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Picture
brought memories. When I was six or seven, a girl used to beat
the crap out of me on the way home from school. I don't know
why;
there was often no reason for these things where I grew up in
Chicago. Anyway,
one day (I want to say her name was Mildred) I was able to fend her off
with a good punch. When you get home from one of these fights
you're
trembling anyway, from the adrenaline overload - and the shame of
losing. That day there was no shame, but exhilaration.
About two hours later the doorbell rang. It was Mildred's mother,
with
Mildred in tow. Mrs. Mildred laid into my mom for raising a
boy who
beat-up on girls. I remember trying to defend my action, but I
had
never complained to my mom, or dad, or anybody, about getting
beat-up
by a girl, so my protestations sounded hollow. I forget the
punishment. Not watching the next I Love Lucy
was the norm. While this little soirée was going on -
Peggy! Her name
was Peggy, not Mildred, and she wore pigtails - Peggy stuck her tongue
out at me. I wanted to
hit her. Anyway, it's my experience that up to a certain age
there
exists no physical superiority of one gender over the other.
Girls are
very athletic for awhile.
I remember the last physical contact fight I had with a girl. It
wasn't a punching fight, but it was a very angry wrestle. I was
able to
pin Pam (the one-year older neighbor girl) in her from
yard. In
doing so the buttons on her shirt popped, displaying way more than
nascent
breasts that I didn't know she had. I was transfixed. The world
stopped. In a moment she began to cry, pushed me off and
ran inside.
I was worried the doorbell would ring again, but it didn't.
For my part, I developed a crush on Pam, right then. Moving
forward
we developed a clumsy, but affectionate relationship that grew as time
passed. We moved away before there was so much as a kiss swapped.
One
day I got a letter from my friend Tim, with a newspaper clipping.
It
was about an inquest. Pam was watching television with her feet
touching
both the metal case of the TV, and an electric floor lamp.
She was
electrocuted. Age 16.
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