B: a new day yesterday

My first memory is of flying over a desert mountain with the prowess
of an eagle, narrowly dodging mammoth pines. This happened on a plane I
couldn't now endeavour to explain.

After these first noble memories, there was the fuzz of infancy and
early childhood. I remember my father brought me a freddy flinstone
milk bottle when I was in my crib. I was very small and well taken care
of. And yet even then I looked at the world through the eyes of a
man.

The days passed from quiet helplesness to the action of a young boy. I
was intoxicated with the confidence of early spring. I was very sure of
my opinions and loved to talk loudly. I wasn't willing to accept that
myw worldview was wrong. This is interesting in light of the shy, soft
spoken person I've become.

I had a stepmom who I argued with constantly. She liked to call me
"stubborn." I came to think this was my name. But even with her there
were playful moments like when we pretended to be a mommy and baby
cheetah.

My father was strong and charismatic but weak in his support for me.
My body was naturally strong and my mind naturally active. From an
early age, I would run back and forth and let my imagination range over
this world and the next. In these running, gesticulating fantasies,
sometimes I would be a western gunfighter, sometimes a warrior, and
sometimes a poet.

I spent my days in schools and my happiest times were fantasizing in
the classroom. The teachers thought there was something wrong with my
head. I couldn't write properly. I tended to write letters reversed and
I didn't work in class.

I remember one afternoon sitting by the older kids. I had my own
assignment which I wasn't doing. But I was listening to a story the
teacher was reading to the older kids. The story was about a sea
monster who ate little glowfish. The sun was warm and I was happy,
drifting on the cloud of mythology.

Eventually, they let me out of the class for the mentally impaired.
When they did, they let the students who were moving up watch a cartoon
and eat ice cream bars. Soon, I developed a voracious hunger for
reading. I would read all day, every day, on the bus before and after
school. I'd read during class and after school. Mostly, I read teen
novels about detectives, adventures and mythological lands like Narnia.
Before long, i was reading more sophisticated stories such as Robinson
Crusoe and The Count of Monte Cristo.

to be continued...