So Few on Earth. Josie Penny

turn on Mary Jane’s swing, but it was being used. That made me wail all the more. Aunt Lucy came out onto the porch, wanting to know what the ruckus was about.

      “Mary Jane won let me take a swing!” I cried.

      I had no choice but to return home to Mommy, but she didn’t care a bit about the swing. “Go on outdoors, Jos,” she ordered.

      I meandered around, trying to find my sister. “Wanna play tag, Sally?” I asked mournfully when I located her.

      “No, I’m gonna make a playhouse.”

      “Oh, goodie. Can I come, too?”

      “Awright. But ya got ta get yer own dishes!”

      Happy once again, I set out to look for bits of broken dishes and glass to put on the rock shelf of the playhouse.

      In the long evenings of summer it didn’t get really dark until almost eleven o’clock. The bigger kids played cricket on the only flat surface between our house and the graveyard. I didn’t know what cricket was other than batting a ball and running from end to end, but it seemed like fun.

      “Can I play?”

      “No, yer too small,” Sammy said. “Ya might get hurt.”

      So I sat and watched them play, making sure I was out of harm’s way. Not understanding the game, I soon got bored and went looking for something else to do. I’ll be glad when I gets bigger, I thought to myself.

      Another favourite game in the long evenings of summer was Alley Over.

      “Wanna play Alley Over?” someone shouted.

      Children came running from all directions, yelling, “I wanna! Me, too!”