A few weeks ago I sent a request to a number of young writers and asked them to write descriptions of their rooms. This piece is by Sophia Hiller, who is about to turn 12. It was written while she was visiting her grandmother's horse camp in Foster, Rhode Island.
Uncle Billy’s Room . . . that I sleep in when I go to horse camp at Grandma Ginny’s house with my cousin Thokozarai (or just Thoko)
I sleep on the top bunk. Thoko sleeps on the bottom. I have light blue sheets. She has dark blue sheets. She has clothes in our room. I have clothes in the “red room.” (There is a door into the “red room,” where Rachel and Kathleen sleep. The other girls are from Maryland.)
Thoko is dark skinned with tightly curled dark brown hair. I am light skinned with dirty blond hair. Thoko is picky about how she looks. I am not picky about how I look. Thoko is a junior counselor. I am not a junior counselor.
Our room has ribbons on the wall from Uncle Billy. We have tan wallpaper and brown blankets. Our wallpaper has flowers in a diamond pattern. Some flowers are orange, some yellow, some purple, and some blue. It has diagonal lines of blue and purple, and diagonal lines of orange and yellow. In the other direction, diagonal lines of blue and yellow, and purple and orange.
There is a closet, a bookshelf, and a bedstand with books on it. On the wall is a mirror, and behind the mirror there is a peacock feather. There is a wardrobe full of show shirts next to the bookshelf.
Here is how the room is laid out: Walk in the door. To your left is the bookshelf (hidden by the door) and next to that is the wardrobe. Then there is a laundry basket shaped like a corner and full of bed stuff. Above the basket is a row of ribbons, and there is a hole in the wall about an inch in diameter. Next is the door to the “red room,” and then a corner. The entrance door is next to a corner, too, so the door only opens up to a right angle. Next to the corner is the bedstand with horse books on it, and more horse books on the floor on the side near the “red room” door. There is also a clock shaped like a bubble-letter “O,” cut in half. Directly next to the bedstand is the bed, in a corner, a short length from the bedstand to the wall. Next is the closet, at the end of the longways side of the bed. Then another corner, then a window with hooks and the place where we put our laundry bags. Next is the dresser, with the mirror hanging on the wall above it, and then you’re back to the door. Hanging on all the walls are ribbons.
