A Moment in Class
"-I hate it here-"
"-do nothing-"
An empty chair .
In a row of nine chairs with eight students to seat, one empty chair separates me from an otherwise unbroken line of unified girls. I had been seated first; they are the ones who separated themselves from me.
"-say nothing-"
Good.
The teacher enters and eyes the empty chair beside me, the void interrupting her perfect line. I pretend not to notice and take out my book. I am not afraid for the chair. It is my comrade and will not leave my side.
"-God, I am running out of patience!-"
"-don't show up-"
"-Who will miss us?-"
She wonders why I do not move over, attempt to join the others. But then it is gone and new wonders come: Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes... I am glad she said nothing. For I would have hated to stand and point to the chair and say that it mattered to me, that I refused to be like them. To smile like hyenas with barbed jokes behind their backs.
No thanks.
"-do nothing-"
An empty chair .
In a row of nine chairs with eight students to seat, one empty chair separates me from an otherwise unbroken line of unified girls. I had been seated first; they are the ones who separated themselves from me.
"-say nothing-"
Good.
The teacher enters and eyes the empty chair beside me, the void interrupting her perfect line. I pretend not to notice and take out my book. I am not afraid for the chair. It is my comrade and will not leave my side.
"-God, I am running out of patience!-"
"-don't show up-"
"-Who will miss us?-"
She wonders why I do not move over, attempt to join the others. But then it is gone and new wonders come: Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes... I am glad she said nothing. For I would have hated to stand and point to the chair and say that it mattered to me, that I refused to be like them. To smile like hyenas with barbed jokes behind their backs.
No thanks.