This Little Girl
(At rehearsal)
by Jennie
May 13, 2003
I sat and watched this little girl wince with pain every time the
lights went up. She said, "It only bothers me when the lights are
really bright". I saw this little girl with her hands over her ears in
the midst of screaming laughing children. She said, "It's too loud".
But at home she plays her CD loud or otherwise says "I can't hear it".
I watched her shrink from the microphone as the other children
clamored to be the one. She says "I just don't like it". I watched her
with stay within herself, never talking, always obeying, never getting
in trouble for being noisy, rowdy, or not paying attention. She says,
"I have friends in choir", proudly. Her 'friends' are teenage girls,
she is six. I watched her look to her mother for answers when the
teacher was acting, putting on a western twang. Uneasy about the
teacher being different. She says, "She's being silly". Another girl
said she left choir because the hand actions were too hard. This girl
says, "They're easy". But she's often behind the others and often
doesn't get them right. I watched this little girl, so unaware of her
difference, just happy to be singing, happy that she has 'friends'. I
saw this little girl not knowing what she is feeling, maybe not
knowing she is feeling. I watched this little girl and thought, "she
could have been me".
© Jennie 2003
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Some
are the melody, some are the rhythm, some are the harmony