I wrote this a couple of days ago but didn’t post it because my laptop was feeling eccentric . . . or maybe that was WordPress and Chrome on that laptop. Neither here nor there but things seem pretty quirky these days, just sayin’. Anyway, we’re, I’m (no royal we here unless I’m feeling multiple) offering a POV from a different character. Kim, the band’s lead singer. I kind of like her after I wrote about her. Tell me what you think.

The Girl

The girl from the other side of the tracks. The girl from the poor side of town. The girl from the trailer park. The east side.

There was no trailer. Mama and I lived in an apartment after the dad I never knew left, leaving no memory, no money, nothing but me. And his forgetfulness would remain with me as long as I lived in Kesney.

I was the student no teacher expected anything from. The girl the principal expected to call to the office but never did. The one who looked like she should be trouble, the first to blame, the one to look out for, but never was any of that.

I sang. Lived to sing. Fell in love with a boy who loved to play guitar. A mixed-race boy with a vivid smile but who fit in better than I did.

“I’ve heard you sing,” he said one afternoon when I thought he’d never notice me.

“Yeah?”

He nodded. Extra words were not his thing. “I’ve got a band.”

“You need a singer?” I filled in, maybe too quickly. Who cared? I had no shame. I had nothing to lose.

“Want to give it a try?”

I played cool, nonchalant, icy while inside I was burning hot for the opportunity to sing, to be next to Tom.

The first song I sang was “I’m on Fire,” which might have been a mistake but histories are made by mistakes and maybe mine was.

The other night, he kissed me for the first time. Five years later. Five years of anticipation. Too late? Better late than never.

end

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