I walked into the cafeteria the next day with a whole new mind set. I was not going to get through this day like all the rest. I searched the cafeteria for the boy I had seen yesterday. “Keep moving,” a handler said as he pushed me lightly into a seat. I plopped down on the bench and pulled my legs in so that they didn’t stick out in the aisle. I sighed, annoyed that I didn’t get to find the boy. “Hello,” a voice next to me said. Startled, I turned to see the boy sitting next to me on the bench. “Um...hi,” I said, feeling embarrassed though I knew he couldn’t know that I had been looking for him. “You have pretty hair,” he said, taking one of my brown messy curls and wrapping it around his finger. I blushed like a beet. He laughed and said, “You’ve never been to Juvy.”
“I’ve never been to camp,” I said. He nodded, “Yea. This place is so stupid. The center was better than this.” I raised one eyebrow, “You’ve been to the center?”
“You’ve been to the center?” he said, mimicking me. “No, I haven’t,” I replied, “Have you?”
“Yea,” he said sadly. “But you wanna know something?” he asked rhetorically. He leaned into my ear and whispered, “I didn’t do it.” I could feel his warm breath on my ear. “Didn’t do what?” I asked. “Anything,” he said simply. I fell silent and started eating my food. He continued playing with my hair and the other people at the bench watched us with fascination, obviously happy with any distraction from the boring day to day routines. Later that day as I was plowing the fields, I felt someone’s arm on my shoulder and turned to see the boy standing next to me, holding a plow but not using it. “Hello girl,” he said. “Hello boy who thinks he can put his arm on my shoulder without even knowing my name,” I retorted. I started to reach back to move his arm, but he had already taken it off and had started playing with my hair again.”Alright girl,” he said, “if you won’t permit me to wrap my arm around you without knowing your name, would you grant me the beautiful knowledge of what your name is?” I shook my head and he asked, startled, “Why not?”
“I have to know your name first,” I said as I pulled the heavy plow through the dirt. “Hm...my name. Well, you can call me Juvy. Thats what everyone else around here calls me,” he said. “What’s your real name?” I asked. “I’ve never told anyone here my real name,” he replied. “What’s your real name?” I asked again. He stared at me and said, “What makes you think you get special treatment?”
“What’s your real name?” I asked again, beginning to sound like a broken record. “You promise you won’t tell?” he asked with a grin. “What’s your real name?” I replied. He leaned into my ear again and whispered, “Jude.” I turned to face him before he could take his face away from my ear and startled him. “Well then, Juvy,” I whispered, “You still can’t put your arm around me.” He sucked in his breath and I smiled, satisfied that I had caught him off guard for once. “What be the maiden’s name?” he asked. “Lucy,” I said, “but don’t call me that. I hate that name.”
“Alright then, what would the maiden like me to call her?” Juvy asked. I thought about it a minute, “Gurl.”
“But that’s what I was calling you before,” he complained. “No. Now its spelled with a u instead of an i.”
“So humble.”
“But of course.”
“So, Girl,” he started, “Was that with an i or a u?” I asked. “An i.”
“I wanted you to use a u.”
“But I wanted to use an i.”
“Fine.”
“Alright then, back to work girl,” Juvy said with a sly grin. I slapped his shoulder and started plowing again, feeling much happier than I had felt before.
© 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment