Oliver's Corner of the World
A true story by April M Mitchell
© January 2010
Oliver busied himself gathering the supplies he would need, dragging them behind the couch to the corner of the living room. He took his box, the one he'd salvaged from the package his mother had received in the mail yesterday, and ripped open one side of it. He then unfolded it making a long flat piece of cardboard. He got out his markers and began to draw and color. He added splashes of blue and green and large red circles all over the cardboard sheet. Then he set the cardboard on it's edges like a wall, using it's flaps to support it. He arranged it as to partition off the corner where the two walls met. He arranged his pillow, blanket, and large zoo of stuffed animals within the cardboard walls. He stepped gingerly over and into his newly created space.
He sat for sometime, leaning back on the pillows, admiring the view from his special place. He watching as his slippers waved at him from his feet until he got bored. Then he hopped up and made a run to the room he shared with his three older brothers and retrieved some books and a small box bucket full of Lego's. He stopped by the kitchen to sneak a brownie from the counter and an apple from the fruit bowl. He neatly arranged these new items within the small corner behind the box walls.
He sat quietly eating his snacks while he turned the pages of his books looking at his favorite pictures remembering the stories. Froggy, his most favorite stuffed frog sat next to him, looking at the pages as Oliver flipped them one by one. Oliver felt warm and cozy in this spot he had made for he and Froggy to share.
Oliver looked over the top of his cardboard fortress, out into the large room where his family mulled about. His mother teaching his brother Ian math. His brother Josef on the largest couch reading a book. Kaleb rounding the other side of the couch, spied him and his little home. He came around and tried to step over the wall. Oliver yelled and it sounded to him like a great protective roar. His mother looked up from her lesson and told Kaleb to leave Oliver alone. The trespasser moved away reluctantly. Oliver lay back again victorious in having defended his own little corner of the world.
