Young talents ; Brainless “No!”
Some years ago, I had a few friends I enjoyed playing with at my old school. Christen was one of those friends. In fact, Christen was my best friend. He was smart, funny, and blessed with a mother that was very fond of me.
One day, me, Christen, and my other friends were playing ‘family’. I had the role of the baby sister and Christen was the dad. He was coming home from the pretend grocery store to bring food to the family. Of course, we didn’t use real food but little wooden models of food, the school owned.
“And finally Swiss cheese. Ummmmmmm, delicious!” he said. Everyone agreed except yours truly.
“Ew. Swiss cheese! I don’t like it!” I replied. Suddenly the game stopped.
“WHY? It’s the nectar of the snack gods!” He defended.
I told him it was too sweet for my sophisticated taste. Everyone gave me a strange look like I was from another planet. After this strange pause we continued the game till lunch.
Guess who had Swiss cheese in his lunch box? Yes, Christen had a Mount Fuji of Swiss cheese for lunch and started teasing me with it. He put the piece of Swiss cheese in his mouth, without biting it and would then wave the slobbery piece of Swiss cheese under my nose. It smelled horrible! I tried to ignore him, but after the sixth cheese waltz under my nose, I snapped. I couldn’t take the smell of Swiss cheese anymore! So, the next time he put the same piece of cheese in his mouth, I slammed his jaw shut! What I didn’t know, was that I slammed his jaw not only on the piece of cheese, but also on his tongue.
I began laughing, but slowly stopped when I saw tears pooling in Christen’s eyes. Suddenly, I had a bad feeling.
“Owww! That really hurt! I’m telling,” Christen cried.
My regret quickly turned into fear. And while Christen ran to get Mrs. Smith, our teacher at the time, my brain packed up my common sense, and left on vacation.
Therefore, the only answer I was able to give for any question, was a mindless ‘no!’
So, when Mrs. Smith hobbled over, her hamster cheeks red with fury and her eyebrows practically shaking hands on her forehead, she gave me her most terrifying look. She asked me if I hurt my friend, and I replied a very convincing: “No!”.
“But everyone saw you!” said Christen, visibly still in pain and with dry tears smudged on his face.
“No.”
“Even you stopped laughing! That’s proves you did it!”
“No. I didn’t do it and you can’t prove it!” it was like Bart Simpson was inside of my head speaking for me.
“It’s ok Christen. Let’s look at that tongue of yours. Bianca I’m very disappointed in you!” scolded in Mrs. Smith. And with that, all my friends turned around and left me behind in my lonely regret.
The feeling I had done something very bad was haunting me. I couldn’t feel Christen’s pain, but I felt so alone and guilty and that hurt me. And on top of all these emotions I was lying to my best friend.
“Yes, ma’am. I did hurt Christen. I’m sorry.” I heard myself saying.
I was banished to the Time-Out-Chair for all of recess. And while I sat in the empty classroom, contemplating my life choices, I saw a head peep from around the corner. It was Christen!
“Christen I’m so sorry! I don’t know why I wouldn’t tell the truth. Will you please forgive me?” I blurted out.
Christen smiled one of his charming smiles.
“Thank you for telling the truth,” he replied.
We talked a bit longer before he went to his lunch box and got out the rest of the Swiss cheese. He pealed of a slice and handed it to me.
“Here! try one,” he said.
I took the piece of cheese and ate it.
“Ummmmm, so delicious indeed,” I murmured, not because I suddenly liked Swiss Cheese but for the sake of friendship.
And for the rest of that recess, Christen sat next to me, and we laughed and ate Swiss cheese together.
And now, at Pickering College, every time I see a piece of Swiss cheese, I remember Christen’s smile and I believe I can still smell his slobbery piece of Swiss cheese. However, I am behaving a lot better when Swiss cheese is around me!
Bianca Neagoe
Bradford
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Bianca Neagoe 12/5/2023 |
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