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that school was out and summer
had begun.
"One ...Two...Ihree]" We gave it
our all when my oldest sister yelled
three. It was the hottest part of
the day, and we should have
stopped for lunch hours ago. As we
lifted the last bale, the hunger and
extra morning work all became
worth it. Our fortress was
complete--our castle was ready.
Now for the final business. This
was probably the most important
part of the building process. We
had to choose a name. There would
be heated argument and intense
voting among the cousins for the
next several hours.
"I just finished this book," I
tried to tell my cousin, who
outranked me by a very important
eight months, "Bridge to Terabithia.
It was 50 good, and we could call
our castle that."
"Oh nof' My older sister had
final say in everything, being the
oldest and all. "We are going to be
original," she told us. Her face was
always stern. She waen''t one to
mess with, 50 I didn"t disagree.
Much time was spent considering
our options, which were carefully
dismissed or written down by those
of us that could write. The little
ones always had the silliest ideas,
names that would just pop into
their heads that had no meaning
behind them at all. "Jo-jobba-wa,"
one would say. They"d all laugh,
never even taking notice if anyone
else liked it or not. We let the ones
that sounded good slide onto the
list, though they were few and far
CONTRAST 2003 - PRIVATE
between. The kids didn"t care. The
youngest didn"t even remember
which ones they had thought of
when it came time to vote.
"Ethrea/," the oldest said, her
voice flowing as if she were in a
fairy tale. She knew the home
language used only by those of
authority within the castle walls.
We all turned and looked.
"What?" I stared at her. Where
did she come up with this stuff,
and why did it always seem 50
perfect?
"It means fantasy," she told
us. None of us knew how she knew
that, or if it was even true, but we
all loved it. Finally it came to the
vote. There was always bitterness
at this time, everyone wanted to be
responsible for coming up with the
chosen name for our fort. In past
years, each of us voted for our own
idea, and then we had to let
Mommom draw one out of a hat.
We knew this year was going to be
different.
It was hard for me to vote for
my sister"s choice. She always
seemed to win. But her idea was
the best, and I really did like it.
"Ethrea/." It had an elegance about
it--a surreal ring to it that fit our
new land perfectly. I wanetd to play
in Ethrea/, day in and day out. I
wanted to eat all my meals in
Ethrea/. I wanted to be part of the
Kingdom of Eth rea I, a part of
Ethrea/"s chosen court. And 50 I did
it. I wrote it carefully, trying to
form the letters to fit the
perfection of the name. I folded my
vote slip, which was carefully cut