I Write: Assignment - Childhood Memory

Assignment in Creativity for Writers: Write a 250 word description of your most vivid and earliest memory.

We were getting ready to go somewhere, my dad, my mom, and I. It was late afternoon or early evening and it was summer. My mother was in the shower; the bathroom was around the corner from my bedroom and I could hear the water running. I was in my bedroom, trying to be independent. My dresser was several drawers tall, four or maybe five. For some reason, my socks were kept in the top drawer. The top drawer was above my head, as I was then, and still am, fairly short.


Beside the dresser was a garbage can - one of those old-time ones with the foot pedal that opened the lid. The can was metal, as was the lid, so I must have thought it was strong.  It would hold a small four or five year, right? I doubt that I even considered the idea that it wouldn't hold me. I climbed up on the top of the garbage can and opened the top dresser drawer, just enough to snake my hand inside. I wasn't particular about socks, any pair would do.

The legs of my childhood bed were square and made of wood. The corners weren't sharp, but they were firm. As I stretched myself to get the socks I leaned slightly too far toward the front corner of the garbage can lid and it collapsed into the garbage can. I tilted toward the bed. I don't remember the fall exactly, but I remember my stomach seeming to drop when I heard the crunch of the garbage can. I fell backward, landing on my back, my head against the corner of the leg of the bed.

I don't remember any pain, and I don't remember calling for anyone but I remember my daddy coming to rescue me. He probably heard me fall, and in all honesty, I was probably screaming. I remember he picked me up and tried to help me stop crying. I think that was a losing battle. I remember sitting on the bathroom counter with a cloth pressed against the top of my head. And I remember my dad telling me that if I stopped crying we'd go to McDonald's for a sundae.

There's not much else I remember about that day - I know that I had to go to the emergency department to get stitches, but I don't remember any of that. I do remember that we actually did go to get those sundaes.