The Choir He Wanted, The LIfe He Had

Saturday, November 17, 1937

 It had been several months since the incident with my voice. I had gained it back for the most part, but I still couldn't sing very high or talk very loudly. Once again at Roger's house, we choir boys were sitting in his living room, talking. I'm not sure what topic had started the conversation, but after a few minutes, we were talking about girls.

Most of us were around ten or eleven years old, with the exception of Simon, who was a year younger than me and hadn't yet reached his tenth birthday. Nevertheless, we were all discovering new things about ourselves, especially about our minds. I myself fancied a few girls in my grade by that time, and I shared some of them now.

"What about that girl, Lily," I said. "She's pretty cute."

Lily was a girl in one of my classes. She had red hair and blue eyes like me, and I began to fancy her when she sat near the window, and I began making short glances in her direction. I admired how the sun made her hair glow and before I knew it the admiration became something more and I caught myself staring at her during classes.

"I guess she's okay," Roger said.

"Okay?" I asked. "She's beautiful! Especially in the sun."

"What are you following her or something?" Roger asked, laughing.

"No, of course not!" I retaliated. "She sits next to the window in class. The sun shines in through the window and I can see her from where I'm sitting."

"So you're watching her," Roger said.

"Shut up!" I said, hitting him lightly and laughing.

We continued to talk about all the girls we fancied, but I noticed that Simon never joined in. He sat in silence, looking at the floor or around the room but never joining in on the conversation.

"Hey, Simon," I said after several minutes. He jumped at the sound and looked at me as I said, "What about you?"

"What?" he asked, confused.

"Who do you fancy?" Roger asked.

"I don't understand," Simon said innocently.

"Who's a girl you find...attractive," I said. Simon seemed to understand better, but he still didn't answer at first. After several seconds, he said,

"I don't think you'll like the answer."

"She can't be much worse than Maurice's answer," Roger said, laughing.

"Shut up, Roger!" Maurice said. "She was better than yours."

"Yeah, right," Roger said.

"Quiet, both of you!" I said as loud as I could. Roger continued to chuckle quietly as the sound died down.

"Come on, Simon," I said. "We'll be just fine with whatever you say."

"I don't think so," Simon said. "You'll just make fun of me."

"Just give us a name already!" Roger yelled. "Who's the girl?"

"Actually..." Simon's voice trailed off. We all leaned slightly closer to him, as if trying to hear him better. After a long pause, Simon quietly said, "It's not a girl."

"What?" Roger said, sitting up straighter. A smirk crept across his face as he said, "You're joking!"

Maurice gasped and practically climbed onto the table as he said, "Who is it then? Is it a boy? Is it not a person?"

"First of all, Maurice, how could it not be a person?" Roger asked, glaring at him, "And second of all, get off the table."

Maurice slowly sat back down and we all turned our attention back to Simon.