Works For My English Class

Assignment 1:Memoir- Breaking In

Then came time to put it all together. Here's the final draft of my memoir. Written on August 24, 2017.

It's short, but then again, it was the first writing assignment of the year and it happened years ago so I couldn't remember all the details. My teacher said she really liked the title though!

     Since I was about 8 or 9, my father would lock his bedroom door whenever he left the house so that I couldn't go in. I had a tendency to go into his room with out him knowing and steal things, and still do. He finally had enough and that's when he started to lock his door. He had a weekend job that involved him leaving me for a few hours, so one day, when I was about 11, I decided I would find a way in.

     I remember standing in front of the door that was located at the bottom of our staircase that lead to upstairs where my room was. I was thinking for minutes at a time about how I was going to get in. It suddenly occurred to me what I needed to do. I remembered that when I was much younger, I had locked myself out of my room on accident and my dad used a butter knife to open the door. He slipped it in between the door and the frame, wiggled it a little bit, and it opened. I immediately ran to the kitchen, and grabbed a butter knife from the sink. All that was left to do was apply the same technique I remembered my dad using himself.

     I eagerly and excitedly skipped back in front of his still locked bedroom door. I wasn't worried about anything except if it would actually work. After all, I was very young when I saw him do it, but then again, I had an excellent memory. Looking back on it now, perhaps I should have looked at the big picture and worry about the consequences, but I didn't care. I was too focused on how to do it perfectly. I felt like a doctor doing a special operation. If I didn't do it correctly, everything would go wrong and fall apart.

     I finally had enough of my own hesitation, and slipped the butter knife in between the door and its frame and wiggled it a little as my dad had done. Then a slight clicking sound came from the lock and I slowly pushed to door open as its hinges squeaked loudly. I actually did it. I felt such a strong sense of accomplishment and jumped cheerfully. I could not believe it actually worked.