I am soaring in ether. There are friendly "beings" all around me. I can hear them talking to each other, but I cannot speak. There is a bright, illuminating light shining all around us. They are talking about me, and there is a great expectation in the air; and a sense of urgency. I am suddenly moving at great speed toward a bright, blue sphere.

Then I am floating in a languorous liquid darkness, infused with soft silky light. I hear noises, but I have very few conscious thoughts or understanding of these strange things. Then, in
trauma, I enter the cold, noisy light.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      II

I am so happy. Everyone around me is smiling and laughing, my mommy and daddy, and my two older brothers. I am ecstatic as I take my first steps; such a feeling of wonderful freedom! Very shortly after that, I am running, roaming, and reading.

   I entered kindergarten in September of nineteen sixty-nine at Cambridge Elementary school, in Concord, California. I love school because our teacher, Mrs. Hedges reads stories to us, and makes the noises of the animals and characters that she reads about. She also plays the piano and we sing songs. I like the one about the kangaroo. I develop a love for the dulcet tones as they sound from the beautiful instrument; they seem to float in the air like sweet little birds.

   My mommy takes me to school in our grey Volkswagen beetle. Sometimes I lay in the back on the grey, prickly carpet and look up at the clouds. They look like fluffy bunnies.
Then, after looking at some different houses, we moved to a house on Clayton Road. I liked the different houses that we looked at; one of my favorites was one that was right on the corner. It had a thick, green lawn, pretty yellow curtains tied up in the kitchen window, and a tree out front that looked like it had red curly crepe paper all over its trunk.

   I switched to Ayers Elementary school; I was still in Kindergarten. Because we lived close to the school, on my third day there, my mommy walked to school to pick me up, and walked me home.

   We talked about what I had done that day, and I told her that I was excited because tomorrow, I was going to make
something called a plaster hand cast. She told me that I was her "little" man, and that I was old enough to start walking home all by myself. I was very excited about being so grown up, but I was also already a little absent minded.

   The next day, by the end of class, I was out front standing with my little hand on the red brick wall waiting for my mommy. When she did not show up, I started crying. A nice lady from the principle's office came out and asked me what was wrong. When I told her, she got my mommy on the phone. I talked to her, and she said,

    "Darren, you are a big boy, and I want you to walk home just like we did yesterday. I thought that you understood that? I have cookies in the oven, and can't come to get you. So come right home, be careful, and you can have some cookies and milk while you tell me about your day. I love you"

So I handed back the phone on it's green stretchy cord, and prepared to walk home. I was proud of the hand cast that I had made that day, and I made sure that it was safely packed in my bag with my books and papers. Before I did, I took it out and admired it one last time, placing my hand back into the cool, hard plaster.

   I started home, but I was so distraught that I got lost. I was terrified! I saw some teenagers, and they were laughing. They asked me where I lived, and I tried to tell them, but they just walked away and left me all alone. I was miserable.

    I remember walking by a house that had a big hedge in front. I was looking at the bush when a big black dog suddenly jumped and started barking at me. I dropped my hand cast and it broke! Then , I really started bawling, walking blindly.

   Suddenly through my tears, I saw the green house with the yellow curtains and the tree out front with crepe paper on it. I sat down on the corner, a weary, lonesome lost laddy.

   Then I heard a familiar sound: the unmistakable rumble of a Volkswagen engine! I saw my mommy pull up, get out, and wrap me in her arms. She was crying too.

   She took me home, wrapped me in a fluffy woolen blanket, and rocked me until I stopped crying, cooing how sorry she was in my ear. Then we had fresh, warm snicker-doodles and milk.