Mona

In third grade, when the schools integrated, I met Mona. Mona was a soft, shy girl with long red Shirley Temple curls. She walked with a bounce just like her hair as she skirted around the edges of space, peeping in from time to time at everyone in the center, not unhappy to entertain herself where she was. She was open and curious when I came over to inquire into her. In the first weeks of school, our class pictures came. I liked mine but knew full well no one would be forking over the money to purchase them, so I placed them on my desk in front of me to admire while I could. The next morning, the teacher told me that a little bird had purchased my pictures for me. I still suspect it was Mona, or maybe JT - the white boy with thick dark hair who seemed to always be at my desk making jokes.

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