Aluminum Shed

I lived in a tight knit community when I grew up. The neighbors all knew each other and all of the children played together. We all differed in ages, and at we all had different best friends all the time. It was like our own little world, and we all knew each other very well, even if we didn’t want to. One day we came home to find someone had written all over the side of our house in crayon. My mom knew it was one of the neighborhood children, but she didn’t know who. The answer came on the side of the aluminum shed that was outside my bedroom window.

I don’t know whose bright idea it was to put that aluminum shed in front of my bedroom window, but there it was. It blocked my view of the outside, but it was just something that had always been there. There was about a two foot space between the aluminum shed and my window. That space was often used as a hiding spot when we played games, or was a way to get away from someone when playing tag. On this day, that space was something that someone else had apparently entered.

There as a boy across the street named Danny, and he was always a bit of a goof, and he liked to make trouble. I wouldn’t call him a bad kid; he was just a bit more spirited than the rest of us. He would do things that none of us would do, and he often wasn’t very bright about it. He had left a clue to his identity on the side of the aluminum shed. Though I didn’t see it right away, I did see it when I went into my room a little later. He had written his name in big bold letters on the side of that aluminum shed, and he wrote it in crayon.

We weren’t very old, and he certainly didn’t realize that writing his name on the aluminum shed would let the world know who had written on our house, but I’m sure it was a hard lesson for him to learn. I don’t remember now what happened, but I seem to remember him having to clean off the side of our house and that aluminum shed as his punishment. I know my mom understood he was just a child, as the boy’s mom did as well, but it was important that he learn a lesson about other people’s property.