Hark! Doth that be a whispering hormone?
As I started sixth grade, something shifted. A small seismic crack…lava bubbling.
I noticed a girl in fifth grade. And noticed. And looked at her in a way that was kind of different. And totally mystifying. Unsettling to feel something weird that made no sense. Music on the breeze, but no one else heard it.
Her name was Vicki. She was very tall and thin, with long straight hair and braces. But what made Vicki stand out was the way she dressed and carried herself. Vicki wore dresses and skirts–SHORT ones. And she didn’t seem to own a lot of pants, but had a lot of colored hosiery. And she had what a women friend once called ‘training wheel heels’. Vicki did not run around at recess, just stuck to hopscotch and jacks (I’d explain jacks, but I honestly don’t know wtf their use was.)
And looking back, I’d bet Vicki sucked at recess rope jumping. I’ll bet her sneakers weren’t very worn.
None of my female classmates had mini-posses of more than two girls, but Vicki was always surrounded by other bodhisattvas. Looking back, it was kind of an early sign of what happened in Junior high with the rich girls.
To me, Vicki was like a sculpture or a piece of art–infinitely interesting and fascinating, and as unexplained as the sky or stars. Maybe her mom saw that mouth full of silver and told her ‘OK, kid, you’re gonna go out there and knock ’em dead.’ Get out the checkbook and start learning the crocodile walk. Sometimes she had these neat little curls that hung past her ears and bobbled when she walked.
Fifth grade boys, of course, couldn’t help but be grossed out by a girl with steel teeth. (Note: in those days, braces were rare. Today, of course, childhood braces are as common as cell phones. You had have a pretty pathetic set of choppers for a dentist to send you to a specialist in 1968.)
That summer, when Bob, Dan and I were lounging around discussing girls, I mentioned fair maiden Vicki and was surprised both also thought Vicki was an IT girl. Just something about her that girls in our class didn’t have.
At some point after Vicki made high school, she vanished before I could act on my feelings (the braces were history). I heard she moved to the neighboring school district. Doesn’t everyone have a story that ends like that? C’mon be honest, I see you smiling.