Holes in the Screen
I was looking out the bottom of the screen door
and found some holes where the flies get in.
But momma came by my legs and said that I was being bad
by cutting holes in the screen
and that she would make sure that Tom "took care of it".
I thought he was going to fix the screen.
And maybe I could watch some cartoons.
It didn't turn out that way. It was like this -
Momma had me kneel on the ridged mat without my clothes on
so long that I got bloody knees.
When my friend, Charlie, came by to play he saw me
kneeling there without my clothes.
I got red in my face.
I kept thinking that Tom would be home for sure by dark
to lift me out from the mat.
He came alright.
He came into me.
He didn't fix the screen.
He fixed me
And then he said, "I love you."
By then I couldn't listen any more
because I was dreaming of being a bird
so I could fly away, far away,
out into someplace taller than the sky.
And wouldn't you know that the next day
Charlie was laughing at me and looking at me in a funny way.
His friends, Hal & Ernie, who were older kids,
snapped cut rubber bands behind my knees while I was standing
in the aisle of the school since there were no seats.
For no good reason I started thinking about the screen
and that it could be fixed somehow
maybe in that someplace I am going to fly to.
When I got home from school, momma asked me
if I liked the way Tom "took care of it"
and I couldn't figure out if she meant that I was supposed to fix the screen,
be happy about Tom loving me that way,
be happy about that the flies could still get in,
or pretend to be happy that it went the way it did.
I don't remember what I told her
because what I really think is not important.
All I know is that I did not look out the screen door
with the holes in it any more.
