Une histoire triste...
When I was in first grade, I had a boyfriend and his name was Peter Wapner and he kissed me wetly one day in the elevator and he was laughing and me too, I was laughing as we drifted somewhere between two floors of our school and rode down, down, down, laughing.
Peter had a twin brother named Charlie and everyone could tell them apart because Peter needed a walker to get around and Charlie didn't but if they were sitting down all bets were off. I could tell them apart though and one day during indoor recess Charlie made us wedding rings out of a paper plate and he married us, too, just like a Rabbi or a priest or perhaps a judge. When he got to the kissing part we laughed again.
That's just for elevators.
That winter the Wapners went to Florida and a boy named Matt came out and said Sonja I want to be your boyfriend, oh please and my goodness, I was just not used to all this attention. But no, no, Peter and I are married remember? This kind of marriage lasts at least until summer vacation. But Matt gets down on one knee at Peter cannot do that and he says will you marry me? And this boy wants me forever.
But no, no, I cannot. And then he grows a little and I grow a little more and soon we're big and he never talks to me except in passing and that is a-okay with me. And then sad things happen and big things happen and I move and he changes in ways you only hear about on special news reports that slap you with words like COKE POSSESSION and BATTERY and OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE.
When I hear sad things I try to think if I could have made a difference so I'm recalling to way-back-when I knew him in context and out of passing. First grade with paper rings and he got down on one knee, and I could have said yes but forever is too much commitment when you're six years old and you have all of recess ahead of you.
-Sonja
Peter had a twin brother named Charlie and everyone could tell them apart because Peter needed a walker to get around and Charlie didn't but if they were sitting down all bets were off. I could tell them apart though and one day during indoor recess Charlie made us wedding rings out of a paper plate and he married us, too, just like a Rabbi or a priest or perhaps a judge. When he got to the kissing part we laughed again.
That's just for elevators.
That winter the Wapners went to Florida and a boy named Matt came out and said Sonja I want to be your boyfriend, oh please and my goodness, I was just not used to all this attention. But no, no, Peter and I are married remember? This kind of marriage lasts at least until summer vacation. But Matt gets down on one knee at Peter cannot do that and he says will you marry me? And this boy wants me forever.
But no, no, I cannot. And then he grows a little and I grow a little more and soon we're big and he never talks to me except in passing and that is a-okay with me. And then sad things happen and big things happen and I move and he changes in ways you only hear about on special news reports that slap you with words like COKE POSSESSION and BATTERY and OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE.
When I hear sad things I try to think if I could have made a difference so I'm recalling to way-back-when I knew him in context and out of passing. First grade with paper rings and he got down on one knee, and I could have said yes but forever is too much commitment when you're six years old and you have all of recess ahead of you.
-Sonja