Amy and I PDF - A Story of Childhood Friendship and Secrets

AMY AND I Mark Alleyne LOOKING BACK FROM when I was eight I couldn't remember once not living without Amy next door. She and I were always friends, except for a few disagreements here and there which we ironed out between ourselves...

AMY AND I Mark Alleyne LOOKING BACK FROM when I was eight I couldn't remember once not living without Amy next door. She and I were always friends, except for a few disagreements here and there which we ironed out between ourselves. And the bond that linked Amy and me also linked our parents, because my mother and Amy's were good friends (or so I thought). During the vacation Amy and I played together. Sometimes she came over to our yard and other times I went over by her. Amy had a ball, and we usually played 'bat an' ball' in the yard. Amy could bat well and sometimes she struck the ball way over the fence and I would have to look for it. Not much to say for two eight year-old girls, does it? But we loved 'bat an' ball' and very seldom we reluctantly changed it for something else - like skip or hopscotch. Once during the vacation when our mothers were at work. Amy and I were playing in the yard. Amy was batting. I tossed the ball up to Amy hoping she would strike it up into the air and I might catch it. But Amy did otherwise and flung the bat around. and before I got my eyes on the ball again, bits of glass were scattered about the ground. Amy had broken one of the panes out of the kitchen louvre-window. Amy dropped the bat and came down to me. 'See what you do now?' she stated with wide eyes. 'I ain' do nothing. I retorted. 'You is the one who hit the ball. *You is who bowl it. If you didn't bowl it that way I wouldn't have hit it so. "You lie!' I shouted. Amy held down her head and I sensed that she wanted to cry. Friend 'Jen, you goin' tell 'pon me?" 'No, I said. We never betrayed each other in a case like this. "Come, Amy, let's clean it up and then decide what to do. I went to get the broom from the corner of the yard. Amy followed. "You goin' tell?' she asked again. 'No,' I assured. "Come, let's clean up quick. After we had gathered up the bits of glass in a paper bag, Amy threw it over into the canes behind the fence. 'What we going do with that now?' I asked her, pointing across to the louvre window, beginning to feel the tension rise within me. Amy was crying: a long stream of tears ran down the sides of her contorted face. Feebly she dropped down on the cemented floor of the yard and sat there crying, wiping her eyes lightly with her fingers. 'I ain't goin' tell. I said again gently, sitting down beside her. She rested her head upon my chest and abruptly she stopped sobbing and we got up from the ground. 'Now you keep quiet about it an' I will keep quiet about it too, see?' I said. Amy nodded in agreement with me. All the fun was gone and it was odd thinking how a few minutes before bat an' ball was so much fun till all that happened. Amy and I walked across the yard to the kitchen door and when we got there I wiped her eyes with the hem of my dress 'You sure you ain' goin' tell 'pon me? 'Cause I would get licks." I nodded. 'I goin' in, 'cause I ain' feel so good, Amy said, and slowly she went through the kitchen door and closed it behind her. When our parents came home, everything seemed to be going fir until late in the evening when Amy's mother came knocking on our door. Friend 'Jen, you goin' tell 'pon me?" 'No, I said. We never betrayed each other in a case like this. "Come, Amy, let's clean it up and then decide what to do. I went to get the broom from the corner of the yard. Amy followed. "You goin' tell?' she asked again. 'No,' I assured. "Come, let's clean up quick. After we had gathered up the bits of glass in a paper bag, Amy threw it over into the canes behind the fence. 'What we going do with that now?' I asked her, pointing across to the louvre window, beginning to feel the tension Feebly she dropped down on the cemented floor of the yard and sat there crying, wiping her eyes lightly with her fingers. 'I ain't goin' tell. I said again gently, sitting down beside her. She rested her head upon my chest and abruptly she stopped sobbing and we got up from the ground. She rested her head upon my chest and abruptly she stopped sobbing and we got up from the ground. 'Now you keep quiet about it an' I will keep quiet about it too see?' I said. Amy nodded in agreement with me. All the fun was gone and it was odd thinking how a few minutes before bat an' ball was so much fun till all that happened. Amy and I walked across the yard to the kitchen door and when we got there I wiped her eyes with the hem of my dress. 'You sure you ain' goin' tell 'pon me? 'Cause I would get licks I nodded. "I goin' in, 'cause I ain' feel so good, Amy said, and slowly she went through the kitchen door and closed it behind her. When our parents came home, everything seemed to be going fin until late in the evening when Amy's mother came knocking on our door. I had lain in bed the whole afternoon waiting desperately for forthcoming events. When Mummy heard Amy's mother knocking, she went and opened the door. I bounded out of bed and, with a racing heart, went into the dining-room where they were. 'Jen tell you that they break one o' my louvres today?' Amy's mother asked my mother. 'No,' my mother replied, and she turned to me. Jen, you all break one of Maggie's windows today?' I shook my head, concealed fear mounting within. 'I ain't went out there for the whole day. I was in bed reading.' I lied. 'An' look Amy say that you went out there,' Amy's mother said, trying to trap me. 'Yeah, I went out there but we only play a game o' cards, that's all.' 'You sure?' Mummy said. 'Yes, please, I replied. 'Amy say that she went to sleep and when she wake up, she find the window break up, Amy's mother said. "I feel that Amy know who the person is but she trying to protect them, 'cause I know that if Amy did do it, she would've confess.' "You trying to say that Jen do it and Amy trying to protect she?" my mother said, beginning to get hot. 'All I saying is... 'Jen say that she ain't do it, an' she ain't do it. Whatever Jen say I believel my mother cut in firmly. 'Wha' if Amy say that she ain't do it an' I believe she too?' Amy's mother retorted. 'Wha' foolishness you coming in here talking?' my mother went on. 'Jen ain't break your window! And so the quarrel went on. They went outside into the road and most of the people from the neighbourhood gathered andformed a ring around them. There wasn't any bodily contact; the clapped their hands and pranced around each other like excited turkeys, each swearing that her child hadn't broken the window (Grown-ups are so stupid.) I was peeping at them through the window and when my mother came in, she took down the strap and in a frenzy of anger she gave me the flogging of my life. From next door I heard Amy screaming and knew that it was the same on Amy's side too. The next day our parents went to work. I stayed inside; but I listened for Amy to call all the same. After a while Amy came and called: 'Jen... Jen.' She was at the back door. I went and opened the door. 'Come. Let's play skip, she said, taking my hand. 'Let's play outside. And when she saw that I moved with naïve reluctance, she went on, 'Mummy won't know.' I smiled at ease. 'Yes, let's play skip, I said.