John Yowan Hour 1
Mrs. Keeley Type 3
Freshman English
2 November 2002
My favorite place when I lived in
Maryland was a large clearing in the woods not to far away from the house that
I lived in at the time. At the age of twelve my best friend Zach and I
discovered the large clearing one-day while we were playing in the woods. Zach
and I had never been on that path before. We kept on following the path until
we came upon a large clearing next to a stream that went through the woods.
Trees surrounded it on all sides and there were two paths to get into the
clearing.
Zach and I decided to build a fort
in the clearing after making the discovery. We got sticks and leaves and made a
small fort. The fort was just big enough for the two of us. We made the fort in
a small ditch that had a hill right next to it. We use the sticks by leaning
them up against the hill and covering the ditch. We then placed leaves over the
sticks to camouflage our fort and to keep rain out. We had a small opening on
one side just big enough for one person to enter at a time. The fort was about
six feet long and about four feet tall.
One day some kids that did not like
Zach and me found the clearing and destroyed our fort. Shortly after our fort
was destroyed Zach and I became friends with a new kid to our neighborhood
named Don. Don had moved to Maryland from Texas when his father was transferred
because of his work in the military. The three of us decided to build a new
fort. This time we used stronger sticks and leaves and our fort was much
better.
My friends and I used the fort
almost every day. Don and I used it to get away from our siblings, while Zach
used the fort just for fun. Sometimes when I went out the fort in the clearing
I would just sit and watch the birds. There were red ones, blue ones and black
ones. Sometimes I would draw pictures of the birds when I wanted something to
do. Zach brought his dads real swords down to the fort and the three of us
would have sword fights. We also used a bow and arrow to shoot at trees.
Sometimes we would have races around the fort and down a path that was close
by. The fort was a place where we could get away from everyone and just have
fun.
One day, a year after we rebuilt our
fort there was a large storm. The storm had very strong winds, so strong that
many of the trees in the woods were knocked down. One of the trees that
surrounded the clearing fell during the storm and landed on our fort destroying
it once again. Now that so many trees fell, the clearing was visible from the
outside.
The
day after the storm my brother, sister and I went to the woods to see the
damage the storm had caused. My brother Mike then saw the clearing for the
first time. I told my brother and sister about the fort that I had built then
my brother got an idea. Mike decided to use the fallen tree that had destroyed
my fort to build a new fort. The tree that fell over the ditch left us about
six feet underneath it, so we could still use the space for a fort. My brother
got big sticks from other fallen trees and made a new fort. The fort that we
then built was the best one we ever had, it was very strong and was just about
waterproof.
The
fort still stands to this day. Now my younger brother is the leader of the
fort, he and his friends use it all the time.
In conclusion my favorite place was the fort in the woods in the clearing. It was a great place for peace, solitude and fun.