Shy Boy
We stood near Mr. Clancy on the playground. Mary and I didn’t have anyone to play with. Well, Mary didn’t usually play with anyone, she just clung to Mr. Clancy who didn’t seem to mind.
“Bobby won’t speak to me. I don’t know why. Maybe it was a game, maybe it was just to be mean,” I said to Mary.
“You boys, stop that!” shouted Mr. Clancy at some boys playing keep away with the book of one of the girls. He turned to me. “Jason, you just have to ignore him back.” The teacher scanned the playground again.
Bobby raced up to us. “Can I get a ball from the locker?” he asked the teacher. He didn’t even look at me.
“Yes, yes,” said Mr. Clancy, handing Bobby the locker key.
My brother ran off with the key on his task.
“Why don’t you play with someone else?” Mr. Clancy asked me.
“Momma said on the first day I came to school to stick with Bobby, to only play with Bobby,” I said.
The teacher smiled down at me. “Jason, your mom was being protective.”
Bobby rushed up, his cheeks red and flushed in blotches the way he got when he’d been running. He thrust the key on the long lanyard back at Mr. Clancy. “Thank you, sir,” he said. As soon as the key was in the teacher’s fingers, Bobby raced away, dribbling toward the basketball court and a group of boys waiting for him there.
“See,” I said. I could feel my ears get warm and I was afraid I’d cry. I didn’t want to cry because Bobby said if I did the kids would all make fun of me and he didn’t want a brother the kids made fun of.
“I think,” began Mr. Clancy and he turned me to face him, “I think that you should ignore your brother during recess and that you should go up to boys from your own class and talk and play with them.”
“But, Mamma said — ”
“You should listen to Mr. Clancy,” said Mary.
“It’s important to listen to your mother, but it’s also important for you to understand how school works. The big boys don’t really want to play with or talk to the younger boys. Older brothers rarely want to be with their little brothers on the schoolyard.” He looked around and then pointed. “There. There’s Marcus and Timothy and Brendon. They’re in your grade. They need someone else to play foursquare. Go up to them. Say ‘Hi’ and jump into the fourth box.”
I felt skeptical. Those boys had never talked to me. But, feeling like I had no choice, I did as Mr. Clancy said.
“Hi,” I said.
The three grunted at me.
“Can I get in the game?”
The three grunted their approval.
Once we got the rhythm going, I eliminated the others very fast. I liked the game and had played it with my three big brothers. I always lost against them, but here, I was a star. It felt good to win and in no time there were a group of kids standing around us, watching our game, rooting for me. They actually were chanting my name…Jay…son…Jay…son.
I beat Brandon. He’d never come in last. He said something to me I couldn’t hear and then he socked me in the shoulder. The whole group of children gasped. I didn’t know what I had done wrong. I wanted to hit him back, but I’d never hit anyone before. My ears felt hot and I just knew I would cry.
All of a sudden, Bobby was there between me and Brandon. He took Brandon by the shoulders and looked down at him, right in the eyes. “Hit my brother again and I’ll kill you. Understand?”
Brandon nodded his head.
Bobby turned to go back to his own ball game. He didn’t say a word to me, but he did wink at me. I winked back and asked: “Who’s next?”
