Monday, June 22, 2009

The Artificial Woman-pt. 3

Rainbow slept little. In the summer she'd wake at the crack of dawn, hit the backyard swings, and turn a portable radio WAY UP.

Too bad her parents slept with their window open.

She knew every song from the am radio, such as Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On", and "Never Can Say Goodbye", by the Jackson Five. Rainbow listened and swung happily, as ponies in the pasture chased each other, and crop dusters swooped overhead.

In the evening Rainbow would listen to her father's albums. She didn't have much choice. He played his music loud too.

He would put on Led Zeppelin II, and quiz Rainbow about the song.

"Kool-Aid," she say, thinking the words to "Whole Lotta Love" were, "You need Kool-aid."

And so began Rainbow's retention of all things trivial, which lasted until 2006, when she had to have part of her brain removed.

Because she wanted to be so much like her older sister, she was excited about going to elementary school at Mooberry Elementary in Hillsboro.

Rainbow's favorite activities included swinging at recess and playing instruments. She had a hard time with arts and crafts for some reason. Fortunately Rainbow made some friends, some of whom remained her friends through High School.

So Kindergarten went well. At that age it's okay to be a little wild and crazy. Plus it doesn't last a whole day.

But First Grade was another matter. Two problems existed because of Rainbow's unique personality.
  • At that time, she didn't eat anything but toast and cereal (and the toast had to be white and spongy, and NOT cut; cereal had to be Cheerios);
  • Thinking she was at the height of elementary school fashion, Rainbow HAD to wear patten-leather shoes, and would almost miss the bus, because she had to stop and brush the smallest speck of dust off of them.
So Kay, Rainbow's mom, suggested this may be a problem, since toast was not offered as part of the school lunch program.

As a matter of fact, Rainbow went on a hunger strike and won. Kay ruled that Rainbow could have toast once a day, and milk, but otherwise would have to eat "people food".

So Rainbow had her one meal of toast and drank milk whenever she wanted, but did not eat "people food".

She would eventually eat "people food," but would discover that eating had a natural consequence.



2 comments:

Tina E. said...

I really think you could become an author, a really great author!

Eden Jones said...

Thanks Tina E. More to come.