1958 part two

1958 part two

Teresa shook with fear. She was a mess. Her hem was torn and her knee was bleeding. What would the principal say? Would she go to jail for kicking another child.
"You may come in now, Teresa," aid Mrs. Bryan. She was a plump lady with thick tightly permed hair. "Teresa Jackson, I am supposed to be ashamed of you." She said firmly. "You are one of my smartest students. Here you are fighting with some of the toughest students in school. Don't you know ladies don't fight?"
Teresa hung her head in shame.
Mrs. Bryan smiled. "Truth be told, I'm proud of you. You stuck up for a student who was being picked on. Sometimes we have to fight for what we believe in, even if it means having to face the principal.
Mrs. Bryan lead her to the principal's office, bandaged her knee and sewed up her hem. When she walked back to the classroom, she noticed everybody was looking at her. "Boy this is different," she thought. "I'm the big news of the day."
"From now on we're going to spend more time with you," said Mary Ellen and Susan, the most popular girls in the class. "You are really smart and most of the time you look really nice. We can't understand why you spend time with Lannie playing with toy cars. With a little bit of effort you could fit right in our group."
Teresa didn't say much as the girls walked home. Susan and Mary Ellen talked about a birthday party they were going to on Saturday. The girls invited her. Teresa said she would ask her parents. She observed how the girls walked and how they talked. She wanted to be just like them. She wanted to be a popular girl instead of invisible.
Teresa breezed through the door at three fifteen. "How was your day dear?" Mother asked. She seemed like she was in a better mood than she was in the morning. "I've been invited to a birthday party," Teresa said.
"That's great," said Mother, vodka collins in hand. Her breath smelled vodka-y.
"The party's at Mary Ellen Henderson's house." Teresa said. "It starts at 2."

"That's great, Mother said, vodka collins in hand. Her breath smelled vodka-y.
"The party's Saturday. I have tot ell Mary Ellen tomorrow whether or not I can go. I hope I can. Nobody at this school has ever invited me to a birthday party before."
"I hope you can go to a birthday party too. It's all up to you. It all depends on how you behave around the house. You better do a better job on the household chores than you usually do or you can't go."
"No big surprise if I don't get to go," thought Teresa. "I never do a good job on household chores. I don't know why, I just don't get it right."
Teresa ate her apple and ran to her bedroom to get her baseball mitt. She wasn't a very good player but she was good at retrieving balls so the boys in the neighborhood always let her play. She wasn't a good hitter and she never caught the ball.
There were only five players: Bobby One, Bobby Two, Jimmy, Tommy and Teresa. The five always played work ups because they didn't have enough players to play real ball. Every one took turns playing every position.
Bobby One was first up. He pawed the ground like an impatient race horse. The pitcher, Bobby Two, wound up. He threw the ball. Bobby jammed a hard liner straight past
Teresa and back, back, back. The ball seemed to go on forever. Bobby round the bases and raced by home long before Teresa could throw the ball back to Bobby Two.
"Move up, move up," everybody yelled.
Now Teresa was the right field. Jimmy pitched. Bobby Two was the batter. Tommy was the baseman. Jimmy lobbed a high fly ball to Teresa. She caught the ball and dropped it.