School
1114 Words
Schoolnurse touches my back got crooked like a old lady is how I look the school nurse asks if I’m okay with her finger it crawls up my spine like a spider is how it feels
bend over so I do hands together so I do the school lady checks my back every Friday before lunch when the other kids do art shirt off the spider crawls up my back follows my spine until it reaches my head knock knock
my back’s getting worse because my head’s too heavy from thinking the school lady says Why is your back getting worse you’re too young I don’t tell her about my heavy head from the thinking
school nurse says: are you okay
I say: yes
now I look just like a old lady crooked and bent I get a cane and hobble to school with it not really but I could from being so crooked other kids make art a spider crawls up my back my back is a s stands for snake ssssnake like the big one in my bed crawls up lives where my spine used to be
school nurse calls me in special on a Monday to talk with a school man the school man and the school nurse say take your shirt off so I do hands together so I do the school nurse says See one two three she counts up my back with her spider leg fingers until she gets to a spot then her spider leg crawls over my rib under my arm
Where did you get this the school nurse says with her spider leg finger on the new spot I shrug my shoulders to tell her I don’t know but my hands are pressed together it’s hard to move Do you have any more the school man says I stand up straight like a arrow pull my pants down
the school nurse and the school man say Oh so I pull my pants up they call in my mom and another school lady and a policeman who takes pictures of my crooked back with my pants down my mom says she doesn’t know anything maybe it was the babysitter they ask me I shrug my shoulders bent over like a old lady from thinking too much
Knock knock
Who’s there
The head board
Whose head board
the policeman and the new school lady take me into custody until matters are resolved I don’t know what matters are and when I ask the school nurse what does matters are resolved mean she says Oh you are just like a little parrot I don’t ask no more questions I wonder if the school nurse is going to walk up my crooked back anymore with her spider leg fingers
I sleep in a new house with some people I don’t know I eat oatmeal in the morning the policeman and the new school lady bring me in for questioning ask about the crooked back the s snake the spots on my butt I shrug my shoulders that’s all shrug shoulders bend over one two three they find the spots on my back and my butt
I get released for a lack of evidence back to my house I go I eat at my house and sleep at my house and go to school every morning the school nurse walks up my back the other kids do art Christmas comes and goes and I forget about how I ate oatmeal at some other house I did not know the name of
What does lack of evidence mean I say to mom she grabs my arm and says Stop repeating grown up words no one likes a smarty pants five year old who acts like a parrot
one day the school nurse crawls up my back with her spider legs while the other kids make Valentine hearts knock knock she taps on my head Do you get headaches No is what I say but her spider legs keep crawling to the top What’s this the school nurse feels a spot on the top of my head bumped up like a little rock she pulls apart my hair with her busy fingers finds a spot like the ones under my pants Good lord did someone hit you is what she says I shrug two more school ladies come in one says We can’t keep ignoring this
a meeting is scheduled between me mom and the school ladies but not dad the school nurse has to check me everyday for spots which is what she said to mom one more spot and I go into custody again I worry about more spots showing up where the school nurse can find them my head gets so heavy from all the thinking one more custody means I go to oatmeal’s again lack of evidence means I’m bad all the thinking my head’s so heavy might break my back
Crack the back the headboard spat
me mom the school ladies talk in a official meeting about well being the school nurse with the spider fingers says we have concerns about the bruises on the back head rear how is this so mom says I don’t know shrugs her shoulders she’s always been a clumsy girl the school ladies look at each other one says Missus So And So your daughter’s back is degenerating alarming rate when we leave the ladies say We got nowhere with them mom takes me for ice cream
an alarming degenerating rate is what my sssnake spine does no one knows it’s from my heavy head thinking so many thoughts mom says nothing pretends like we never had a official meeting one two three the school nurse walks up my back looking for spots
school nurse says: are you okay
I say: shrug my shoulders
the next night snake crawls in bed with me to go up my back lay down so I do be quiet so I do hands over your stomach so I do the snake goes inside me up my back I lay with my hands together in a coffin dead the snake breathes hard one two three until my head cracks on the headboard the snake pushes my head into the headboard my board head cracked
Knock knock
Who’s there
The head board
What head board
I get up go to school the school nurse checks me for spots takes me into custody for breaking the rules no more mom and dad I eat oatmeal with the people I don’t know the school ladies run tests it’s proven the headboard cracked my back
I still don’t sleep at night I am a pile of rocks from the river waiting on my bed broken the snake will be back to crawl through the cracks
- Writer
