Kids do the Darnedest Things

So, what’s the catch? No catch, I swear—famous last words before being embarrassed by a supposed friend. Children are meanest in the fourth grade, I think. To be the butt of the jokes, you are always last to get it. Suppose you are eleven, 5’6’’, and a female who transferred midyear to a school for typically normal kids. Most sixth graders are only just reaching five feet. Maybe I am just too trusting or even more gullible. I had long hair, but I learned early not to wear it loose and flowing because someone would put gum in it; even wearing it braided wasn’t safe from being pulled at least once daily. I also found that girls could be jealous of other people who were pretty or they felt were more appealing than they were.

I was normal until I caught a cold, had a fever of 104^o, and lost hearing. I don’t talk like most deaf people with a lisp or that hollow-sounding voice. I didn’t lose my hearing until third-grade summer. My mother refused to have me moved to the deaf school. Before I lost my hearing, I was just a gangly but confident preteen with many friends. I was an “A” student from the first grade until the fourth, when I got sick. Since then, I don’t feel as confident. To be uprooted during a school year is hard and even harder to navigate without the ability to hear.

Children don’t like the new kid usually. Someone new becomes the most recent target unless they have family or friends to protect them. I remember how many pranks people played on me because I was quiet and needed glasses, so reading lips was difficult. I also wanted friends, so if someone offered me some gum, I would end up with black teeth on picture day. Or the graphite line down the center of my face because someone challenged me to roll a quarter down between my thumbs after they had traced it with a pencil around the outside ridges. I didn’t know how mean kids could be until I changed schools, but I never let them see me cry, in any case.

I started my menstrual cycle early because of a bike accident. Imagine being eight and a heavy-flowing individual that sometimes didn’t know until I had bled through my clothes. So many children would not tell me until they ensured the class knew first—especially the boys. Boys were gross in grade school, well, at least to girls, because they wanted to grope every girl that had boobs or a big butt. Girls just pointed out that boys smelled funny. The boys whose hormones had kicked in by the fourth or fifth grade never bathed enough or knew about deodorant, powder, or soap. They just wanted to put cologne on top of the funk. Some struggled with facial hair. Those with older brothers sometimes did better with their advice and shaving products. On top of that, their voice would be changing, so they would sometimes crack or suffer pitch problems when they attempted to flirt or talk.

I have always had decent grades until my meltdown after losing my hearing. I was not into sports but had a wicket volleyball serve that no one could return. I grew up in a small town, and back in the early 80s, sports were geared toward football and basketball by the time I got to high school. Girls only had basketball or track. I tried track from seventh grade in Junior high until my Freshman year of High School.

With each visit to the doctor previously, everything remained the same. Finally, I had some movement in my inner ear. I needed medicine to reduce the swelling and tubes to regain my hearing. My mom eventually agreed to let me get the tubes after she realized how much I was struggling and took me to see the family doctor about what they could do about my hearing. I lived in silence for the better of four years before adapting somewhat. I’m glad I went through that because I experienced something that most won’t, and I understand how it feels to live in a silent world.

I never picked on anyone with a disability before, but I have a new appreciation for anyone who can’t hear. Many deaf people have been successful. Marlee Matlin and Lauren Ridloff are actresses. Ludwig van Beethoven, the famous composer, was also deaf. Thomas Edison, the inventor, was deaf too.

 Some folks started wondering what was different with me during summer school when my grades improved. I decided to go on letting people think I couldn’t hear until they figured it out on their own. This became my advantage over my bullying classmates.

 I joined the marching band in the summer of my ninth-grade year. I enjoyed two years of the band and ran track. I wished for other activities in high school, but things like drama weren’t available. I was a tomboy of sorts. Back then, something like home economics and art classes was the only options available for young ladies. I would have been more comfortable on the football team than in some sewing circle. Especially after taking that one semester of home economics to fill my elective class requirements, the only thing I sewed looked like a pickle. It was supposed to be a 4”x6” green rectangle.

The older children get their pranks get more devious. Someone enjoyed waiting until after gym class when the girls were in the shower to pull the fire alarm so that we would have to run out in towels, and then they would try to steal your towel. No matter their age, guys were touchy-feely perverts.

Girls don’t prank like guys but are catty, jealous, and petty. Girls will sabotage you or destroy your property. New clothes, shoes, or backpacks are fair game to girls. You have to be in their click to be safe from attack by the mean girls. You're doing well if you have friends who do not doubt their worth.