Earliest?

I was Pinteresting this afternoon during a rare "I've actually finished marking the student assessment pieces and the dishes are done (thanks bestie) and I suppose I could finish the laundry but I will just see if there is anything on Pinterest that I could use for school tomorrow"  moments.  You know what they are like.  Anyway, someone had pinned "25 writing prompts" and said the list was, and I quote, "impressive".  Obviously, being the brilliant writer that I am, I had to check it out.  I landed at Carrie Elle's blog and found her ''Wordy Wednesday" link up.  Considering I am such a party girl (ha) I thought I better join in and liven up the place... Sense the irony people.  The prompt for this week...

"What is your earliest memory?"  

I am not sure that this is my earliest memory.  There are a couple of memories that sort of mash together like a clip show in the middle of a television series.  There are flashes of old faces and hands and clothes.  Then I see photos of those old faces and I wonder if my memory is of real events or pictures of real events.  I do know that this particular memory was not photographed so it must be real.  It must.

Mist clears

(Think: dream sequence on TV)

I am in a car seat; my mother is driving. Out the window I see the old tree that still grows on the edge of my grandmother’s backyard.  The car slows and stops near the huge Hills Hoist clothes line.  The familiar crunch of the handbrake jerks the car backwards.  My mother opens her car door and a winter chill slithers in.  I cough.  The back door opens and Mummy leans in, kneeling on the seat, “Come on my darling,” she coos.  I cough.  She bundles me in a blanket, rubbing my arms.  She covers my head to protect it from the icy air and whispers in my ear, “Will we trick Nanny?” 

Mummy, all warm and cuddly, envelopes me.  She draws me out of the car and carries me through the yard and into the house.  I sneeze.  All I see is her shoulder and the blanket.  I hear the beat of her heart and snuggle into her warmth.  There are grown up voices and the cold disappears.  Then I hear, “What’s that you’re carrying?” 

Mummy gently lowers me to the floor and I stand there under the blanket for a split second before throwing it off.  “It’s me, Nanny!” 

Nanny feigns a look of surprise.  I cough.

Cue the mist.

Don’t forget to check out the other participants in Carrie’s Wordy Wednesday Link Up.