It was a place in Jenny’s backyard where we thought it was possible magic could occur. There were initials carved in one part: KL Loves MT. These were Jenny’s parents who must have loved each other once but were now divorced.

Jenny asked her mum once about the initials, but her mum got all embarrassed and said it was a mistake and she shouldn’t pay any attention to it.

But for us, the opportunity to exercise our imaginations was all we wanted. We made up tales of Jenny being the Princess and kept inside the walls of the witches castle, and I would be the Prince who rescued her after fighting off dragons and the witch herself.

After our play, we would sit inside the circle and talk about the world as we saw it. Parents, school and our next adventure.

We played inside the circle because in there anything was possible. Outside the circle, the world dictated to us what and where we could go. Our families were predictable, their routines familiar and safe and never was there a suggestion of doing anything different from one year to the next.

But inside the circle, we were heroes, knights, Princes and Princesses and there was nothing to stop us overcoming any adversity that came our way.

Written for: https://athling2001.wordpress.com/2019/01/22/response-jsw-prompt-1-14-2019/