1 I sat on my thinking swing which hung high above the stairs in our apartment and stared out the window I pushed my foot against the wall and swung back and forth The hot breeze coming in ruffled the pages of my notebook I tapped my pencil against the blank page How much longer will summer holidays last I counted on my fingers There were three weeks before school started again Three weeks was 21 days I scribbled a few sums in my notebook That was 504 hours Or 30,240 minutes Or over a million seconds That was a lot of time to be lonely and bored I was writing lists That’s what I did best That and solving problems The pages of my notebook 1
were dog-eared from my fingers flipping back and forth from one list to another From the best way to eat potatoes never baked yech to the worst smells I could think of the storm drains on the city streets after a heavy rain What sort of list should I make today I wondered I twirled the pencil through my hair It was early in the morning but it was already as hot as midday It hadn’t rained for weeks and the roses were withering in the garden I smoothed my hand across my notebook and started a list of ways to keep cool Through the open window I heard buses rumbling down the street I imagined where everyone might be going to the zoo to see ways to stick head in fridge put ice cubes on toes eat ice cream for breakfast lunch and supper 2
Ice cream tastes better when you can share it with a friend But I don’t think you can buy a friend at the supermarket the okapi or the museum to see the dinosaurs or the river to feed the ducks Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of shouting and stamping It sounded like someone was tap dancing while hollering at the top of their lungs I swung up to the window and peered outside Our apartment was on the top floor of our building and I could see the whole neighborhood spread out below me like a quilt made of brick pavement and sun-dried grass In the middle surrounded by all the tall apartments was a small green garden square that everyone living in the surrounding buildings shared 3
