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SUMMER CREATIVE WRITING CONTEST
2008 WINNER

My Town

by Griffin Dietz

I have just finished reading Our Town a three-act play written by Thornton Wilder. The story is introduced in a monologue by the stage manager in, what is my opinion, the most simple and straightforward way possible. He, in a sense, describes the play by saying what it’s called, whom it’s by and what it’s about, all in a matter of paragraphs. What caught my notice when I read the lines however is how detailed Thornton Wilder was when describing Grover’s Corner, New Hampshire. I could actually picture the town and all its going-ons and have been inspired by this to write my own monologue for somebody describing my own town, Pacific Palisades. I only hope that I can do it justice, so here goes.

It’s early in the morning and the winter air is crisp. The sun just rose over the mountains an hour ago and the mist from the sea still lingers in the air, covering Pacific Palisades in a haze. Birds have awoken in their nests perched high up in trees, and are chirping loudly, creating sweet music to welcome the new day and the town that is just beginning to wake up.

A pedestrian taking a jog early in the morning hums in tune with the iPod in his ears, his dog trailing after him on a leash. He waves to a shop owner, just unlocking the doors of her store as he runs by before pausing at a cross walk, waiting for the light to change in his favor even though there are few cars on the road at this hour. The dog pauses to sit too, tongue dangling out of his mouth and chest rising and falling quickly.

Across the street, a young boy steps out of a shop, holding a bagel covered with cream cheese in his hand. He takes a bite, carefully chewing before swallowing. Then he lifts his arm to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand, catching crumbs and brushing them off his face. He walks away, down to his school where children are playing happily on the yard before its time for classes to start.

They smile as balls are passed back and forth and call out to each other happily. The teachers talk on the bench and one stands up to help one of the younger kids who has fallen and scraped her knee. After a minute the girl is up and running again with her peers, a grin spread across her face, and only a scratch remaining as evidence of what had happened just a few moments before.

Just around the corner at the park, a mother is rocking a child in her arms. The baby wouldn’t sleep, so she had taken him out to play to calm him down, but now that he has finally closed his eyes, it is time for him to wake up. She walks across the playground to the empty parking lot, making a new set of footsteps in the sand before placing the boy in a car seat and driving off, back home before work.

She drives slowly through her neighborhood and the light turns on in the bedroom of a house as she passes by. Inside the house, a man just woke up his son, who needs to get up for school. Then he walks downstairs and joins his wife, who is preparing breakfast for the family. They sit and eat together, enjoying each other’s company before each goes their own separate ways for the day.

The mom’s first stop on the list of errands is the supermarket, where she needs to pick up ingredients for that night’s dinner. Driving into the lot, she stops her car, waiting while a man helps an elderly lady carry her bags to her own car. The lady unlocks the vehicle and opens the trunk before thanking the kind man who helped her. The man smiles and helps her close the trunks before turning away to return to his job. The lady drives away quickly so she can get her food into the refrigerator before it gets too warm.

The rest of the town is beginning to wake up now and the streets are getting busier and shops more crowded. People stop on the sidewalk to have conversations and children step out of the car in front of schools, waving goodbye to their parents for the day. Another day is just beginning in the town of Pacific Palisades, California.