Friends on Orleans Street

There were always friends to play with at our Orleans Street house. Kids from all around the block came to play at our house: kickball, flashlight tag, bike riding, roller skating/roller blading, our trampoline, two-hand touch football. 

-Annie: I remember Emily and her friend, Catherine Olzsyk, hosting a "roller-skating" school for their younger sisters, Ellen and me. Ellen and I sat on the curb while Emily and Catherine showed us their moves (skating through chalk lines they had drawn on the street). Then we had a chance to skate and try and imitate their skills.

-Annie: We had some epic games of flashlight tag. It sometimes happened that we had 2 dozen kids playing and the boundaries included a few street. I remember a particular game of flashlight tag when I was hiding with James in an unknown neighbor's bush (this older fellow didn't have children at home). He must have heard us because he came our shouting, maybe thinking we were prowlers, and digging through his bush. When it was impossible for us to hide from him anymore we came out; he was pretty hostile to James about being on his property until he saw little me. He seemed to believe James' story about us just playing flashlight tag at that point and let us leave in peace.