Dent Elementary
The last time I was here
I was in the fourth grade.
They were closing the first school
I’d ever gone to.
My sister and I had to visit.
We went in the evening,
parking behind the school
next to the playground.
It all looked the same.
I could have been playing there yesterday.
We went to the windows to sneak a peek
at the classrooms we once spent most of our days in.
As we circled the school
an instinct kicked in,
left over from dumpster diving fathers.
Wondering if we would find treasure.
And we did.
Books.
Hundreds of books.
And in that moment our adventure
became a rescue mission.
I started digging through them
as she got the car.
We had to move fast.
We didn’t want to get caught.
Stacks upon stacks filled the backseat
of my tiny car,
spilling onto the floor.
Children’s books,
and other things.
Like science equipment,
boxed cat skeletons,
and slide projectors.
We took as much as we could
with the promise we would return
for the rest in the morning.
© Chloe
VanDuinen 2012
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