I spent most of the summer afternoons of 1961 gazing across the lake at the town on the other side.

Summers in the south were humid and sticky and busy with flies and mosquitoes. It was the time for sunbathing and getting brain freezes from milkshakes. Every kid in town wanted a job down at the local pool to pass the time.

I was one of the lucky few kids that summer that got one. I worked as a life guard in the mornings. I worked hard. All the kids knew me and respected me. I was tough but I always made sure the little ones were safe.

Because I worked in the mornings, I had my afternoons totally free to whatever I pleased. Sometimes I'd go to the field by my house and read, and sometimes I would run errands for Mother. But what I really loved was making up stories about the town across the lake.

From my house, all you could really see was a bunch of trees and a few chimneys peaking through.

I usually went to sit on the bank of the lake and curl up with my knees pulled tight to my chest and just watch the chimneys.

My favorite house that I'd pretend with was a big stony house with a red roof. It sat on the top of a hill, I'm guessing, because I could see it best from the bank.

It sat tall and proud. I could tell that whoever built it intended that it would stay there for a long while.

I pretended I lived in the house with the red roof. Me and Mother and Daddy would live there without my brothers and sisters. Just the three of us sitting on top of the world.

Sometimes I pretended my sister Janie lived with us. She's a lot younger than me, so most of the time I forgot about her. I never brought my brother Billy into my day dreams. He was my biggest brother and he was rough. Hes the one who taught me how to fight. I loved him, but he was too rough for my pretending.

We'd live there in peace. Mother and I would cook together, and Daddy would sing with his guitar like he used to before money got tight. I'd draw more pictures on the nice paper with the pretty colored pencils Mother bought me when I was ten. We'd be happy. Mother and Daddy wouldn't worry about the bills or buying food because in my red roofed house, everything would be perfect.

I told Mother about the red roof house and what I pretended. She told me it was bad to think like that. She would say to me “Good gracious, Millie, why cant you just be pleased with what you've got?” I never understood why she'd say that because I thought my make believe was much happier a place than the real world.

Daddy was usually more understanding about my make believe. He appreciated a good imagination. He said it was healthy.

I never brought anyone to my spot on the lake, except one special boy.

His name was Lonnie and I was in love with him in the eighth grade. He had sandy blond hair and sparkling blue-green eyes like the water. Goodness I loved that boy.

I brought him to my special place and I showed him how I sat and he sat next to me in the same way. He kept scooting closer to me until our shoulders were touching. He tucked a piece of my chestnut brown hair behind my ear and said to me “Your face sure is pretty when you're blushing,” which only made me turn redder.

I don't think he appreciated my red roofed house as much as I did, but he said he had fun. He was older than me by three years but he treated me like a grown up. Never once did he talk down to me like I was a little girl. I felt mature with him.

He gave me my first kiss that day at the lake shore. It was like a million volts of electricity were jolting through my blood stream.

Then he moved away to go off to school. I told him I loved him dearly and he kissed my nose and held me real tight. He never told me he loved me back though. My first heart break.

That summer was the best of my life. Mornings at the pool, late afternoons with Lonnie at the state fair and field, and not to mention all my make believe about the house with the red roof. I don't think I'll ever bring myself to forget it.

My red roofed house is still there. I've since moved away, moved on to bigger and better things than my life guard post in the summers. I wonder about it often. I wonder if any of the local kids have found it and watched my red roofed house.