Between the age of two and seven I lived in a country called Qatar, which is situated in the middle - east. The town I lived in was called Doha. the capital of the country. The climate was hot all year round and landscape was similar to that of a desert. This was the main reason we joined a family leisure club. The club was set up for the use of 'European expatriates' and was known as the E.S.D Club. The club and its grounds contained a large pool surrounded by sun loungers and deck chairs where many people came for an afternoon's swim. At the back of the club there were tennis and squash courts, with a viewing area like a balcony for watching people play. For younger children like myself there was a little playground with swings, a slide and climbing frame.
The layout of the week was slightly different over there, Thursday and Friday were the weekend days just like the Saturdays and Sundays we are used to in Britain.
One of the campus's squash courts.
English: MGS Squash Courts
English: Squash courts in , New South WalesEvery Thursday night we would go to the 'E.S.D Club' for a large barbecue usually catering for up to fifty people. During the golf war and the time this story was set U.S. airforce troops visited the club and so the numbers were around a hundred to a hundred and fifty. The adults usually the dads would cook and prepare the barbecue there was normally a large range of things such as steak, chicken, kebabs, burgers, salads, potatoes and lots of sauces and garnishes.
After eating the barbecue the parents went off into the clubhouse and bar where they would stay until the early hours of the morning! This gave my friends and I the free run of the club and all its outdoor facilities. My friends where all British as they went to the same school as me, the school was for English speaking people only and we were made to pay very high fees for the privilege to be taught by qualified British teachers.
One Thursday night after the barbecue we decided we would go and play in the squash courts, I was very young at the time and so followed my friends and the older boys and joined in their games. After a somewhat enthralling game of murder in the dark we went upstairs to the viewing area, a large platform overlooking the squash courts. Over the edge of the squash court was a large brown air-conditioner. Which all the older boys used to drop down onto then from there they would drop onto the top of the opened squash courts door and from there to the floor. The older boys played a game called 'keep the cookie crumbling'. The object of this game was to, repeat the dropping down process as fast as you could over and over again in the hope of catching up with the person that went just before you. When u caught up with them they were out and sat down out of the way until one person was left running around and therefore declared the winner.
This night when they started playing the game they realised they didn't have enough people to play the game and to keep it flowing so they looked over to me and the rest of the younger children for someone else to join in. I was eager to be liked by the older boys and wanted to show off to my friends hence I accepted and joined in the game. They went first and I was the last one up there as I heard the thud of feet hitting the wooden floor I knew that I would have to go now or be laughed at by my friends and completely humiliated in front of the older boys. So like a rabbit I bounced over the safety wall onto the brown air conditioner, from there I began lowering my weight over the edge and began looking for the door with my feet. I couldn't find it so I looked down and to my horror I saw the door was about a meter below my legs, I knew jumping from there onto the door would be foolish because I would almost surely fall off it and land awkwardly. Whilst these thoughts were running through my head my friends had run off to get help and even the older boys I was so eager to fit in with had scampered off in fear of there secret game being discovered. Just as my arms were barely able to hold me, a member of the U.S. airforce burst in and saw that he would not of made it upstairs and hauled me back over in time and told me that I would have to drop the 12ft to the floor. I looked down and nearly fainted, all my strength left me and I couldn't hold on any longer and dropped. As I was dropping I heard a voice in a distinct American accent saying 'land in a roll, land in a roll' so I curled up like a ball and pointed out my toes. As soon as the tips of my feet hit the floor I rolled, this instantly relieved the pressure on my legs and I felt it shoot right up my body and out of my head. The way I landed I later learned had taken the pressure off my legs just in time before they may have broken.
Thanks to the help of the American man and my real friends, I was fine. I realised then that I should know my limits and not do things outside my capability to impress others and that I should have given my true friends the same respect that I had given the older boys.
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