read street

this is the house i lived in as a very small child. a duplex, and we lived on the left. my family was there only a few years, moving on when i was about six. so how is it that i have such strong memories that go back to this locale and time in my life? i remember sitting on the concrete steps and waiting for the ice cream man to come in his pick up truck, the one with the little house on the back. walking to the corner store to get cigarettes, bread, and milk. watching from the window as a town bus detoured down our street when a hurricane laid a tree across the main road. dirigibles floating above the marsh beyond the dead end. hearing morning reveille and evening taps from the military fort nearby. dashing down the street before breakfast to wake up my friends. walking atop concrete walls and feeling so brave to be up so high. i am feeling older today, rightly so because i am. and i just cannot grasp how so many years have passed from a long ago time that i recall so very well.