It was my first week in first grade at Catholic school; I remember the entire room being this pill-yellow color. To my left there were heaters/ac and they acted as shelves to put things on; mostly, a lot of books stacked up. Right beyond the heaters, were windows.
The chalk board was dark green; there were all these different colored chalks sitting in a tray at the bottom of the chalkboard; the letters of the alphabet above it. Cray paper on bulletin boards and yellow birch closet doors to the right. After your eyes take in all the eye candy on the walls - you start looking at kids around you and observing. Little girls with long hair, some with curly hair; boys with freckles and bright red hair. You start taking in all these experiences and you think, "Hum, this isn't going to be so bad..." and then - your personal nightmare begins!
I remember gazing out those windows and thinking, why is this kid behind me, Jonathan Vince, hitting me on my neck and head????? Who is this person? Why is this happening to me? School is supposed to be fun; this is not fun; this kid is very mean.
I would put up with Jonathan Vinces' torment for nearly the entire year of first grade. I thought I was going to go nuts and then one day, Jonathan Vince, didn't come back to school.
It was a dream come true for me. Ahhh...a normal day in school. I was relieved; very relieved. One day turned into to several months that Jonathan Vince did not return to school. I think I almost forgot about Jonathan Vince and those horrible first days of sitting in front of Jonathan Vince.
Towards, the end of the first school year, the entire school was notified of Jonathan Vinces' death due to cancer and everyone was invited to Jonathan Vinces' funeral. It appeared this kid was suffering with cancer and no one knew until it was too late. I went to the funeral, but only because I wanted to make sure this kid was dead. I was still afraid it was a cruel joke. Imagine, am only in the first grade.
In reality, this kid was crying out for help; physically on my back, neck and head. I was too young to know and Sister Jean Elizabeth didn't recognize anything out of the norm...I mean really - kids hitting kids, not such a novel idea.
I would normally consider this episode "bullying" except that this kid, had cancer. I still think of Jonathan Vince today; I think he's one of my angels - there to watch over me.