inbetween

For when I'm old and miserable and don't remember things:

I have only a few memories left of Grade One. My teacher's name was Mrs. Hutchinson. She retired that year. I remember her being very tall, but I was probably wasn't. I don't remember all that clearly what she looked like; glasses, wrinkles, and lots of early 1980's brown pants suits and dresses. I think I liked her, except for once. We had calendars taped to our desks, and got a prize for having them all coloured in. They were printed on yellow paper. I think I coloured one of the character's hair yellow, but Mrs. Hutchinson didn't believe me. I thought she was mean for that, but forgot the next day.

There was a girl in my class whose name I can't remember. Nobody liked her. Everyone thought she smelled. I remember there being a bad smell, but I don't think it was her. The kids never tried to make friends with her.

I didn't have any real friends that year either, but they didn't say that I smelled bad. Not to my face anyway.

We learned arithmetic from some standard childrens books. "Count the pictures of beetles on this page. Draw the numbers from one to ten on this page. Draw a line from here to there, then a longer line, then a shorter line." It was all fun stuff, if you're six.

My only really clear memory is a girl across the room from me. Her name was Cory. She was the cute blonde little girl to my Charlie Brown. Not once did I get to talk to her. I didn't understand what was going on. I kept looking over at her, and she looked at me once in a while. Missed opportunities when I was six. Way to start out in life!