The mirror behind me

Chapter 2

I was glad to be moving, because, at the end of my first year in school, I had gotten in a fight at school, and was taken to the office and gotten paddled. I didn't like that wooden paddle, so I made a voucher not to get in trouble anymore. Starting the second grade in a different school, for some reason became a problem to me. for some reason, I wasn't learning as much as I expected. I was bored. I was familiar with the work, there was no challenge. So I took it upon myself, after the first six weeks of school to write the principal and pretend I was my mom. I even wrote it in cursive I said in the letter that my child needs to be placed in a classroom where she can learn at her pace. I would like for her to be evaluated. Believe it or not, but days later I was evaluated and placed in the 3rd grade. It wasn't until I had gotten my report card, that my mom notice I had been placed in the third grade. She asked me about it, I pretend I didn't know anything about it. She took me to the office the next day. the principal responded to my mother saying, She bought a note you wrote asking to evaluate her and we did. She's pretty smart he said, But my mom saw the note I had written and there's no way I had written that she thought. So when everyone returned from school that day, she had them all sign their name in curses. She then asked me to sign my name. Then she got out the belt. Yep, she whipped me. She had them put me back in the 2nd grade. But eventually, I had adapted.

The house in Manor was not what we children expected. I remember my brothers had to dig holes to place pipes in the ground, that was for running water, which we did not have. The country it was. After a while, things started coming together. We lived next to the cemetery in Manor. There was a little dirt road that divide the house from the cemetery. And a fencing course.

We eventually had pigs, chickens, goats, and a very huge garden. I loved getting the fresh vegetables like turnips, they were sweet. After we got settled there, we build another room to the house. My parents were having more children. They had 4, children together.So my father and mother had 5 of their own. There from my mother's first marriage.My stepfather had four children , from his first marriage.

We all grew up as one big happy family. My brother was very athletic. They played football, ran track. I was a tomboy. I would make the team even when they played football. That's where I got my athletic skills. As soon as I was old enough, I tried out for the basketball team.

but my mom wasn't crazy about me going off to games alone. My parents were very strict with the girls, not so much with the boys, The girls had to stay close to home. I remember being very helpful. I started cooking at a very young age, along with cleaning as well. Making homemade biscuits and all. I remember back then, my mom would go to a warehouse to get boxed food. The meat was in cans as well. Who could forget the spam meat? I remember every time we went on a field trip, the whole bus smelled like spam.  So when I got in the 4th grade I tried out for the basketball team and made it. Only mom wasn't crazy about me being on a team, so she said no. My coach was very impressed with my speed and talent. So when I told her my mom said no, she withdrew me out of school and took me home to talk to my mother,  My mom was shocked. My coach Robinson pleaded with my mom, she said it was her first coaching job, and she didn't have a team without me. She volunteered to pay for all the necessities I needed and would be responsible for bringing me home. She couldn't say no. So I became star guard. I went on to become one of the fastest on our track team as well. They called me jackrabbit. I enjoyed participating in anything that was challenging. I took interest in drawing as well. I inherited that from my mom. Word got around and the high school cheerleaders came to me one day in school and asked me to draw a poster for the football homecoming game. I did and it was awesome.

I looked back on those times. and realize they were good times. Jr. High is when I began to learn more about myself. The thing I did and didn't like doing. The one thing I wasn't crazy about, was living so close to the Cemetary. My oldest sister was a sleepwalker, and one night she came and got me out of my bed, we walked out of the house around to our bedroom window, and stood there staring in the window until one of my sisters awaked and saw us. She screamed so loud. We eventually were put back to bed. Other strange events happened in our home. My parents went to Austin one day. While they were gone, we had two visitors. And old lady and man. We were taught not to open the door, we couldn't ignore them, because our door was opened. My oldest sister