Tag: childhood

Spork Girl

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Jenny got rejection notices from Teen Titans.
“Rejection is a part of life,” said her mother, comforting Jenny. “Come on, show me again what you can do.”
Jenny put a fork in one hand, a spoon in the other, and then put her hands behind her back.
“Abracadabra,” she said.
When she brought her hands back in front of her, she revealed the spork.
“Do you have to do that with the nice silverware, Jenny?” asked her mother. “Can’t you just do that with the plastic picnic spoons and forks?”
Jenny cried and ran to her room, slamming the door.

Down The Turtle Hole

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Sitting on the riverbank, Alice watched as the muttering turtle slowly pulled the pocketwatch from his shell and looked at the time.
“I’m… late….”
Alice walked over to the turtle and examined its curious markings.
“Why, his shell looks like a waistcoat,” she giggled.
“Stop… or…”
Alice’s sister knew a good turtle soup recipe, and by noon, they had the stew-pot boiling.
“So delicious it was,” they all said.
Alice checked the pocketwatch… still not time to go home yet.
She rested her head on a blanket and had herself a pleasant nap, totally lacking in chessboard and playingcard nightmares.

Toadboy

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My mother did a lot of drugs in her wilder days.
She claimed she took a break for the seven months I was inside her, but I know she’s lying.
My genes are full of errors, minuscule errors in the spirals of DNA in my billions of cells.
Doctors say I should be dead by now. But I’m still kicking, and the nurses keep checking on me around-the-clock.
Every now and then, one sneaks a lick of my skin.
Their eyes roll back, and they shudder with pleasure.
That’s nice, but I wish they’d remember to switch the goddamned bedpan.

For Elise

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My sister Elise calls me her guardian angel.
Father, called me a tumor. He left when we were 4.
Mother didn’t say much of anything about the withered midget on her daughter’s back.
Elise and I don’t just share a liver and kidneys – we share absolutely everything. No secrets between us, although she sometimes jokes “What are you plotting behind my back?”
The doctors whisper over headphones that there’s risk, but not as much if they don’t have to worry about me.
“Mother didn’t,” I say. “Why should I?”
I promise she won’t wake up alone. I’m her angel.

Go Yankees?

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They had the title of “Teacher” but there really wasn’t any point in teaching these kids.
These were the helplessly retarded: physically functional, but beyond any hope of learning anything.
It didn’t mean they weren’t cute. It just meant they were going to be utterly useless to society, kept like pets instead of living on their own.
The teachers had to dress the kids, putting the Yankees jerseys on them one by one.
The few kids that could think to wave them got pennants.
“Go Yankees!” they slurred.
The teachers smiled. Another generation of Yankees fans, ready for the stands.

Sticky Situation

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I can’t decide which is worse – having to scrape all this gum from under these desks all day or mopping up the shit and piss from a dead kid.
Yeah, it’s a real headscratcher.
You see, bubblegum is easy to poison. Just use a powder that looks like the sugar they dust this crap with.
The wrappers untwist without tearing. A little heat seals them back up.
Then you leave it out in a candy dish, the kid takes it… and WHAM problem solved.
Usually, they swallow it.
I hate it when it falls out and sticks to the floor.

Testing Sam

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Mommy took Sam to Sears for new mittens, but he saw video games and ran over to play with them.
Usually, Mommy came after him and scolded him not to run away.
Not this time.
The game was boring, so Sam went back to where he ran away from Mommy.
She… wasn’t there.
Sam tugged on a clerk’s sleeve. “I’m lost.”
They announced Sam’s name over the speaker.
An hour went by. Two.
Sam also gave them his address and phone number.
Disconnected. An empty lot.
From inside a coat display, Mommy watched.
And tried not to laugh too loudly.

Smell And Stop

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Arthur watched with pride as his daughter walked to the podium and led the congregation in prayer.
She’d been waiting all her life for this moment.
Arthur, too.
He pulled a rose from his pocket, sniffed it, and let the aroma fill his mind.
Time stopped.
Arthur strolled the pews, appreciating the delight on each face admiring his daughter’s recital.
Until… Elliot Laslo.
There were rumors about Elliot. And from how his hands sat in his lap… his expression…
Arthur returned to his seat, crushed the rose, and let time start back up.
He’d settle Elliot later. Probably brake lines.

The Skylords Ball

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“Skylords wear metal heels, the clouds their dance floor.”
This is what we tell our children on Zeus during the storm season.
Lightning and rain covered the land, so we moved underground to the shelters.
I tucked Shoshona into her cot, said the prayers.
She asked me if the Skylords’ dance would ever stop.
“I’ll ask them again, but you could write them a note,” I said.
“How will they get it?” she asked.
“Tie it to a balloon so it will float up to them,” I said.
She clutched Rascal Bear tightly, closed her eyes, and went to sleep.

Rise

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The room had been so noisy and busy before.
Now it was empty.
The nurses offered to pack Ellie’s things, but my hands needed to do something besides paperwork.
Photos. Trinkets. Music box. Bear.
She’d want Bear with her when…
I looked around for her teddy bear, but it was gone.
Not under the bed.
Not behind the machines.
None of the other children in the ward had it.
Where was Bear?
And where were her balloons, too. Ellie always liked those. She said they rose because they held souls, yearning for Heaven.
I’ll let one go for her later.