I remember when my world divided into male and female, when the girls screamed "Shaun has cooties!" across the playground and flushed with what I thought was anger. I remember being in a closet with ... [+]
Multiple award-winning author, Jacqueline Seewald, has taught creative, expository and technical writing at university. Twenty of her books of fiction have been published. Her short stories, poems, essays, reviews and articles have appeared in hundreds of diverse publications and numerous anthologies. "Crayon Kid" was originally published in L. A. Times, The Kids' Reading Room, September 6, 2009. It is now a part of Short Édition's series, The Current.
Originally published in L. A. Times, The Kids' Reading Room, September 6, 2009
Bobby didn't talk much in class. When he did speak, the other children often made fun of him because he stammered. His words just wouldn't come out right. They twisted around his tongue like slimy snakes. People called Bobby special. He thought they meant he was dumb. Schoolwork wasn't easy for him, but Bobby never gave up on anything. He kept at things until he understood them. Bobby didn't always like school, but they did learn lots of interesting things in Mrs. Meeker's class. His teacher brought objects to school he'd never seen before: coins from other countries or pictures of strange ani