Middle of Everywhere - Mary Bray Pipher [56]
These kids had said too many good-byes and they didn't like feeling abandoned, even for a few days. I made a point to state loudly that I was healthy now and would be returning regularly. I passed around pictures of our fishing trip. Pavel asked if he could keep the one of him with his new tackle box. I handed it to him but reflected that Pavel always wanted more attention, more food, and more time with Nibbles. Many of the kids were like him, filled with needs of every kind. Yet there were also kids like Trinh who appeared to want nothing from any of us. Today Trinh moved like a duck on water, movement without motion, gliding.
I watched Mai draw her baby brother, then beside his crib, she drew a giant red Stop sign. I asked her if she had gone to the children's museum with Amy and she nodded. "Amy is good," she said soberly.
While Grace gave a spelling test, Abdul fooled with two video games—Nitro and War Zone. Grace said, "Put them away or I will have to keep them." She whispered to me, "I wish we could ban these games. Yesterday I confiscated Mayhem and Deadly Arts from Khoa. These kids have enough problems without violent role models."
As if to demonstrate her concerns, at just that moment, Abdul and Pavel got into a scuffle. Grace sent both boys to quiet corners to think about their behavior. She said to me, "It's been a rough morning. Khoa was teased on the playground about his purple pants. Ignazio was called a wetback." She sighed. "Many of these kids come from war zones where violence is the first thing people do when they are upset. I want them to learn they have choices."
She called the boys together and talked to them. "Pavel, what else could you have done when Abdul took your backpack?"
Pavel said, "I could have asked him, 'What do you need, buddy?'" Grace hugged him and laughed. "That's right."
Deena wrote her numbers along one side of the paper and diligently began to spell out words. Ly and Walat did the same. Ignazio, who had some egg yolk on his shirt, kept rubbing his eyes, and I suspected he had stayed up late to see his parents.
Amazingly, Abdul asked for my help and I went to sit by him. With me almost doing his work, we completed the spelling test. He never looked at me, but he smiled when I helped him, and afterward, he showed his paper to the other students.
Deena asked me to feel her forehead. She was hot and said her head hurt. Grace wrote out a slip and sent her to the nurse. She told me that Deena had been stressed lately. Twice this last week Deena had stayed home to translate for her mother's medical appointments.
Khoa handed me a drawing that said, "I like you. Do you like cats?" The words were enclosed in a heart surrounded by small drawings of cats and of me. He'd given me big eyes, a big smile, and very curly hair. I smiled to think that might be how he saw me.
Today's work was a unit on grooming. Fatima wore a long silky pink dress covered with red roses. She had blue nail polish on her fingers and toes. Trinh almost never took off her jacket. Today Ly wore a white corduroy dress with a faux leopard-skin collar and Mary Jane shoes with white lacy socks. Khoa and Pavel looked like they should exchange clothes. Pavel's T-shirt didn't cover his round belly while Khoa wore a Big Red T-shirt that looked like a blanket on him. Only Walat was always carefully groomed in new Kmart clothes.
Ignazio had protruding teeth and Fatima's teeth were very crooked. I wondered if their parents would be able to afford orthodontists later. Many of the kids had bad breath and I wondered if they came from countries without toothbrushes.
Grace explained that Americans brush their teeth two times a day and that we take showers daily. The kids were amazed