by Ellen Kudlicki

Created on: May 12, 2008

I see her at seven. Scabbed knees, plaid skirt, button up shirt with part of the tail hanging out, she stands there watching the other children. They have history. Their families know each other. They go to the same church, have the same babysitters, their mom's belong to the same bridge clubs. She's from Texas, a world away from a Chicago suburb. The kids don't play or seek her out. Even Mrs. Canfield points out her "funny Southern accent" to the second grade class. The neighbor lady yells at her for not telling her mom about carpool. The lady uses words she doesn't understand and when she repeats them to her Mom, it makes her Mom cry. The only girl that will play with her is a funny girl with long curly red hair. The funny red-haired girl has a pool table in her basement with a train set laid out. On the days they play, they take cars and make streets in the gravel of the driveways of their houses. But the red-haired girl can't play on Fridays or Saturdays. It's something to do with church. Then on one November day, a president is hot in Texas and the teachers cry while sending the children home. The kids blame the girl from Texas and try to make her fight. Instead she runs to the safety of home. She hides in her room and reads. She is seven.

At eight, the girl's father is transferred to Metarie, a suburb of New Orleans. Most of the kids go to Catholic school, but the girl's father is against putting uniforms on little kids. So she goes to Bissonet Plaza Elementary. Once again, the kids have grown up as friends since infancy. The insular nature of the society is far beyond the grasp of a third grader no matter how smart. Most of the kids buy lunch, but the girl brings her's from home. It's always the same: cheese sandwich on white bread, an apple, a thermos of milk and some oreos. She will eat that lunch for the rest of her elementary years. The constancy of that lunch will be an anchor in the seemingly wild ebb and flow of life. The girl's mother, a former teacher, sees how awkward her child is at making friends and to encourage her to move outside of the safety of books, the mother volunteers to be a Girl Scout leader. The meeting place is a Methodist Church, the Catholic church doesn't want kids from the public schools in their area. The meetings are organized, the girls complete badges on dance and cooking and even participate in a local Mardi Gras parade. But the only time the other girls speak to the girl is at the meeting. At school, she is an outcast.

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