1965

6 years old.

Kindergarten - first grade.

My parents fight a lot, especially after drinking during card games in the kitchen.

I plant a peach pit in the backyard and water it by peeing on it when I take out the trash. It never grows.

In order to amuse myself during quiet time after recess when we sit for a few minutes with our heads on the desk, I draw several large spirals on the desktop to trace with my finger tip. I did this in imitation of Donny Douglas, but I made mine much bigger, and I got in trouble with Miss Montgomery for marking on my desk.

My parents separate that summer and Mom moves us in with the Jenkersons.

Janie Jenkerson teaches me how to read, which she later comes to regret.

I attend first grade at Roe school. I fall madly in love with a little blonde girl with a twin sister. I remember being extremely embarassed after a room full of grownups laugh at me after I tell them I'm in love with her. I guess I was kind of cute, being passionately in love in the first grade.

I get eyeglasses after complaining that I wanted to sit closer to the TV. It was all just a ruse to be allowed to sit closer to the TV, I swear to god! I cry in front of my first grade class when the teacher makes fun of me for wearing glasses. My beautiful blonde girlfriend dumped me immediately.

I started to dream of an ideal me, a better-looking, freshly scrubbed me who could do anything and was dressed in a pristine jumpsuit with feet attached like a baby's sleeper. This me had parents, Superman and Wonder Woman. He was a super kid. And clean. Very clean.

Hysterical giggles