When I was a little girl, there was a special place where I
could meet a yellow horse with gleaming eyes, and a green
metallic colored dinosaur. Whenever I went there, I could satisfy
my adventurous spirit and escape from this real world.
I was only five years old when our family moved to the United
States. We lived in the suburbs of New Jersey, 3 0 minutes' ride
from New York City. My younger sister and I were given a big room
to share. There were two big beds, a piano, a desk with a chair,
and still more space to play. The room seemed to be too big for
us. That made me feel a little uncomfortable, because I had been
living in a small house in Japan until then. In our room, there
was something like a door. It was pretty white with colorful
stickers on it. When I opened it, I realized that it was what was
called a closet. Inside the closet was cramped and dark but was a
wonderful and attractive place to me. When I was there, I could
always be excited. Maybe that place was a kind of adventure for
me.
My first impression of the closet was that it looked like an
elevator car. I decided to make buttons to make the closet more
like an elevator car. I cut a piece of paper into squares and
wrote the numbers one to ten. Then my sister colored them with a
yellow pencil, and I stuck them inside the closet. That was very
interesting work. This was the first way I played with this
closet. When I was in the closet, I could go anywhere in my
imagination. This idea seemed great.
After a few months, the closet became full of toys. Most of
them were gifts from visitors. Some of them were for boys, like
mini-cars and some plastic models of ships, because some visitors
had not known it we were girls or boys. Anyway, we were very
happy to have new toys. One of our favorite toys was a stuffed
toy horse. It was big and yellow, and my sister and I often
scrambled for the horse to ride on. When I won a ride on the
horse, I felt like I was a hero or something. This horse was also
the king of toys in the closet. When I was with this horse, I
thought it about as something that could be counted on.
Sometimes the closet could be a place where I could escape
from the real world. When I didn't want to take piano lessons, I
often rushed into the closet. It seemed to me that all of the
toys in the closet were on my side, It made me feel confident.
Also, when I did something dishonest, my mother shut me up in
this closet. Well, this did not scare me though, except when I
saw the yellow horse's eyes gleaming in the dark closet. Inside
the closet, it was cool in summer but very cold in winter. It was
because of the concrete floor. My feet always got cold. However,
this was still a very exciting place to me, because besides the
horse, there was also a reliable dinosaur. I made it with clay
when I was in kindergarten. It was a green metallic colored
dinosaur. It really looked strong and powerful. I thought that
this dinosaur could understand everything about me.
After three years, we had to leave this house and get back to
Japan. I really did not want to leave the room. I really wanted
to take the closet with me. Of course, it was impossible. I had
to give it up. I was very disappointed. I felt that I missed
everything at once.
It is important for children to have some kinds of adventure.
I was lucky to have a place like that in my childhood. That made
me imaginative and thoughtful, I think. Now I still remember the
times I spent in the closet. The smell of the concrete, the eyes
that were gleaming, the color of the dinosaur. These are my sweet
memories of times that I would never forget.
by Akiko Minoura
