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by Regina Walker
Sally said that my knee bones stick out too far so that means I'm chicken footed. She also said
my family is dirt poor cause we got plastic wrap in the windows instead of glass but momma
said that plastic wrap costs more than glass so we actually got more money and we change the
plastic a lot and people with glass only change it when it is broke. Sally said we're friends but
only sometimes when nobody's watching cause her mother sez that my momma's trash cause
she's got loads of kids but no husband and no money. And Sally's mother said I wouldn't be no
better 'cause the apple don't fall too far from the tree and Sally don't need no friends from that
side of the track. Sally said she likes me anyway but she hates my sister 'cause my sister picks
her nose and doesn't wipe it with a tissue when she sneezes. She also said my sister's always got
a scab on her knee and it's always bleedy because she picks that too and eats it but I never
noticed.
Sally always asks me about my dad but I don't know. When I ask momma she sez he died in a
war in England before I was born but Sally said that's not true 'cause her mother said there ain't
been no wars in England and my brother and sister are younger than me. My momma said
Sally's mother don't know what she's talking about 'cause she ain't worked a day in her life.
Momma told I don't need a friend like Sally and I should stick with my brothers and sisters
'cause they're the only ones I can count on in the end and she heard Sally's mother was making
a stink at the school 'cause people like us was moving into the neighborhood. I told Momma
'bout Maria's nose always running and her knee always bleeding but she said she never noticed
it neither.
I like Sally even though momma told me not to 'cause she's the only one at school who lets me
borrow her pencil and she sez that even though I'm chicken-footed I got nice hair 'cause it's
blond. She said if I wash it more often it might be blonder but momma said that's a load of crap
and Sally's just jealous 'cause she's got mousy brown hair and her eyes are too close together.
Momma said that Sally's mother is prejudiced against us cause our clothes are old and one day
Sally'd be just like her and I don't need no friends if they're gonna have their noses up in the air.
Sally said she saw Maria kissing some fat boy behind the school and that Maria's probably
pregnant because of it but she said her mother said my momma wouldn't even notice 'cause
she's already got so many kids and they'd all probably become tramps like her. Sally's mother
said my momma's ignorant 'cause she's got holes in her shoes and does other people's laundry
but don't do her own.
One day I told Sally we probably shouldn't be friends no more since her mother don't like my
momma and my momma don't like her mother but Sally said it was okay because she didn't
mind. Sally said she felt sorry for me because her mother told her people like me never get
anywhere 'cause even if I'm smart it costs money to get an education and money is something
that people like me just don't got. Sally said maybe if I washed my hair her brother would marry
me but her mother said she didn't raise her son to marry trash and besides people like me ain't
for marrying. Sally said she still thinks I got a chance but Maria don't 'cause of her knee and her
nose and 'cause of the fat boy and all. Momma said it's okay 'cause you can't depend on
nobody anyway and Maria can't get pregnant from kissing.
bio:
Since March 2003, Regina Walker has been a monthly contributing writer to
The Philosophical Mother magazine (www.philosophicalmother.com). Her work has
appeared in Hip Mama, widdershins, The Future Generation, Motherevolution,
Motherload, Commie Mommie, Community Mother Magazine, Goin' Granola, Milk
zine and the online magazine www.stickyourneckout.com . Her work will be featured in
an upcoming issue of Healing Mama. She is the creator and editor of the zine
Recovering Me.