Poppy was nine years old and in the four grade. She had long, reddish blond hair which her mother often braided for her. She was prone to freckles. She was skinny and liked to wear flower patterned, cotton dresses. Unlike most girls, whose favorite color was pink, Poppy's was orange. She lived in a comfortable, three bedroom rambler in the suburbs with her mom, dad and younger brother. She had a pet cat named Laura who slept with her every night. Everything about Poppy and her life was normal except for one thing: her eyes.
When she was 6 months old she developed
Strabismus, a condition which caused her to be extremely crossed eyed. Because
of this her childhood was not what you would call normal. Her early years
centered around bi-monthly eye therapy sessions where she had to learn to train
her eye muscles to focus on one object. This was hard to do because her eyes
tended to wander all over the place. But, with practice, she learned how to do
it. By the time she was nearly 4 years old, she was 95% cured, though her
vision was blurry and she had to wear glasses with thick, corrective lens.
Starting in preschool, despite her
teacher's best efforts, many classmates began calling her names like 'four
eyes' and 'crazy crossed eyes' and generally making fun of her. But being
different was OK with Poppy. Throughout her young life she had learned to be
happy being by herself. Her favorite pastime was singing. Being shaped by poor
vision in her early years, she was unable to focus on anything tiny. Therefore,
her mother allowed her to watch videos and movies because it was easy for her
to see the images on the screen. She could watch one per day. Her favorites
became 'Strawberry Shortcake' when she was young and 'Annie' when she was
older. She loved to sing along with the characters, imaging herself actually in the scenes before her on the screen,
twirling and dancing and moving to the rhythm of the music.
In short, Poppy had become a well
adjusted child who had a mellow disposition and took things in stride. Being made
fun of in school for being different didn't bother her too much. Not much, that
was, until one day she started feeling different in a different kind of way. It
all started toward the end of the current school year when a new kid came into
her class. His name was Sidney. He was tall and skinny and wore braces. Right
away you just knew he was going to be picked on for his appearance. He had red hair
that stuck up all over the place, a face covered in freckles and he even wore a
flannel shirt, despite the fact that it was a hot day in late May. But on top
all that, he wore glasses just a thick as hers. He was assigned the seat in her
row right in front of her. As he sat down he turned sideways and smiled,
"Hi." He said with a grin and pointed with his thumb back toward the teacher. "They call me Sidney,
but you can call me Sid."
There was something interesting about
this goofy looking new kid and Poppy had a good feeling about him.
"Hi." She said. "You can call me Poppy." She had a feeling
that they just might become friends.
(To be continued)
(To be continued)
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