milo's world, continued...
margaret had the same colored hair milo's mom did back before it went gray. he used to sit on one of the chrome stools after school and drink hot chocolate with 23 mini marshmallows -- no more, no less -- and do his homework while his mom took orders and gave them to the cook. sometimes mr. humphries would give him a quarter to play something on the jukebox and he would always pick J 18, "sitting on the dock of the bay" by otis redding. it always made his mom smile. he liked his mom's smile, it made him feel as warm as the cocoa. she would sway a little bit, like she was on that dock, and she would do a little dance while she brought people their burger and fries.
margaret would sit in front of him in social studies and he would stare at the back of her head and her hair until the teacher would dismiss the class for lunch. then in the lunch room, milo would sit alone and eat his chunky peanut butter sandwich with blackberry jelly while margaret sat with her friends talking and eating the cafeteria food. she had a mouth that didn't quite fit her face and freckles, brown and distinct under her strawberry blond hair. milo was fascinated by those freckles and he was so amazed, in awe really, of how she wore those freckles, if one can be said to wear something that is a part of them. they just fit her face in much the same way the mouth that did not quite fit her face seemed a part of her that was, indeed, perfect for her.
then, when he was taken out of miss haverford's social studies class and put in what he called his "dummy" class, he sat behind bobby sutton and his hair was as black as the shoe polish his dad shined his shoes with. after that, he never saw margaret again. in his "dummy" class they were told to draw a picture of their home and milo drew his house; putting in the windows, door and fireplace, the trees and the field. he would color the sky blue and he would put in a bright orange sun surrounded by curly orange hair and spot it with dozens of brown freckles. when asked about it, he shrugged and said it was the sun... and the sun had freckles.
margaret had the same colored hair milo's mom did back before it went gray. he used to sit on one of the chrome stools after school and drink hot chocolate with 23 mini marshmallows -- no more, no less -- and do his homework while his mom took orders and gave them to the cook. sometimes mr. humphries would give him a quarter to play something on the jukebox and he would always pick J 18, "sitting on the dock of the bay" by otis redding. it always made his mom smile. he liked his mom's smile, it made him feel as warm as the cocoa. she would sway a little bit, like she was on that dock, and she would do a little dance while she brought people their burger and fries.
margaret would sit in front of him in social studies and he would stare at the back of her head and her hair until the teacher would dismiss the class for lunch. then in the lunch room, milo would sit alone and eat his chunky peanut butter sandwich with blackberry jelly while margaret sat with her friends talking and eating the cafeteria food. she had a mouth that didn't quite fit her face and freckles, brown and distinct under her strawberry blond hair. milo was fascinated by those freckles and he was so amazed, in awe really, of how she wore those freckles, if one can be said to wear something that is a part of them. they just fit her face in much the same way the mouth that did not quite fit her face seemed a part of her that was, indeed, perfect for her.
then, when he was taken out of miss haverford's social studies class and put in what he called his "dummy" class, he sat behind bobby sutton and his hair was as black as the shoe polish his dad shined his shoes with. after that, he never saw margaret again. in his "dummy" class they were told to draw a picture of their home and milo drew his house; putting in the windows, door and fireplace, the trees and the field. he would color the sky blue and he would put in a bright orange sun surrounded by curly orange hair and spot it with dozens of brown freckles. when asked about it, he shrugged and said it was the sun... and the sun had freckles.
No comments:
Post a Comment