Introduction

I remember it quite clearly. You would start at the top of the stairs, looking down the narrow gap between all of the other flights below, imagining what it would be like if you fell. Then you begin. You would slide three or four steps before grinding to a steady, bumpy halt. You push off again a few times to get yourself moving, but by the time you've even gotten anywhere you've hit the flat, so you quickly stand up and run to the other side, getting ready to start all over again. This continues for a few floors until, like always, someone decides to cheat. Your little brother stands up, picks up his makeshift toboggan and begins to run as fast as possible, his feet echoing the sound of the rain outside on the stairs as he descends.

Quickly, you chase after him, running downwards in a spiral, until you both hit the wall at the end with a thud, holding your toboggan tight against your chest to lessen the impact as you crash with full force. You double over with laughter, tears streaming down your face and your cheeks red and aching already. You push him playfully, he punches your shoulder, and a swordfight of sorts breaks out, the same criss-cross of plastic made with each move, a few turns thrown in for fun, and lots of dramatic sound effects. Someone falls, and is told to say their prayers and asked if they have any last words, before it becomes a competition as to how many of the other person's secrets are known and are teasingly threatened to be revealed, immediately followed by some carefully aimed and rather childish insults. Suddenly, somebody opens the front door, and instantly the atmosphere changes; like soldiers, you stand straight with your toboggans concealed behind your backs, and greet them, before bursting into laughter and falling over again as soon as they've disappeared out of sight..

"But that's impossible," you interject, "you were an only child."
"Well," I respond slowly, my tongue thick in my mouth, "one can dream of a childhood they never had, can't they?"