The Window by Catherine Kozlova

The minutes of being a student
of the university of my dream are begun their counting. It was preceded by a journey through Dante’s nine circles of hell. Finally, I could breathe a sigh of relief. I made a cup of my favorite tea and a scent of rosehip and citrus fruit pervaded the room. A rufous fluffy four-legged friend named Winston was sleeping on windowsill. I approached it, put a hand into cat’s fur and looked out the window. My bedroom offered a view of the spacious yard garden where I spent my childhood. Thanks to contributions of inhabitants of my home, there was a well-equipped playground, which consisted of swings, climbing frames, a teeter-totter, a sand box, and a large jungle gym. Benches and outfits for children’s leisure were painted in the colors of the rainbow. A view from the ninth floor looked like a huge green area with the splashy colorful spots. The playground was filled by children of different ages. Their joyful ringing laughing came to me and I remembered warm and vivid memories resonant with this place. In my mind’s eye evoked images of playfellows and neighbors used to play Hide-and-Seek, Monkey in the Middle and Hopscotch with. We had come together after finishing lessons at school and had been playing on the playground until parents from opened windows asked us go home. Therefore, it comes as no great surprise that our legs were always covered with cuts and grazes.
‘I’ve kissed a boy on this viridescent bench under the mountain ash at first’, a trip down memory lane was continued. ‘We were hiding from the rain when our cold hands and warm lips were touched.  How long ago it was... During the preparation for exams and attending additional classes I haven’t even noticed these benches that still kept our warmth and ‘possession’ of playground that passed from one generation to the next’. Winston awoke and sluggishly bit my finger. It was time for me to move on.
I came back home after a grueling hard-working trimester. Coffee replaced fruity tea in my daily routine and it is one of the attributes that you are a student. I made a cup of double espresso with milk and headed to my bedroom window. I had no words for describing what I had seen. The play area was torn down and a building of new residential complex was started here. Fenced heaps of sands and construction materials with a dirt and a dust around was what a view my bedroom window offered me. The world of my days as a child has died and understanding of the end of childhood has already come into my mind clearly.