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Showing posts from November, 2017

The One

"I'm It," cries the girl in the playground. As usual, they all let her be the one. She is the leader of the gang and everybody does what she says. Everyone joins in except for one tiny girl in untidy pigtails. She cowers behind a bench, unnoticed by the children playing and the two teachers who patrol the playground chatting to one another. Other children race about and laugh and shout and have fun. The girl blows her nose on the inside of her cardigan and curls up as small as she can, hoping to be invisible. From this haven, she takes refuge in her daydreams. Her jumbled thoughts make journeys in her head to places she knows in her heart she will never go. "It is sports day and they choose me to lead. No! Not sports day. I think I will be the class captain and good at it. Maybe not. What I really want to do is to be in the play. I want to be a beautiful actress and sing so well they all wonder what happened to the little girl with the croaking throat who is never i