Luzon

There aren’t many times like those left. The antiquated contraptions in the mulch and grass were adorned with rust and graffiti, yet we enjoyed them anyway. Fathers and sons away on the swings. Us, sitting in the wheel, looking anachronistic. The girls laughed as we were spun, the world outside looking like a polychromatic blur. Like drunken fools we stood and stumbled, laughing at our childishness. “Twelve-year old, looking for a pimp. 36D,” written on the wheel. We ran to the swings as the parents observed us, teens in a child’s hovel. Competitions for who can jump the farthest. Twisting in the swing as much as possible and taking off like a cyclone. How many more of those moments? we asked ourselves. My friend’s obsidian-colored camera spying us in its lens as we tried to bottle our moment. Then it was gone, another whirr on the wheel, spinning as fast as our youth seemed to go. Laughing so hard, and feeling so dizzy we exude nausea. “I hope you had the time of your life,” croons the tiny voice on the speaker his iPod. We walk on the sidewalk, every moment a symbol for our impromptu film. The wind buffets some leaves to the ground. The street connecting Luzon with the rest of the neighborhood. Four roads, four of us. Our own crossroads, each of us standing over our imponderable futures. Moving on. But to McDonald’s first for a drink, save the rest for later. The swings move in the wind, meshed with our memories and joys. The wheel at Luzon, still spinning, acting as the hourglass for the rest of our youth before the deep plunge unto the uncertain future.


Antiquated: Adj. old
Adorned: V. to lend beauty to
Anachronistic: Adj. not in correct time period
Polychromatic: Adj. having or exhibiting a variety of colors
Hovel: N. small dwelling
Obsidian: N. a dark, volcanic glass
Exude: V. to send out
Buffet: V. to force one’s way
Imponderable: Adj. not ponderable
Meshed: V. to become entangled