Red Sugar

Flurry

Flurry flurry. morning flurry of the young. boys in green ties. girls in gray plaid jumpers, running. to catholic school, then the scream. the dash. race to the glass door. the scream & the dash. race to the glass door of the foyer. (green tile lobby of the suburban school). girls sprinting full out to beat the boys. no stopping before the red brick. learning. we can’t beat them. really beat them. but this first year of many. wild mornings, all of us laughing in bunches. & crowding around him each day the same. flurry. young children. waiting to be swooped up. (waiting to be thought of). held too tight, youngness. held too long, kissed. the patting & hair stroking. I am his favorite. like your grandfather kisses you. he loves my oblivion. to his hands. he says. he likes my smile. my 20 years before the charges are brought. my smallness. priest. stands in his black cassock. next to the list of movies. we are forbidden to see. by the holy statue. he swings us around. in his finery. (next to the six ft. thermometer showing how hot). the chart of the money we raised. how close we are. to our goal. for the christian children’s fund. it was him. there. in the lobby. our gray kneesocks. our twirling young bodies. touching us. 15 BeattyPGS:Layout 1 2/5/08 8:28 PM Page 15 ...