Melting Away

This was the third hospital that my brother stayed in; he’d been at this one before. The name of the actual facility escapes me, but it was located down the street from a factory that made “Fruit and Nut” confections. My mother, sister and I thought that was a riot that there were two places [...]

Freshman Year

It was freshman year for me. I was now attending a large school of about 2500 kids over four grades. I now rode a bus for about twenty five minutes to get there rather than the short walk from my townhome. In fact, the walk to my bus stop was nearly as long as the [...]

Time to Close a Chapter

I ended my middle school career with little fanfare.  There was the final music concert, in which I performed twice; once as a band student and once as a choral student.  I loved both of my music teachers; both of them, in their individual ways, gave me the feeling that even if I wasn’t the [...]

A New Friend

By 8th grade I had a very narrow pool of friends.   It was a two way street there, certainly.  I suppose if I’d been more gregarious I could have had a larger circle, but my insecurity kept it tight.  I didn’t want to share a lot about what was going on at home, because it [...]

Smart is as Smart Does…or Is It?

I was brought to a small room (no larger than a closet, really) down a hall I’d never seen at my new elementary school.  A woman I’d never met before was talking to me about the task at hand.   She was going to be asking me a lot of questions, the answers of which would [...]