Living the "Normal" Life

The next day in class was moving day. Our teacher liked to give everyone a chance to sit up front if they wanted so we would get to choose our seats again. It had only been two weeks since the last time, and I had a feeling she needed a break from me sitting across from her every day. I chose a seat in the very back. Steven plopped into a seat next to me and grinned. I felt my cheeks flush as I remembered his kiss and shyly looked down at my hands. "Hey!" he whispered. I looked up. "Did you get in trouble?"

"A little." I managed, "My uncle was in more trouble, though, so it wasn't too bad." Steven nodded.

"Class! Pay attention! Everyone needs to finish finding their seats," Mrs. Bradley announced over the chaos. She was a new teacher, very new. I liked her, and I think she really liked me, too. One day she told me, "You ask very good questions, Tammy. They make me think." I felt very proud of myself!

Having Steven sit next to me proved to be quite the distraction for me, and he didn't help much. He was always talking to me so we were always in trouble. One day Mrs. Bradley embarrassed me by announcing, "Okay, you two lovebirds, if you cannot sit next to each other without talking, I am going to have to separate you." I was humiliated! I only talked because he was talking to me, and I didn't want to be rude. While I really wished I had invisibility powers, Steven actually seemed to enjoy it, but he did quit talking. He wrote me notes instead and, of course, I had to write back. It was the polite thing to do, and Nan was always on me about minding my manners.

Steven and I would quickly become close friends. We never called each other boyfriend or girlfriend but I guess we sort of were. He would walk me home from school and we would stop at the playground along the way. We would race each other to the swings and challenge each other to see who could go the highest. He always won, but his legs were longer!

On Friday nights we would go roller skating. He would laugh when Bobby would knock me down but would always offer me a hand up. After Bobby made a scene, singing, "Steven and Tammy kissing in a tree.." I absolutely refused to skate with my brother again. Soon after he got bored and didn't want to go anymore much to my relief. Now Steven and I could skate together alone!

For a while things seemed to go smoothly in most areas for me. Life seemed good and normal for a bit, but something I learned quickly was...it hardly ever stays that way.

Father Comes to Class

Two days later, Father Callahan took over our Religion class. I was glad to see he kept his promises. He was a younger priest and much nicer to look at then Sister Anne. Father sent Sister to the back of the room. I giggled into my hand as she tried to squeeze into an empty desk. It kind of looked like a penguin when they waddle their back end into something, and it struck me funny. When I turned around in my seat, Father wagged his finger at me.

“Okay, children, today we are going to talk about sins.” He made columns on the chalkboard for the venial sins and another one for the mortal sins. He asked us for examples of these. I sat and listened because everyone was yelling at once. Father had to tell everyone, “One at a time. We’ll start here and go all the way back.” Great! I was the very last one. They would take all my answers!

We had to name a sin and then say if it was big or small. Lying, disobeying parents, stealing, cheating, fighting, and not going to Mass on Sunday or Holy Days were some of the standard answers. Some of us were more original. Susie said her brother knotted her cat’s tail to a rope and then tied it to their fence and then made a loud noise causing the cat to try and run. That’s just mean!

Jeffrey said that his dad liked to look up their neighbor’s short skirts when her husband wasn’t looking. He said his mom caught his dad once, and she didn’t talk to him for a week! That reminded me of something and I piped up, “That’s okay. My dad came home drunk one night and brought his girlfriend with him! My mom cursed a lot, and there was lots of sinning going on that night. My dad wasn’t even allowed in the house for like an entire month! How many ‘Our Father’s’ would you have given for that, Father?”

I think that was the shortest religion class I ever had! And I never did get an answer to my question. How do you like that?