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When I dropped Shaun at school that morning after three days absence, he reminded me of a pirate walking the plank. This pirate, however, wore dark glasses and carried a carefully worded letter to his teacher asking permission for my young son to wear dark glasses “so maybe the other kids wouldn’t notice” two brilliantly bold, black, blue, purple and green shiners. “The kids will laugh at me and make jokes,” Shaun had protested. “I just feel dumb.” He had hoped to return to school after the color surrounding his eyes had subsided, but there was no telling how many weeks that would take. My arguments that the doctor had said Shaun could return to school, that homework was piling up and Shaun would be getting farther behind each day, and last but not least, that Sylvester Stallone in the “Rocky” movies had looked macho with his black eyes had not been convincing. The dark glasses had been my idea and Shaun had studied himself in the mirror at various angles before finally deciding that with the cover-up he could return to his daily duties. Three-thirty was long in coming on Shaun’s first day back to school. I left early to pick him up so I would be sure and be on time in case Shaun was upset and needed consolation. How would I ever get him back in school the next day? A young boy stepped out of the building. He looked suspiciously like my son—same size, same clothes, same hair—but no sunglasses and there was a wide grin on his bruised face. “How did it go?” I asked, still cautious. That same big smile crossed Shaun’s face and then he said, “Brock had a black eye too.” I couldn’t help chuckling. Brock was one of Shaun’s best friends. “He did?” I returned, relieved now. “How did it happen?” Sitting at attention, Shaun announced, “He got hit by a baseball.” At last it occurred to me that it was not so much the black eyes Shaun was embarrassed about but the way he had acquired them. Clearly, tripping over tall grass and hitting one’s head on a lone rock was not praiseworthy. Shaun went on to explain that until he had uncovered his shiners, Brock, who had missed two days of school, had been quiet and withdrawn, but after seeing Shaun’s eyes, Brock had exclaimed, “Wow! Now we’re twins.” Mike, the third member of the playground triangle, had said upon seeing his two friends, “Neat. I wish I had a black eye too.” |
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