Daniel came to school that Monday
morning with his head shaved and
a rats tail at the back which he had
peroxided blonde,
it looked more orange than blonde–
all day that day the other boys
teased him,
we were in grade 4 and they called
him a fag and a sissy and kept
pushing him and tripping him
over,
he cried a few times and that made
it all the more exciting for the other
boys–
I’d never really spoken to him before
but that day began to.
we met up after school out the front
of my house
I had told him to bring his skateboard
and we rode around on the street.
neither of us were very good
but we pretended we were
and we tried to do tricks like they did
in the movies,
I got the feeling he didn’t want to go
home
when I mentioned his parents to
him I could see tears well up in
his eyes
and he changed the subject quickly–
eventually it started to get dark
I didn’t want to go back to my
house either
but I knew my mother, and I knew
I must,
he tried to keep me on the street
riding with him for as long as he
could–
I eventually told him I had to go
in
he looked upset,
I asked him where he was going?
I don’t know, he said.
–Brenton Booth