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.

Adam and Eve

Being a stubborn child, I had to test everything. If you told me not to touch the electrical outlet, I would touch it anyway. What was knowledge without the experience? This would pour over into my entire life. This seemed to be the cause of my pain as well as my joy. Gems are most often found after looking under a lot of rocks. I don’t think grown-ups looked at it that way, though. My inquisitive nature was more of a thorn in their side than a blessing.

One day, during religion class, Miss Conrad read to us the story of Adam and Eve. Immediately afterward she asked us what we thought. My hand promptly shot into the air. She looked around the room like she was begging for someone else to put their hand up, but mine was the only one.

“Yes, Tammy?”

"I don’t think it’s true.”

“Well, of course, it is. It’s in the Bible. The Bible is the Word of God.”

Without pause, I replied, “No. Why would God, who is ALL-loving make ALL people for ALL time be punished because of two people’s mistakes? And it’s not like a really big mistake or anything. Eve shared an apple with Adam. Big deal! God wants us to share. You even said that!”

“Yes, God does want us to share. Adam and Eve had all the Garden of Eden to share, except for this one apple. God told them they were not allowed to eat that apple, and they disobeyed.”

I tried to process this and, just as my teacher thought it was safe to move on, I interjected, “What does God care about one dumb apple when they had the whole Garden of Eden?” My classmates laughed.

My teacher, knowing I had the potential to make this an all day discussion, threw in the towel. She asked us to pull out our math books. I raised my hand. She looked away so I waved it real big to get her attention. She turned her back to me. I yelled, “Miss Conrad. Miss Conrad.”

“What is it, Tammy?”

"We aren’t supposed to start math for ten more minutes and…”

“Today we will do things differently. Open your book to page one hundred forty-six, class.” I shrugged. I don’t get grown-ups. They do the strangest things, and they don’t like to answer questions either.