Slide!!

A long time since I penned a Friday word. But here I am once again

Whoosh!! I could feel the air on my face
And a little heat on the seat of my pants
My brother chasing could barely keep pace
Whoosh!! Thud and down we went in a mess of arms and legs

Whoosh!! I felt like I was flying
The idea was to let the hands go
And let the wind carry you, squealing
Whoosh! Boy did I squeal my heart out

It was my brother who taught the fun
of coming down at high speed
Timing it to my grandma coming by, then run
Not stopping to listen to her mutter under her breath

She would do her prayers every day
and she had to take a bath every time we fell on her
It was perhaps more fun sliding into her everyday
than just sliding down for no reason at all

We learnt soon to slide with my grandpa
Slowing as he walked with his aching knee
And duck headed stick. I slid down once with pa
seeing if he had those hormones in him after all

I learnt to slid backwards and sideways, I learnt to slide
with my fee not touching ground
I learnt to even slide up from down, I would slide
all the way up and then all the way down

I would slide real fast when I was happy
An slowly contemplating each step I slid when sad
I would pause midway and sit when I felt crappy
I would go up and down and up and down when I was mad

The brown wood bore the marks of a dozen adults and a few more kids
It was all shiny from contact with bottoms of all kinds
It made kids silly and giggle, It made adults for a few minutes silly kids
It was my friend through thick and shine and it made my life complete

The banister at my grandpa's home, brown, old and shiny is where I lived
At times when I climb up some stately stairs in public
The wood tingles under my fingers, childhood beckons, I want to be the kid
Who came down the stairs with the wind in her hair and a twinkle in her eye