Retrospect – The Day I Became a Knight

By Kevin J. W. Driscoll (c) 2025

Picture this: I was eight years old, and my backyard was no ordinary place. It was a sprawling kingdom, teeming with hidden treasures and fierce dragons (okay, they were just our cats, but to an eight-year-old, they were formidable foes). My trusty steed was a rickety old bicycle, and my armor? A collection of pots and pans I’d pilfered from the kitchen when me Mum wasn’t looking.

One Saturday afternoon, I decided to embark on the greatest quest of all—to rescue my sister from the clutches of the evil dragon (again, just our rather disgruntled cat, Whiskers). Armed with a broomstick for a lance and a saucepan helmet, I gallantly rode my steed across the treacherous terrain of the backyard, navigating between the garden gnomes that doubled as sentries.

I reached the dragon’s lair, where my sister was valiantly “imprisoned” behind the rose bushes. With a battle cry that could rival a lion’s roar (or, at least, in my mind it did), I charged at Whiskers. Of course, the cat looked at me with utter disdain and promptly scurried away to a safer corner of the garden.

Victorious, I freed my sister, who, with the utmost solemnity, dubbed me “Sir Broomstick” with a twig we found on the ground. We celebrated by feasting on cookies and juice, basking in the glory of my newly earned knighthood.

Even now, when I think back to that sunny afternoon, I can’t help but smile. The world was simpler then, full of endless possibilities and grand adventures, all within the confines of our backyard kingdom.

–30–