A September Tribute to the Beginning of the School Year
School’s back in session and since I’m not in it, I’m happy. Why? Because that means my little friends are back at their bus stop. There are these two little boys who are either twins or very close in age who wait at a Metro stop that’s on my way to work. Last year their dad would wait, very tired looking, with them. Tired perhaps because these two kids have gobs of energy and literally would run in circles around their dad pretty much every morning last year. (Except for when the cicadas came – then they threw bugs at each other.) This year they get to wait by themselves. (My, how they’ve grown!)
Watching them harass each other reminds me of my own waits at the bus stop… Everyday I would leave for school in my uniform (green and navy plaid jumper with a white peter-pan-collared shirt and knee socks – wool or cotton were cooler than the nylon ones my mom preferred). And I would have my socks pulled up to my knees to please my mom. As soon as I crested the first hill, I would roll the socks in doughnuts around my ankles – tre’ chic.
When my sisters started joining me at school, there was a careful balance of conduct at the bus stop. Like the boys I pass on the way to work, I harassed the heck out of them, and them me. But we were the only ones who could do it to each other. Once a boy told my sister that she looked like she had gotten hit in the face by a 2” by 4” since her face was so flat. I, big sister that I am, and witty to boot, turned to him and said (and this is an exact quote), “Oh yeah! Well, if I had a dog that looked like you, I would shave his butt and make him walk backwards!”
Anonymous
We used to have to walk to school from the second to forth grade. My sister tormented me the whole way there but would beat the crap out of anyone that gave me a hard time and make them beg for mercy, which was kind of cool. However, one really cold day, she threw one of my new mittens over a fence into the cemetery that we walked past every day, so I only had one the rest of the winter. I’m still kind of mad about that. It’s really weird the little things that will stick with you
until you die.
The thing I just realized is our stepbrother lived with us and must have gone to the same school considering he was in the same grade as my sister. But I never once remember walking to school with him. It was always just me and my sister (who hated my stepbrother). Did she make him walk a different way? (She was/is kind of mean.) Did my stepdad give him a ride and make us walk??? I have no idea. Maybe he didn’t live with us and I just thought he did? I remember the mitten but not who I lived with, which is very bizarre.