The Other Side of the Fence It was the middle of my 8th summer and the sun was just beginning to set. Dinner was over and I only had one thing on my mind: fireflies! I ran out of my back door into the cool summer night, flew by the barn, and into the fields that sat behind the big white fence. This was my time; my time to run around in my grass stained sneakers and savor the pacific summer night that would be gone tomorrow. Alone with only an empty jar to keep fireflies in, I lied in the grass by the sparkling pond, listening to only the buzzing of crickets, ignoring the distant call for me to come inside. Sitting out here, I created my own little sanctuary and relaxed. I spent most of my summer nights just like this one- running around, catching fireflies, and resting by the pond. But this particular night something peculiar had happened. I turned around when a light flickered on from the house behind me. I waited for someone to come out, but no one did, except for a cute little puppy that was waddling around inside the wooden fence. Nestling my feet between the little cracks of the fence so that I could stand on it, I wondered who’s dog that was and why my attention was never brought upon that house before. It was beginning to get dark and I could hear my dad trailing through the fields with the intention to come and bring me home. Still perched at the wooden fence playing with the puppy, he told me how he was good friends with the man who owned the house. Quietly, we walked back home, passing the time by catching fireflies together. That entire night, I wondered why I never asked who lived in that house, that house right across from the pond, that I always hung out near. Why was I so curious about it now? Perhaps there was something there for me, maybe a friend. The next morning, right after breakfast, I ran outside to the fields. I was still confused as to why “that house” had never seemed so interesting to me before. Quietly waiting for just about anything to happen on the other side of the fence, I sat on the big rock that was just behind the pond. I lied down on my back and gazed at the tremendously blue sky that hung above me. After a while, I heard garage doors open and suddenly a women’s voice. “Come on Todd, we’re gonna be late.” Still sitting on the rock, I peeked through a large tree. I was astonished by the fact that there was at least one child living in that house. I was always playing outside around the pond and I had never seen any kids playing behind that wooden fence that bisected the fields and that yard. I looked back towards the house and watched the blond-haired lady get into her car along with “Todd”. From that day on, I always knew a boy lived in that house, but never would have guessed that there was someone else living there too- someone my age. Years passed and the mystery of the other side of the fence remained unsolved and I eventually stopped wondering about it. It was now the middle of summer, three years later and I was turning twelve in less than a month. My dad had bought a six-wheeler to use to do work around the yard. Every night after he came home, my sisters and I would get to take trips around the field outback behind the barn. Christin always got to drive it, because she is oldest of all four girls. One hot summer day, we decided to go for a little ride around the field with the six-wheeler. Christin was driving while Allie, the youngest, sat in the middle and I at the passenger’s side. It had rained a few nights before and the grass around the field was still a bit damp. We went around the field a few times, laughing and everything was fine. The next time, the presence of luck seemed to be missing. When we went to pull a turn around the corner, the wheels slipped on the wet grass and the six-wheeler had completely flipped over, all while we were in it. I could hear voices of the neighboring kids screeching to their parents about what had just happened. I glanced over at the house across from the pond but could see no one outside. I thought I heard a girl’s voice but disregarded it, due to the excruciating and unbearable pain I was feeling. I never knew we were being watched from that house. Moments later, I was limping my way to the hospital. I still remember the petrifying feeling of seeming helpless, while dangling from my seatbelt. The doctors at the hospital kept reminding me how lucky I was to not have lost my left leg. Aggravated at the fact that I wouldn’t be able to walk for the next two months, I limped my way out of the hospital refusing to take the crutches. It was almost three years later when the mystery of the other side of the fence was finally revealed. A brand new school year was beginning in just a couple of weeks and I was going to be entering high school. I finished the summer just as I always had, laying out by the pond, and reminiscing about the summer that was passing. When it finally did end, I was not too thrilled about starting the new school year off the same way I always had. Going back and seeing the same old people was beginning to get old. It all started my first day of my freshman year. I was looking forward to getting back to school to see my friends and fellow students I had not seen in what seemed like years. Walking onto the bus I noticed there was a new girl that I had never seen before, or at least I thought so at the time. I assumed she had just moved here from somewhere else. She looked my age and had blond hair. She seemed quiet, but I soon realized she was the complete opposite. Too bashful to introduce myself, I ignored her. When we had finally gotten to the school, I walked off with a bunch of friends whose faces had seemed distant for so long.When we walked in, it felt good to get back into the vibe of school. The hallways were filled with kids trying to find their friends to show them their schedules. I looked around to see if the blond girl who was on my bus was around but I couldn’t seem to find her. The bell had rung and it was time to report to homerooms. A few minutes later, the halls were completely vacant. As the day progressed, I realized I had three classes with the blond-haired girl. While eavesdropping, I heard that her name was “Kassondra”. I remember all the teachers looking at how she spelled her name and thought it was such a clever way to do so. She had gone to three Catholic schools and was finally going to school where she has always lived. Someone who had sat with us brought Kassondra over to our lunch table later that day. Timidly, she sat down and said “hi” to everyone. As I was being introduced to her, it seemed like I had already known her, but in retrospect I knew I had not. She said she thought she recognized me from on the bus that morning. Smiling, we both said, “Oh, that was you?!” We were probably only a month into school when one day I was walking down to the pond. It seemed as if I had not been done there in months, even though it was just a few weeks. I lied down on the grass and looked up to the clouds, remembering the great summer I spent down there years ago. I began to remember that one day when I was out there catching fireflies and the light flickered at the house across from the pond. That mysterious house had kept me occupied for an entire year, but now, it seemed so distant. My moment of reminiscing was interrupted when I heard the creaking sound of a door opening. Eager, I turned around and looked up at the house that I had been thinking about. All of a sudden I saw Kassondra running down the steps, making her way across her yard. She climbed over the wooden fence and suddenly said, “Hey! What are you doing out here?!” Completely thrown off, I told her how I lived right over the fields. So confused, at the same exact time, together we said, “Wait! You’ve lived here all along?!” It was so hard to believe that Kassondra was living in “that house” her entire life and still is. I told her about summer that was so long ago when I first started wondering about her house. We could not believe it; all these years, we were separated, when our parents were friends with each other. One day when we were walking to her house over the summer I remember how weird it was to look at the pond from “the other side of the fence” and to see that rock that I was sitting at the day I realized there was at least one kid living in that house. Still to this day, we joke about how we never knew each other until our freshman year of high school when we were always right there. Throughout the year and half that we’ve actually known each other, we have built up a friendship that has a bond that is inseparable. After all, we do have many years to catch up on!
It was the middle of my 8th summer and the sun was just beginning to set. Dinner was over and I only had one thing on my mind: fireflies! I ran out of my back door into the cool summer night, flew by the barn, and into the fields that sat behind the big white fence. This was my time; my time to run around in my grass stained sneakers and savor the pacific summer night that would be gone tomorrow. Alone with only an empty jar to keep fireflies in, I lied in the grass by the sparkling pond, listening to only the buzzing of crickets, ignoring the distant call for me to come inside. Sitting out here, I created my own little sanctuary and relaxed.
I spent most of my summer nights just like this one- running around, catching fireflies, and resting by the pond. But this particular night something peculiar had happened. I turned around when a light flickered on from the house behind me. I waited for someone to come out, but no one did, except for a cute little puppy that was waddling around inside the wooden fence. Nestling my feet between the little cracks of the fence so that I could stand on it, I wondered who’s dog that was and why my attention was never brought upon that house before.
It was beginning to get dark and I could hear my dad trailing through the fields with the intention to come and bring me home. Still perched at the wooden fence playing with the puppy, he told me how he was good friends with the man who owned the house. Quietly, we walked back home, passing the time by catching fireflies together. That entire night, I wondered why I never asked who lived in that house, that house right across from the pond, that I always hung out near. Why was I so curious about it now? Perhaps there was something there for me, maybe a friend.
The next morning, right after breakfast, I ran outside to the fields. I was still confused as to why “that house” had never seemed so interesting to me before. Quietly waiting for just about anything to happen on the other side of the fence, I sat on the big rock that was just behind the pond. I lied down on my back and gazed at the tremendously blue sky that hung above me. After a while, I heard garage doors open and suddenly a women’s voice.
“Come on Todd, we’re gonna be late.”
Still sitting on the rock, I peeked through a large tree. I was astonished by the fact that there was at least one child living in that house. I was always playing outside around the pond and I had never seen any kids playing behind that wooden fence that bisected the fields and that yard. I looked back towards the house and watched the blond-haired lady get into her car along with “Todd”. From that day on, I always knew a boy lived in that house, but never would have guessed that there was someone else living there too- someone my age.
Years passed and the mystery of the other side of the fence remained unsolved and I eventually stopped wondering about it. It was now the middle of summer, three years later and I was turning twelve in less than a month. My dad had bought a six-wheeler to use to do work around the yard. Every night after he came home, my sisters and I would get to take trips around the field outback behind the barn. Christin always got to drive it, because she is oldest of all four girls.
One hot summer day, we decided to go for a little ride around the field with the six-wheeler. Christin was driving while Allie, the youngest, sat in the middle and I at the passenger’s side. It had rained a few nights before and the grass around the field was still a bit damp. We went around the field a few times, laughing and everything was fine. The next time, the presence of luck seemed to be missing. When we went to pull a turn around the corner, the wheels slipped on the wet grass and the six-wheeler had completely flipped over, all while we were in it.
I could hear voices of the neighboring kids screeching to their parents about what had just happened. I glanced over at the house across from the pond but could see no one outside. I thought I heard a girl’s voice but disregarded it, due to the excruciating and unbearable pain I was feeling. I never knew we were being watched from that house.
Moments later, I was limping my way to the hospital. I still remember the petrifying feeling of seeming helpless, while dangling from my seatbelt. The doctors at the hospital kept reminding me how lucky I was to not have lost my left leg. Aggravated at the fact that I wouldn’t be able to walk for the next two months, I limped my way out of the hospital refusing to take the crutches.
It was almost three years later when the mystery of the other side of the fence was finally revealed. A brand new school year was beginning in just a couple of weeks and I was going to be entering high school. I finished the summer just as I always had, laying out by the pond, and reminiscing about the summer that was passing. When it finally did end, I was not too thrilled about starting the new school year off the same way I always had. Going back and seeing the same old people was beginning to get old.
It all started my first day of my freshman year. I was looking forward to getting back to school to see my friends and fellow students I had not seen in what seemed like years. Walking onto the bus I noticed there was a new girl that I had never seen before, or at least I thought so at the time. I assumed she had just moved here from somewhere else. She looked my age and had blond hair. She seemed quiet, but I soon realized she was the complete opposite.
Too bashful to introduce myself, I ignored her. When we had finally gotten to the school, I walked off with a bunch of friends whose faces had seemed distant for so long. When we walked in, it felt good to get back into the vibe of school. The hallways were filled with kids trying to find their friends to show them their schedules. I looked around to see if the blond girl who was on my bus was around but I couldn’t seem to find her. The bell had rung and it was time to report to homerooms. A few minutes later, the halls were completely vacant.
As the day progressed, I realized I had three classes with the blond-haired girl. While eavesdropping, I heard that her name was “Kassondra”. I remember all the teachers looking at how she spelled her name and thought it was such a clever way to do so. She had gone to three Catholic schools and was finally going to school where she has always lived.
Someone who had sat with us brought Kassondra over to our lunch table later that day. Timidly, she sat down and said “hi” to everyone. As I was being introduced to her, it seemed like I had already known her, but in retrospect I knew I had not. She said she thought she recognized me from on the bus that morning. Smiling, we both said,
“Oh, that was you?!”
We were probably only a month into school when one day I was walking down to the pond. It seemed as if I had not been done there in months, even though it was just a few weeks. I lied down on the grass and looked up to the clouds, remembering the great summer I spent down there years ago. I began to remember that one day when I was out there catching fireflies and the light flickered at the house across from the pond. That mysterious house had kept me occupied for an entire year, but now, it seemed so distant.
My moment of reminiscing was interrupted when I heard the creaking sound of a door opening. Eager, I turned around and looked up at the house that I had been thinking about. All of a sudden I saw Kassondra running down the steps, making her way across her yard. She climbed over the wooden fence and suddenly said,
“Hey! What are you doing out here?!”
Completely thrown off, I told her how I lived right over the fields. So confused, at the same exact time, together we said,
“Wait! You’ve lived here all along?!”
It was so hard to believe that Kassondra was living in “that house” her entire life and still is. I told her about summer that was so long ago when I first started wondering about her house. We could not believe it; all these years, we were separated, when our parents were friends with each other.
One day when we were walking to her house over the summer I remember how weird it was to look at the pond from “the other side of the fence” and to see that rock that I was sitting at the day I realized there was at least one kid living in that house.
Still to this day, we joke about how we never knew each other until our freshman year of high school when we were always right there. Throughout the year and half that we’ve actually known each other, we have built up a friendship that has a bond that is inseparable. After all, we do have many years to catch up on!