THE APOCALYPSE
Warfare.
Every year before my first day of class I had
a reputation that preceded me and this year was no different.
I was the enemy.
With my golden hair neatly plastered with my
dad’s frugal concoction of sugar-water, I arrived in patched hand-me-downs and
a uniform sweater “borrowed” from the lost and found. As usual I was wearing
smelly socks scavenged from the floor of Flea-Bait’s room and three Band-Aids
on my forehead covering my latest battle wounds. What made me stick out more
than all that was the bright red nose which was still recovering from the
sunburn that I got at Salton Sea a couple weeks ago. The only bright spot in my
last minute transfer across the hall to Sister Lucilla’s class was my brand new
PF Flyers. My parents gave them to me as a bribe. Handing me the shoes, mom
said I could not mention anything about our Salton Sea vacation to another
living soul.
Excerpt from my fictionalized memoir: Markie D - Monkey in the Attic.
My Thoughts. I always thought I was weird for being afraid of the dark and as though I just didn't fit in with my motley crew. My family had left me behind at Salton Sea and for a little kid of 9 years old it was a pretty traumatic event. We all just laughed it off later (I pretended well), but in reality it did wound the psyche of a small kid trying to find his fit in the world. I felt like one of those nervous rats that had to walk around the edge of the room with its whiskers touching the wall.
Am I alone out there? Is there anyone else that felt like me? Scared? Nervous? Hurt? Disconnected? Unloved? Lost? It was hard for me to image any another human being in the entire world to have self-esteem as low as me. I want to share some of my crazy childhood stories with you knowing that you have a story to share too. Share your childhood memories, comment below.
