On Staying Home from School

I went to school in the early morning, and there wasn’t a day gone by that worry didn’t nibble, nibble, nibble--nibbling at me with the voracious patience of a termite.

School was awful but staying home was worse.  Oh I loved the stiff backyard smell of dry fall leaves; I loved an egg salad sandwich, alone on the porch. 

But what was happening at school? One day was all it took to be left on a sideline, cheering for yesterday’s team. 

Marcus Garvey Park, November 2012