The Swing 2

So, Here Is a Continuation of My Previous Post

I hope I don't bore you with this😊

So, after deciding we were gonna make our own swing, we decided to choose a location for it. There was no way we were gonna use my house because my sister will keep calling me to keep or carry something for her which will disrupt our plans (I sure was exaggerating a bit), Grace's parents were a bit strict (or maybe too careful and protective) so they won't let us. We ended up using Hira's place since it seemed like the perfect spot at that point.

So, a bunch of 7-10years old kids came together to make a swing, I think I was about 8 then. Does that look like it was gonna end well?🤔 there were five of us at that point. After looking at the swing that has already been made, we knew the first step was to find a plank and then a rope, but finding a plank didn't seem like the easiest option, so we settled for sticks😀. The sticks were way easier for us to lay our hands on but we needed to find really strong and hard ones that are of course dry. We separated ourselves into two groups to go find sticks while we will later select the one that will work best for us later. After the “stick hunt” we came back to the spot we chose but the other group were a bit late so we had to wait for them before we choose the stick, when they came we chose the stick and it was time for the next step. I offered to bring the rope we will use since my parents had ropes that they usually will dry clothes on after washing and there was a spare one. I asked Dad for it, he said it would be a bit short for a swing but I bugged him anyways so he gave in. I bet he was like “they are gonna give up pretty soon and come back with it”. Well, he offered to help after giving the rope but I told him we could do it.

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I came over with the rope and Maleek and Grace climbed up to fix things up there while I supervise😊.

I have never really been a great tree climber, I knew how to climb but I wasn't as good as them and I try to stay away, I probably was always scared that I will fall off. Most times when my friends will climb trees and have fun using different styles and tricks like they were monkeys (lol), I will be down there telling them to get down, or if it's a mango tree, I will be down pointing them towards the freshest mango. One time, Maleek fell, broke his arm and dislocated his elbow (yeah, 2 in 1) but he still didn't learn after that, the other kids too didn't learn.😀

So, after showing them the right spot to hang the rope, the hung it, with two ends of the rope being down. It was then that we realized that what my Dad was saying is indeed true — the rope was short, none of us could climb that way. So, they came down and we decide to go hunting for ropes. But where? We had no idea. I guess as kids, we always have that idea that all our needs will be meant somehow and the “ordeal” we have to go through is fun.

After trying hard with no success, we decided to try another means. Hira's mum had a sewing machine and she will often time sew clothes for people, she pretty much had strips of fabric lying around as waste which she often times end up burning. We came up with the idea that we could go collect these little strips of fabric, tie them together to form a rope and join them with our rope. Are you already seeing how this is gonna turn out?😆

We went back to Hira's house and met her Mum. Her parents haven't realized what we were up to just yet, even though they could hear our voices from outside, she didn't know what it was we were really doing. So, when we asked for the “waste fabric” she gladly gave them to us with no questions because it wasn't really unusual to see kids want to make “clothes” for their dolls with these. She probably noticed we were taking way too much but she ignored.

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Off we go, tieing strips and strips and strips of fabric until it was long enough! While we were trying them all together, we noticed Ahmed, the boy with the swing in front of their house (yeah, the swing that caused all of these problems), he seemed to want to join us but was a bit unsure. He had the swing but swinging alone just isn't as fun. Well, making one seemed much more fun and we ignored him.

My friends went up again, to hang our now long rope, it was long enough this time, so we reached for the stick so we could tie them to each end just as we saw with how our parents did. Done!!!

Now, time to try... Who is gonna go first now? They all pointed at me😀, I brought the idea and I have been supervising so it is just right that I try it first. No, there was no way am going on that journey of no return. Lol! So, after a few minutes, we came up with a better idea, we will sit and put our whole weight on it to see what happens. So, I went first and the worst happened. We didn't tie it well! And no, my butt didn't hit the ground, well, not too hard.

Did we give up? Hell no, we were even more optimistic. But, this is where I stop for the day😊

Much Love — Audrey❤