Monday, December 17, 2012

12/17/12


A+

By: Lee Thomas Penn
-Son of-
Thomas Lee Penn

            “My daddy came down from New York last weekend, and Mommy said that he was so generous and went to get an oxy-cotton for her head because Daddy brought me a brand new Schwinn Mach-5 Junior Speed Bike! It’s red with 5 speeds and a bell! And Daddy took me to the park because Daddy wanted to teach me to ride it, and he was holding on the bike to help me ride it, but then he let go, and I fell on the sidewalk where a bigger kid riding his bike ran over me with his bike, and there was a lot of blood – I wasn’t crying or nuthin’ – and Daddy bought me an ice cream, but I didn’t want it, so he brought me home, and Mommy started screaming at Daddy and told me to go to the other room and that they both still love me the most. Now there’s going to be another court trial. Anyway, my bike is too big to bring, so for show and tell today I want to show my scabs. You can see the tire marks are the scab marks where the kid ran me over – see?”

            The other kids were laughing, and Tommy was smiling, drinking it in.
Poor Mrs. Paige didn’t know what to say. She wanted to reach out, hug her student, take him home and show him what a real mother’s love felt like. Instead, she forced a smile. No one ever warned her that being a first-grade teacher would make her feel so goddamn helpless.
Tommy was dancing in front of the class to make his scabs wiggle.
“Very good, Tommy. That’s enough. You get an A. Now, please pull your pants up. Who’s next?”

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