In the 2nd grade, Ms. Julia’s classroom 102 I believe, we had a party. No, maybe 202. Everyone brought what they were supposed to except for the records. The 45s. The little big CDs. Terry Gaston, Tweety we called him, of the Tripp Street Gaston’s, brought the only record-Rock it to me. Sock it to me. Just remembering elementary school reminds me that my mother would just show up. When all of a sudden, schoolmates would say, “hey, your mothers at the door.” Her and the teacher would then have an impromptu meeting about how smart I was (lol).
I can recall playing outside. The fire hydrant on a hot day. Hopscotch. Hide and Seek. Baseball-when Somebody hit me under the eye with a baseball bat. The Whip, with Big Buggy Lewis at the helm. Hide and go seek.
I remember once when we were outside and Somebody, who was 9 years older than me, met up with a group of her peers. One of their names was Geraldine. Somebody starts stepping on the back of her shoes to make the shoes start coming off so that Geraldine would have to put her shoes back on properly. This was happening because of their shared love interest. Geraldine did nothing to stop the manipulation of her shoes. She was nervous.
The winner of this prize was Somebody, who ran away from home to be with her love interest, then ran back home to contemplate the birth of her child. On that day I awakened to her return to find her eating my fudge-striped cookies. A marriage was arranged because this man was nearly 30 and she was just 15 years old going on 16.