about and me

It is 1987 and I am 5 years old, my favourite place is my local library which is dark and mysterious and has very high ceilings and shelves so tall even the adults need a ladder to reach the top. In the centre of the room the librarian sits inside a square wooden counter and when I look up I can just about see her face. I think she is the luckiest woman in the world.
I have a doll called Pinkie (pinkie because her nose and hair are pink obviously) who mostly likes to sleep and does not appreciate being disturbed when she is napping. My cowboys and indians do not fight with each other instead they take care of their farm animals. They have horse's, cow's, sheep, pig's and even some hens and geese. Behind our house, in scrubland, I take scissors and cut the grass short for their fields. I collect pebbles and make walls to separate the different animals into their own pastures. I pull weeds and move rocks to make a winding dirt road around the farm and back to the camp where the cowboys and indians live together in tepee's. The hens and geese are allowed to wander where they will; they have no predators.
I am five years old and I do not yet like to draw, instead I like to arrange my markers and colouring pencils to reflect the colours of the rainbow and then I like to stare at their pleasing visual symmetry. I also like to sit in the little swamp behind our house and feel the mucky soil between my toes. I like the warmness of the water and slimy quality of the things that grow there. These plants seem very different to those that grow in the scrubland and the fact that the water is murky makes the swamp seem extra intriguing. Sometimes I have seen little creatures moving around in the water and I hope that they are tadpoles but I have yet to see a frog.
I am five years old and I do not like the cupboard in our hallway; my sister has told me that gigantic children eating snails live in there. I do not like having my hair brushed and I also do not like when people shout. But I am 5 years old.

Neasa O Grady

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