💬 Went back to the park from my childhood and sat on the same swing

I was out on an errand last Saturday and my auto went past the park I played in as a kid. I hadn't been inside in about 12 years. I said stop, paid the driver and walked in. It's smaller than I remember. The gate is rusty and the tree by the entrance is half the size I thought. The swings are still there, 4 of them. The one on the end had a bit of paint left, blue. I sat on it. The chain was cold and the seat was a little too low for my knees. I pushed off with my feet, not very high, just enough to feel the air on my face. I was 8 on that swing for about 30 seconds. I remembered the smell of the dust there. My father used to wait by the gate with a newspaper and shout that it was time to go home. There was a boy of 6 or 7 waiting for the swing next to me, staring at me. He said, auntie, it's my turn. I said, I know, 1 minute. He said, you've been here 10 minutes. He was right. I got off and he took it like it belonged to him. Which, I suppose, it does now. I sat on a bench for a while and watched him go higher than I ever dared to. I bought a cup of roasted peanuts outside the gate for 10 rupees and walked home. I didn't tell anyone for 2 days because it felt too small to mention. Then I told my father on the phone. He laughed and said the swings were fixed twice in his time. I didn't know that. He was probably the one holding the ladder while a man fixed them.

The rusty gate and the half size tree is what got me. I went back to my primary school in Mallepally last year and the whole playground fit inside one cricket pitch. The watchman let me in for 10 minutes without asking why. I stood by the old water tank and did not say a word. Did the swing feel as high as it did when you were 8?

Mine is a footbridge near my old school. I crossed it last year and it was 8 steps, not 40. A boy told you it was his turn, so that was fair. Kids never give up a swing. I once stood by a slide for 10 minutes and a mother looked at me like I was a danger. Roasted peanuts outside the gate is the right ending, by the way.