Swan Song for an Ugly Duckling by Michael Murphy

Author:Michael Murphy [Murphy, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

THE FOLLOWING morning Aaron woke extra early. He wasn’t sure if he’d actually been able to sleep. He thought he had, but he wasn’t entirely sure. His pain must have been reduced, but it certainly didn’t feel that way when he moved. His father’s house had no mirrors, so he couldn’t check to see how his backside looked. He simply grabbed his only other shirt, pulled it on, buttoned it, slipped his jacket on over his shirt, grabbed his hat, and left the house.

He completed his milk chore on autopilot that day, delivering the buckets silently to their destination. Without pausing to eat anything, Aaron grabbed his two textbooks and left the house to start the long walk into town. It was impossible to move in such a way that the pain of the beating wasn’t rekindled with every step. But he walked, knowing that sitting to ride would be ten times worse.

It took him longer than usual, but he made it into town. His first stop was Josh’s house, where he left two notes, one stuck in the front door and one stuck under the driver’s side windshield wiper, each telling him that he didn’t need to pick up Aaron that morning because he’d gotten an early start and had gone on to school on his own. He didn’t explain anything beyond that.

School started as usual with classes and homework and people panicked over tests and people bored with classes and looking for trouble. Aaron was in his own little world, just him and his pain. He heard voices, he heard activity around him, but that was all secondary to the pain. He sat in his first-period class but didn’t open his notebook, didn’t make a single mark, and couldn’t have told anyone who asked what the teacher had said.

The same was true in his second-period class. His third-period class was gym. He’d deliberately arrived late for the class, knowing that everyone else would be changed and on the gym floor by then. Moving slowly, he changed out of his black and white street clothes into his long gym shorts and T-shirt. He hobbled from the locker room to the adjoining gymnasium and tried to integrate himself into the basketball game already in progress.

During gym class, Aaron was usually very active and not a half-bad athlete. Once he knew the rules of a game, he remembered them and played relatively well. But that day he was just not able to do it. He moved awkwardly, none of his moves worked, and he was pissing off the other guys on his team. A lot of guys got really competitive about their games and hated anything that dragged them down from where they wanted to be, which was always on top.

After class Aaron hurried—to the best of his ability—to the locker room to change. He’d noticed that Josh was talking with someone else, so he wanted to move quickly to change so Josh wouldn’t see. It pained him to miss his

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