One day I found myself useful again. I wasn’t aware of how or for what at the beginning but I knew Will and Sarah, Ted’s children, had a use for me that faithful June day when I heard them talking about how the swing they were about to make would keep them occupied all Summer. ‘I’m having the first turn on the swing Sarah.’ Said Will, in a firm manner. ‘No!’ snapped a fuming Sarah. ‘Not if I hop on it first.’ I was removed from the old wheel and brought to a big wooded area which I heard them referring to as ‘the garden.’ Trees were big and old and there were birds nesting above. A rope was threaded through me and I was then skilfully tied to a high branch from which I swung. A flat piece of board was slotted in so they could sit comfortably. Will was first to swing after much argument. Sarah pushed him while he laughed with excitement and said ‘higher Sarah, higher.’ before crying ‘stop Sarah stop! That’s too high I want to get down now.’ Sarah agreed that this was a good idea and in her attempt at helping Will down from me, was more dragging him off so she wouldn’t have to wait another moment. She hopped on later than anticipated and Will pushed. Sarah enjoyed swinging high much more and although was a year younger than Will was much braver. It was quite fun to be a swing. Unlike being part of a wheel, I got to soar high up in the air and see all around. It was lots of fun.
I didn’t see them again until some weeks later. It was Sarah’s birthday. ‘Who wants to push the baby on the swing?’ shouted Will. ‘I’m not a baby Will, I’m 9!’ Sarah said rolling her eyes. Her friends giggled at the sibling teasing and one stepped forward to push Sarah. That day they spent hours playing in ‘the garden.’ They played there all summer infact and were smiling throughout until the last day they came to play that summer. ‘I hate school. Why can’t it be summer all year round and school didn’t exist?’ asked a sorrowful Sarah. ‘I know Sarah but its life I guess.’ replied a level headed Will. After that day I didn’t see Sarah and Will together much anymore. Often they would come alone to just sit and swing and reflect upon a hard day in school or to cool off after an argument. My use became less and less apparent as time continued to pass. The children were getting older and as time went on I would watch them grow as they occasionally made an appearance alone similarly taking some time to reflect as they always did. I now watched from a height. Heavy storms throughout the years had caused me to wrap around the branch I was tied to and Ivy had grown over me, somewhat hiding me from existence. But I exist still.
One day after a long time of not seeing anybody, I saw a young man coming through the garden gate. He was upset and a young woman followed after him. ‘Will are you ok?’ she asked. ‘No Sarah, why did Gran have to die?’ I hardly recognised either of them. Will and Sarah, no longer young children. They had grown so much. ‘It’s just part of life I guess.’ replied Sarah also in tears. ‘Do you remember when we were young and she’d be in bed for weeks with her “nerves” and then there would be a knock on the door one day and it was her in a trench coat and hat in the lashing rain pretending to be a strange man?’ asked Sarah. ‘I do.’ replied Will smiling and choking back the tears. ‘She always had such a good sense of humour. If only people didn’t have to age.’ said Sarah. They talked some more about their grandmother before leaving again.
Another day an older man came out to 'the garden.' It was a hot day during summer and he seemed to be enjoying the shade of the many old trees above. It occurred to me that this was a man I had seen before. He looked different but then I realised it was Ted. It was great to see him. He looked much older and greyer than before and not as fit as when he cycled with me but it was still the same old Ted I’m sure. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and lay down on some dry moss, resting his head on a tree. ‘Oh what a glorious day!’ he exclaimed to himself. He may have looked different but it was still the man who cared for me once, who had a use for me and fixed me when I needed repair. He lay there unaware of my presence high above. Unaware of how his children had taken me from his old bike and used me for a swing and came to me when they needed some time alone. He awakened from an impromptu nap some time later and left.
It was a long time before I saw anybody again. ‘The garden’ was virtually deserted. Weathers came and went, seasons changed and as time continued to pass, I became less visible. I was now part of the tree and a little pigeon had weaved a nest between me and the Ivy. I was useful once again. This time not to a man or a child but to a bird who was preparing to hatch. I was providing shelter, a home, somewhere to hatch and rear chicks. I had seen many birds around hatch and fly away but I had never quite been such an intimate part of the process. It was nice because for so long I had not been part of anything. It was company to have the pigeon nesting for hours, cooing in the evening as the Sun set below the tops of the trees and in the morning as it rose again. After a few weeks the chicks hatched and chirped loudly for food. When it was retrieved and brought back to them, they were so loud in anticipation of a full stomach that any life below seemed intrigued and bewildered by the noise above. Then as life began to repeat it’s lonely course, the chicks soon grew big and fledged, the parents abandoned the nest and I was no longer of any use to them.
Out of the blue one day I heard laughter and shouting. Two children, a boy and a girl, ran through the gate giggling. ‘Mum you can’t catch us’ they shouted. ‘Yes I can!’ shouted a woman who had just run through the gate. ‘Ahh!’ screamed the two children. ‘Help us Uncle Will.’ shouted one. ‘Ok I’m coming.’ replied a voice beyond the gate. A tall man then approached the gate and said ‘Oh Sarah, I am not as fit as I used to be.’ ‘I know the feeling’ replied an out of breath Sarah. They were now grown up and Sarah had children. They had rope and a tyre and they all helped make a swing with the two children not far from my tree. It was nice to see some life back around ‘the garden.’ The children played there alot. 'The garden' seemed to be visited more now and although I was a forgotten old Swing in an old rotten tree, lost to the world, no longer part of any person or creatures life I realised the branch which for so long now I had a use for and lay upon, provided me with the ability to provide others with uses time and time again and it went unnoticed. I am very grateful.
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