Forts from Floor-Vents

We used to make forts from floor vents. Their cloth carapace: the sun stars and moon that was my 7 year old bed covers. The sheets billowing out from underneath me; its walls held in place by my weight as I sat Indian style. The world around me shrank to just the inside of this newly created space. Sparse walls were the boundary of our canvas; the limits to our unlimited imagination. It was a place where we could escape expectations and limitations. We were the masters of that universe and in it we dreamt of castles and thought about a world where we could do amazing things. In this world, if there was a super power we had it. We were the heroes to our villains; anything and everything that we wanted to be. My mother would soon realize what we were doing and would find us huddled in our fort; the air cooling us off as we used action figures to model the world we had created inside. Sometimes she would join us to escape the heat and other times we would be chastened for hogging the cold air. Which we most certainly were guilty of.

Thinking back now, there is a certain nostalgia for those moments and for the boy I was back then; the boy who pictured a world with endless possibilities. Now that I am older the possibilities aren’t as endless as I used to imagine. My place in the world not as clear as it had been in that star covered fort. I think that if only I had the imagination of that 7 year old me, then maybe I could imagine a place for myself. A place where I have superpowers of my very own put to good use and proper purpose.

Reviews

[Cain Young]

I was intrigued. The introduction was great! I loved it, but I wish that there was more written. Please write more:)