Third Grade
Unlike my parents, I wasn't a morning person. My Dad was making puns and trying to engage me at breakfast, and I just wished he'd shut up and leave me to my dull early-morning haze. My little sister Jan's morning mood trended more towards cranky. "Tell Derek* to quit slurping his cereal, it's gross!" I scowled at her and considered doing it more to annoy her further but I was too groggy to put any energy into it.
We walked down the road to the curve to wait for the school bus. Theresa Jones and the Jackson boys, from across the street, boarded at the same bus stop. "Hey Derek, what do you like better, football or motocross?" Jerry was putting dead pecans from the nearby pecan tree into a slingshot and shooting them at the stop sign where they ricocheted with a ping. "What, you don't watch either one? Why not? Hey, what's that you got there?" I showed them the old blue Nancy Drew book I was reading. The younger boy, Jerry, shook his head, "Why you want to read a girl's book?" The brothers looked at each other and smirked.
Jerry threatened to fire a pecan at Doug, dancing back out of reach and drawing back the slingshot. "Why you holding it that way, you nigger? Who taught you how to shoot?" Indignantly, Jerry huffed, "Who you calling nigger? You're a retard! You got a rubber butt and you fart!"
The school bus pulled up and we climbed on. I sat by myself next to a window and opened my book and went back to my reading.
Pine Grove Elementary was only about 10 miles away by car, but the bus meandered up and down little side roads, first suburban and then rural. It would take awhile before it finally discharged us in the school's parking lot. I always read on the bus. There was nothing wrong with reading Nancy Drew books. I liked Hardy Boys too, but my mom and my aunts had a whole bunch of old Nancy Drew books they gave me when they found out I liked to read, and they were good.
We had a spelling bee after Mrs. Sarwinsky took roll and saying the pledge. I always did good and today I was one of the last four kids but I didn't do "Mediterranean" right and had to sit down. Jill got it right and ended up being the winner. I'd probably beat her tomorrow. I was as good as she was.
"I have to step out for a little while", Mrs. Sarwinsky told us. "I want you to keep working on your geography lessons, and stay in your seats and keep quiet until I get back. Suzy, take down names of anyone who acts up while I'm gone, OK?" Suzy nodded. She got asked last time, it should be someone else's turn to take names. It should be me more often. It was hardly ever a boy, and it's not fair.
My friend Mike McDowell sat behind me and one row over. We traded books sometimes. He liked science fiction and he had gotten me interested. I liked stuff about the stars and flying to other planets and that kind of thing. Sometimes I played with Mike at recess but more often I would go to where Jill and Karen and the twins Rhonda and Wanda liked to play. Today I saw Jill playing jacks with the twins, so I went over to join them. "Hi, Derek!" Jill indicated for me to sit. Behind us, other girls jumped rope, chanting about how many times someone came a-knocking at the door. "Let's say you have to pick two from here and one from the little pile before you can catch the ball" "No, put them closer, I can't do it that fast". The boys usually played marbles instead, or would climb on the monkey bars; the playground wasn't officially divided, it just ended up split up that way. Sometimes I'd play with boys, sometimes here with the girls.
I fell asleep on the bus on the way home and when I woke up it was stopping on an unpaved road in front of a sad run-down house with a sagging wooden front porch. There were broken toys in the yard and the curtain in the window was ripped and hanging. Two kids in the front yard were saying something to the one who got off the bus and I could see this one kids' mouth, and his teeth and gums looked weird like something was wrong. Their clothes were all worn-out looking and maybe it was because I was still half-asleep or something but I got scared like this could happen to me, to get put out in a place like this where everything was worn out and broken and sick and sad.
Karen and I got off at the same stop every day. We went to her house to play for awhile. "Is it OK if we play with paper dolls?", she asked. I nodded. We traced some of the clothes and cut out new ones and drew on them with colored pencils to make patterns and then bent the tabs down to attach them to the dolls. "OK, you be the grocery store man and I'll be the mom shopping..."
Later, at home after supper, Jan and I sat on the floor watching TV. During the commercial we started playing that game where you alternate patting your partner's hands then your own then your knees then alternate across while singing. "My mama told me, when I was young, she's buy me a rubber dolly..." we kept speeding up until one of us would miss, then we'd giggle and start again. "Hey, you two, stop being so silly and loud! C'mon, the program's starting again", my mom interrupted, exasperated. She'd asked me earlier how my day was, how things were at school. "Fine", I said. She asked me about it pretty often. I was good in school, I liked it.
After recess, we would always line up in long lines to be let back into the building. You were not supposed to cut the line, that was the rule. One day a girl I didn't know and I got into an argument, with her claiming I had cut in front of her and me claiming she was trying to cut in front of me, which I believed to be the case. The assistant principal said "I don't think this little girl would lie about such a thing" and he made me wait until everyone else had filed in to the building, which totally enraged me, that he would automatically take her word over mine just because she was a girl.
Mrs. Sarwinsky was sometimes late getting into our room after lunch and kids would be in the classroom already before she came in. "C'mon, Derek, don't be such a pansy", Thereas's's brother Corey demanded. "Write some stuff on the board. Sarwinsky won't be back for ten minutes, she won't know who did it". He took up a piece of chalk and wrote 'Fart on science' next to the science assignment. Doug Jackson laughed, then asked us all, "Hey, want to hear a dirty joke?" I shook my head. Disregarding me, he went into a long unfunny story about somebody going to the bathroom in the dark and getting piss and shit all over themselves.
Corey was OK, actually, when the Jacksons weren't around. We went bike riding together. He had a short bike with those fashionable deep U-shaped handlebars and the banana seat, and his bike would start off real fast. Mine was an older bike, a used bike, taller and with bigger tires, and it took a lot longer to get it moving fast but I could outrace him if the race was long enough.
"Now... you fold it like this...", I intoned, turning the paper over and folding all the corners in once more. I opened it up and got my fingers into the little pockets. "OK, now pick a color". Karen studied the outside of the little paper contraption and pointed, "Blue". I manipulated the device, alternatively showing one set then the other set of numbers while counting off "b, l, u, e... OK now pick a number..." I had learned the game from Jan's friend Tracy, who had come to our house to play last week. Jan and I mostly liked each other's friends and we all played together a lot because she was only two years younger.
"I like you", I told Karen. "I think you're my best friend". Karen said she liked me too. I put my arm around her shoulder; she slid up closer to me. We stayed that way for awhile. "You want to get some Kool-Aid? My mom doesn't let me have sodas", Karen explained apologetically. I nodded; we went into the kitchen. Her dad was in his chair in the living room. "Hey, Derek. Karen, honey, maybe Derek needs to get on home to his own family". Karen told me once that her parents wanted her to play with girls more, and thought it was odd for me to be coming over so often.
Kids at school made fun of us sometimes, singing "Derek has a girl friend" or "Karen and Derek sitting in a tree" and stuff like that. And there was a teacher at school who acted like I was doing something wrong if I was playing with the girls on the playground: "You ought to be ashamed. Do you think this is right? What would your father say? You know better! Don't let me catch you here again! Now go play with the boys!"
"I like you and you like me", Karen said. "I don't care what anyone says". I agreed. We weren't going to let anyone split us up.
----
* Portions of the above were a part of early beta versions of THE STORY OF Q, but dropped when I needed to make the book more concise. I have left in the aliased names for the sake of consistency.
--------
I am now echoed on DreamWidth, like many other LJ folks. My DW acct is here. Please friend/link me on DW if you are a DreamWidth user.
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Index of all Blog Posts
We walked down the road to the curve to wait for the school bus. Theresa Jones and the Jackson boys, from across the street, boarded at the same bus stop. "Hey Derek, what do you like better, football or motocross?" Jerry was putting dead pecans from the nearby pecan tree into a slingshot and shooting them at the stop sign where they ricocheted with a ping. "What, you don't watch either one? Why not? Hey, what's that you got there?" I showed them the old blue Nancy Drew book I was reading. The younger boy, Jerry, shook his head, "Why you want to read a girl's book?" The brothers looked at each other and smirked.
Jerry threatened to fire a pecan at Doug, dancing back out of reach and drawing back the slingshot. "Why you holding it that way, you nigger? Who taught you how to shoot?" Indignantly, Jerry huffed, "Who you calling nigger? You're a retard! You got a rubber butt and you fart!"
The school bus pulled up and we climbed on. I sat by myself next to a window and opened my book and went back to my reading.
Pine Grove Elementary was only about 10 miles away by car, but the bus meandered up and down little side roads, first suburban and then rural. It would take awhile before it finally discharged us in the school's parking lot. I always read on the bus. There was nothing wrong with reading Nancy Drew books. I liked Hardy Boys too, but my mom and my aunts had a whole bunch of old Nancy Drew books they gave me when they found out I liked to read, and they were good.
We had a spelling bee after Mrs. Sarwinsky took roll and saying the pledge. I always did good and today I was one of the last four kids but I didn't do "Mediterranean" right and had to sit down. Jill got it right and ended up being the winner. I'd probably beat her tomorrow. I was as good as she was.
"I have to step out for a little while", Mrs. Sarwinsky told us. "I want you to keep working on your geography lessons, and stay in your seats and keep quiet until I get back. Suzy, take down names of anyone who acts up while I'm gone, OK?" Suzy nodded. She got asked last time, it should be someone else's turn to take names. It should be me more often. It was hardly ever a boy, and it's not fair.
My friend Mike McDowell sat behind me and one row over. We traded books sometimes. He liked science fiction and he had gotten me interested. I liked stuff about the stars and flying to other planets and that kind of thing. Sometimes I played with Mike at recess but more often I would go to where Jill and Karen and the twins Rhonda and Wanda liked to play. Today I saw Jill playing jacks with the twins, so I went over to join them. "Hi, Derek!" Jill indicated for me to sit. Behind us, other girls jumped rope, chanting about how many times someone came a-knocking at the door. "Let's say you have to pick two from here and one from the little pile before you can catch the ball" "No, put them closer, I can't do it that fast". The boys usually played marbles instead, or would climb on the monkey bars; the playground wasn't officially divided, it just ended up split up that way. Sometimes I'd play with boys, sometimes here with the girls.
I fell asleep on the bus on the way home and when I woke up it was stopping on an unpaved road in front of a sad run-down house with a sagging wooden front porch. There were broken toys in the yard and the curtain in the window was ripped and hanging. Two kids in the front yard were saying something to the one who got off the bus and I could see this one kids' mouth, and his teeth and gums looked weird like something was wrong. Their clothes were all worn-out looking and maybe it was because I was still half-asleep or something but I got scared like this could happen to me, to get put out in a place like this where everything was worn out and broken and sick and sad.
Karen and I got off at the same stop every day. We went to her house to play for awhile. "Is it OK if we play with paper dolls?", she asked. I nodded. We traced some of the clothes and cut out new ones and drew on them with colored pencils to make patterns and then bent the tabs down to attach them to the dolls. "OK, you be the grocery store man and I'll be the mom shopping..."
Later, at home after supper, Jan and I sat on the floor watching TV. During the commercial we started playing that game where you alternate patting your partner's hands then your own then your knees then alternate across while singing. "My mama told me, when I was young, she's buy me a rubber dolly..." we kept speeding up until one of us would miss, then we'd giggle and start again. "Hey, you two, stop being so silly and loud! C'mon, the program's starting again", my mom interrupted, exasperated. She'd asked me earlier how my day was, how things were at school. "Fine", I said. She asked me about it pretty often. I was good in school, I liked it.
After recess, we would always line up in long lines to be let back into the building. You were not supposed to cut the line, that was the rule. One day a girl I didn't know and I got into an argument, with her claiming I had cut in front of her and me claiming she was trying to cut in front of me, which I believed to be the case. The assistant principal said "I don't think this little girl would lie about such a thing" and he made me wait until everyone else had filed in to the building, which totally enraged me, that he would automatically take her word over mine just because she was a girl.
Mrs. Sarwinsky was sometimes late getting into our room after lunch and kids would be in the classroom already before she came in. "C'mon, Derek, don't be such a pansy", Thereas's's brother Corey demanded. "Write some stuff on the board. Sarwinsky won't be back for ten minutes, she won't know who did it". He took up a piece of chalk and wrote 'Fart on science' next to the science assignment. Doug Jackson laughed, then asked us all, "Hey, want to hear a dirty joke?" I shook my head. Disregarding me, he went into a long unfunny story about somebody going to the bathroom in the dark and getting piss and shit all over themselves.
Corey was OK, actually, when the Jacksons weren't around. We went bike riding together. He had a short bike with those fashionable deep U-shaped handlebars and the banana seat, and his bike would start off real fast. Mine was an older bike, a used bike, taller and with bigger tires, and it took a lot longer to get it moving fast but I could outrace him if the race was long enough.
"Now... you fold it like this...", I intoned, turning the paper over and folding all the corners in once more. I opened it up and got my fingers into the little pockets. "OK, now pick a color". Karen studied the outside of the little paper contraption and pointed, "Blue". I manipulated the device, alternatively showing one set then the other set of numbers while counting off "b, l, u, e... OK now pick a number..." I had learned the game from Jan's friend Tracy, who had come to our house to play last week. Jan and I mostly liked each other's friends and we all played together a lot because she was only two years younger.
"I like you", I told Karen. "I think you're my best friend". Karen said she liked me too. I put my arm around her shoulder; she slid up closer to me. We stayed that way for awhile. "You want to get some Kool-Aid? My mom doesn't let me have sodas", Karen explained apologetically. I nodded; we went into the kitchen. Her dad was in his chair in the living room. "Hey, Derek. Karen, honey, maybe Derek needs to get on home to his own family". Karen told me once that her parents wanted her to play with girls more, and thought it was odd for me to be coming over so often.
Kids at school made fun of us sometimes, singing "Derek has a girl friend" or "Karen and Derek sitting in a tree" and stuff like that. And there was a teacher at school who acted like I was doing something wrong if I was playing with the girls on the playground: "You ought to be ashamed. Do you think this is right? What would your father say? You know better! Don't let me catch you here again! Now go play with the boys!"
"I like you and you like me", Karen said. "I don't care what anyone says". I agreed. We weren't going to let anyone split us up.
----
* Portions of the above were a part of early beta versions of THE STORY OF Q, but dropped when I needed to make the book more concise. I have left in the aliased names for the sake of consistency.
--------
I am now echoed on DreamWidth, like many other LJ folks. My DW acct is here. Please friend/link me on DW if you are a DreamWidth user.
--------
Index of all Blog Posts