Emily and Blake part 1

I met Blake when I was only seven years old.  My house was on a hill with a bunch of woods behind us.  We had an unnaturally green yard that looked foreign when you glanced past the short fence in the back and saw wild and untamed nature beyond.

I would love to escape my parent's eye and climb over the fence and explore the woods, pretending I was Louis and Clark or Sacagawea.  I would find a walking stick and swing my braids as I pounced confidently through the trees "discovering" this and that.  

Back several hundred feet from the safety of my fenced yard was a small creek.  I would sit by the creek for long periods of time and float leaves in it, occasionally toss a pebble or two in to startle the minnows that lived there.  

One day, as I escaped back to my hide away I came upon a boy my age.  He looked my age, but seemed smaller somehow.  When I came out and said hi, the boy jumped, turned and ran.  I called out after him, but he didn't stop to look back.  I was disappointed.  Having three older brothers, I had always wanted a friend of my own, but being the only girl, I didn't have anything in common with them.  

The next day I came back and had a secret picnic.  I had put some cookies and a couple juice boxes in my Snoopy backpack with a small blanket.  When I got to my creek, I set out the blanket and sat down with one of my juice boxes.  

A short while later, the boy appeared out of the trees.

To be continued...