My friend Bridget was a beautiful little girl. Dark naturally curly hair, dark complexion and beautiful blue eyes. She never seemed to have an awkward stage. I had huge eyes that dominated my face, big mouth with big teeth. Even my baby teeth were big. I grew in odd spurts. Long legs, xylophone ribs, stick straight hair and pale skin. The first time I was measured for a dance costume my measurements were 12, 12, 12.
There is a picture of Bridget and me in our dance recital costumes. This is the childhood equivalent of a prom dress. My dad took the photo I remember it well. He wasn't in the mood to put up with little giggling girls but mother wanted a picture. Dad would take one picture, period. Bridget and I are wearing our pink leotards and sparkly tutus. We are standing in the opening position of our dance. Third position, arms crossed across chest. Bridget looks like a little porcelain doll. A modern day Hummel figure. I look like a DeSoto with front end damage.
At my house mother and I spent my pre-kindergarten days doing what I thought everyone mother and child did. Exercise with Jack LaLane, watch Queen For A Day, eat lunch and listen to Paul Harvery, (pause...page two. This is for people who might remember his broadcast). Mother ironed everything, all of our clothes, dad's boxer shorts and all of our sheets and towels. This was my time to play in the back yard on the swings or get lost in my own daydreams of awesomeness. I sang little songs and choreographed dances waiting to be discovered. At Bridget's house she and her mother would cut out a pattern, sew an outfit, bake cookies, work with modeling clay or some other craft product, cook dinner, clean the house and have a new room built by the time daddy came home.
Our neighborhood had no library but a book mobile that parked in the lot of our grocery store every other Wednesday. Bridget would get as many books as she could carry and devour them. I had two or three books I loved that I would check out over and over. Bridget and I played "pretend" a lot. In her scenarios we were private detectives looking for corruption and juvenile delinquents in our neighborhood. This was based on her love of Nancy Drew. My little pretend stories were about building a house made out of candy then growing up to be the most famous, beautiful, talented women on earth. This was based on my love of candy and the knowledge I was gifted.
One late night I woke up after a nightmare. I tiptoed down the hall to see if my parents were still up. If so I could sit with them for a little while if not then rule number one applied. Do not wake up dad. I heard voices as I was in the hall. "I don't think Lillybelle and Bridget should be in the same kindergarten class", said mother. "Why is that a problem?", dad asked. "You know", she said, "Bridget is just much more advanced and talented. I don't want Lillybelle to start school already inferior". "You know, Dorothy, she is going to have to understand that some people are more gifted and some more mediocre".
I went back to bed with no memory of the nightmare. I didn't know what mediocre meant but I could tell it wasn't good. Kindergarten was something I dreaded. "Please, God, don't make me go to kindergarten where I will be inferior".
Our elementary school had 4 kindergarten classes, two in the morning and two in the afternoon. We had two classrooms with a cloakroom between them. The classes shared the cloak room, each child with his own coat hook and little cubby. Since 2 children a day used the cloakroom the spaces assigned for each child were designated by a picture of a fish instead of a name. There was a whale, an octopus, starfish, seahorse, sand dollar, neon, goldfish, etc. Bridget and I both got morning kindergarten but in different classes. In the cloakroom Bridget was assigned the cubby and coat hook with the angel fish. I was the flounder.
When Barbie was introduced by Mattel our pretend games became all about Barbie. We built little sets with whatever we could find and had our Barbies and Kens change clothes at least six times during each pretend scene. Mine would be centered around Barbie being talented and beautiful and Ken being her equal. They would marry, of course, have beautiful gifted children. The End.
Bridget would start her turn of pretend with: It is 1939. Barbie is Amelia Earhart"s best friend. Amelia is giving Barbie flying lessons that are interrupted by Amelia's solo flight over the Atlantic. When Amelia is lost in this tragic scene, Barbie sets her mind to get her pilots license and find her. She starts taking lessons from Ken. They fall in love and since they are both geniuses they develop a new airplane wing with a sleeker airfoil to improve lift over the ocean. Ken and Barbie marry, sell their design to the commercial airline industry, make a million dollars and start a charitable foundation for the starving children in Europe because the Marshall plan is insufficient.
Hmmm, time to find out what mediocre means.
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