A Terrifying School Yard Lunch

I got shot at while eating a sandwich with my bad boy boyfriend

Judy McLain
The Memoirist

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Photo by Bryan Alba: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-of-fence-on-sports-playground-14285780/

I lived in New Orleans during my last two years of high school. I’d lived in Louisiana before but for the five years prior to moving to New Orleans, I’d been living in Connecticut. My Dad’s job had us moving around a lot when I was a kid.

Being from “up north” made me a novelty in NOLA. While living in CT, I’d lost my southern accent and become grown-up enough to have my own personal style. Which apparently was attractive to Spider.

He wasn’t exactly my type.

Spider was a bad boy. I was a good student, not a goody-goody but I wasn’t a kid who got in trouble. I had an artistic leaning and a desire to go to college to get a Fine Arts degree. Spider wasn’t really into school.

He flirted and I demurred. Soon though, I figured out that he had a great group of friends and Spider was lots of fun. He did a lot of outrageous, exciting things. Within a couple of weeks after meeting him in chemistry class, he was picking me up at my bus stop and driving me to and from school.

One day, after picking me up he told me we weren’t going to school. Instead, he was taking me to the French Quarter for coffee and beignets. I balked, worried about getting in trouble at home if the…

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Judy McLain
The Memoirist

Shit Creek survivor. Storyteller. Feminist liberal. Southern without the accent. Chihuahuaist.