My Friend Across The Street
Nick Winkworth
Response
Greg Adkins
Inspiration Piece
It was 11:45 when the sky burned. Well, I should clarify.. 11:45pm. But
you couldn’t tell at that moment. It might have been 11:45 am for all we
knew. The only thing we knew for real was the the sky was on fire and we
had no time. The men were running and telling us we had to get out, we
couldn’t take anything, we just had to go. I asked them if I could take
Dalmy, but the men said no. They said they’d take care of Dalmy, so I
turned and ran with my family. Mom was scared, Dad was scared, Jennifer
-my stepsister- was scared too. She kept saying something about how she
didn’t want to leave her boyfriend, but he was gone already and why did
he join the army all of a sudden. It was very confusing.
I remember we ran to the shelter and had to stay in there for a long
time. Men would come down occasionally and tell us that we all had to
learn to live here for a while. It wasn’t going to be easy, but we could
do it. We had to cooperate and make sure we all shared. It was ok though
because I liked to share. I shared my toys with that boy from the other
side of the street all the time. I wish he was here too. Someone said
something about them not getting out in time. I don’t know what means.
So the nice men keep coming down and telling us all something about
dispersal rates and that we’re safe in this big room and we’ll be ok as
long as we keep working together. Dad keeps crying and Mom keeps crying
and Jennifer keeps crying. Lots of people cry. I’m sad too, but I don’t
want to cry because people say my smile helps them. So I’ll just keep
smiling and helping people smile too. I like to smile.
I guess I should go now. Some more men just came down and said something
about a crack in a wall somewhere and we weren’t safe anymore. We have
to go. I hope I find my friend from across the street.