The strangest things trigger old memories.

I’m sat at my computer in my study/office/whatever-it’s-called writing the synopsis for a book. I find synopses very difficult to write. How do you sum up 80,000 words of complex story, plot and sub-plots in only 2,000 words at most? I’d rather write a book any time because it is so much easier!

But that’s not what is coming to mind at the moment. My computer is next to a window that overlooks the front of the house. There is a little girl who lives nextdoor who nearly every day goes and sits by the lampost at the front of our house and sits and plays with her doll. There are other children in our road, but none seem to ever play with her. At best I’ve seen them ignore her, and at worst just tease her. It’s a little sad to see. I don’t know if the little girl is autistic. I think they are somewhat mean though, if truth be known.

Right now there are three girls running around and playing, in between teasing this girl. She is looking to them, and I suspect she actually just wants to be part of the crowd and be allowed to play with them. Why do I find seeing this so upsetting? Because the little girl who is being ignored and teased reminds me a lot of me when I was young. I was very insular, bullied a tremendous lot and had few friends. I remember being so treated by so-called ‘friends’ who thought it was funny to exclude me from their games. Seeing this happen to this girl brings back unhappy memories of childhood.

It’s hard to know what too do. None of these children are my children, so some may argue it is none of my business. I’m also not one for taking sides. However seeing this all acted out just a few yards from my office window is quite upsetting. I’m looking down there and seeing the eight year old me in 1987 getting exactly the same treatment from my peers.