Emma Oertle

As soon as I stepped out of our car and looked up at the big house, I knew it was going to be a good day. We rung the bell and all I could hear was the loud sound of ‘Ding-Dong.’ About thirty seconds later I could hear the sound of footsteps on hardwood. The door opened and a man appeared and said, “Welcome.”

My father, Andrew and I drove all the way to Utah to see my father’s grandparents. We saw them and went to a cook out at another relative’s house. The man was very tall and skinny with some gray hair and a nice little jacket that had a plaid pattern on it.  When I stepped inside I saw a huge living room, with a small fish tank on a table next to some stairs.  On the carpet, in the middle of living room, I saw some toy trains, probably for some of my littler cousins. The man told my brother, Andrew, and me that there were about three stories to this house. I thought to myself, “I wonder if their basement was old and creepy, with dirt floors and small rooms.” I knew it wouldn’t be like that, since it was a very nice house, from the look of it. He didn’t tell us about the basement, he just lead us to it. As we walked to the basement door and looked around in excitement, everything looked so new and nice.

A few seconds later we arrived at the basement door, before he even opened it, I could hear excited voices and footsteps clicking on the floor. After the door was open, I looked on into the vast darkness that seemed to swallow the stairs. The man went first, then my father, then me, and lastly my brother.  As I held onto the rail, my eyes were adjusting to the darkness that seemed to never end. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I stepped onto some more soft and fluffy carpet, the voices and footsteps were coming from some smaller kids playing arcade games. The room was bigger than it appeared, At the farthest corner was a window about five feet high, light crawled into the dark room. Next to the window was a jar, and it was full of candy! I rushed over to it and got a handful. I ate some and said, “Skittles, I love Skittles!” The man next to my father said, “Don’t eat too much now, we are cooking up dinner.” I nodded and told him that I would only have my handful. He said all right, and then he left, so did my father. I was so ecstatic, that as soon as I heard the basement door close, I started to run around. I ran so frantically I dropped some of my Skittles.

 After I had played a few games and eaten my Skittles. I started up the stairs, and when I opened it, light hit my face. My eyes were so adjusted to the darkness in the basement, that when I came up from the void, my eyes started to burn. I climbed the last step and looked around, rubbing my eyes. The first thing I noticed was a big kitchen, and next to it, a screen door. I walked up to the door, and heard more voices, but this time they weren’t as excited as the ones in the basement. I opened the door and stepped outside on to the porch. The wood was a light brown and there were many people. I looked out into the yard and saw a pool. I love to swim so I was very excited. I walked down the stairs, and looked beyond the pool. I saw a trampoline, but it looked different, I didn’t see the steel legs that usually held a trampoline up, all I saw was the bouncy part. I ran up to it and saw that it was on a big hole. “It’s in a hole?” I exclaimed excitedly. I jumped on it and lost my balance. I fell backwards and landed softly. The sun warmed me as I lay there. I got up and ran to a big lump, of dirt and grass, and stood on it and looked on to the house full of people. I rolled down the hill and ran back to the house. I put my feet into the pool water and watched people cook dinner for all my family. Looking back on this experience that no person is alike, you don’t need to be young to have fun, but you don’t have to be rich to be cool or remembered.