponies baths in the creek.

Beyond the creek were woods, still in the pasture.
That's where I smoked my first cigarette when I was in 6th grade, but I never picked it up as a habit.
It's also where I experienced my first French kiss, in 6th grade, with Mark, who was a year older than me.

In our neighbors' yards us kids, boys and girls, played pick-up football and rolly bat.

We played American football, not soccer.
I was a fast runner and a good tackler.
I always aimed for the ankles when I tackled.
And I could put a good spin on a football for a decent spiral.
We didn't wear any protective equipment.

Rolly bat didn't involve running or tackling.
A batter faced a pitcher, and everyone else stood wherever they chose in the outfield.
The batter hit the softball, and if the ball was caught before it hit the ground that outfielder became the batter.
If the ball hit the ground, outfielders would go for it.
The outfielder who got to it first would roll the ball aiming to tap the bat which the batter had laid flat on the ground.
If the batter didn't hit the ball very far, the batter could call "pin," or something like that, which let the batter stand the bat upright, with the head of the thick end on the ground while the batter held the end of the handle head to keep the bat upright.
It was harder to roll and tap a pin bat than a flat bat.
If the roller was too far from the bat for a roll to reach the bat, she could relay the ball by choosing someone to toss the ball to.
And then that person would roll the ball to try to tap the bat.
If the relay receiver didn't catch the ball, the play was dead.
If a roller or their receiver tapped the bat with the ball, the roller became the batter.

We played tag, hide-and-seek, and sardines all over the neighborhood.

In hide-and-seek everyone hid except for one person, who was the seeker.
There was a home base, and if a hider tagged home before the seeker tagged the hider or the base, the hider didn't have to help the seeker.
When a seeker tagged the base before the hider or tagged the hider, the hider had to help the seeker.
Since I was of small stature, I could hide in small places.

In sardines one person hid and everyone else was a seeker.
When a seeker found the hider, the seeker hid with the initial hider.
Eventually hiders were all squished in the hiding place, like sardines in a tin.
I can't recall what happened once the last seeker found the sardines.

There were 20 or so of us kids.
Adults did not supervise.
But sometimes they joined in on rolly bat.