The Boy in the Park by A. J. Grayson

Author:A. J. Grayson [Grayson, A. J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Thriller
Goodreads: 34697608
Publisher: HarperImpulse
Published: 2017-05-07T23:00:00+00:00

THE SCHOOLYARD, 1975

41

At School – Two Months Later

Of all the spots in the world that involve other people, school is one place where Tom feels truly happy. Lee Kragan Elementary is for big boys, and he’s been promoted into the First Grade a full year early, which means he’s bigger than he sometimes thinks. Not size-big, but brains-big. And Mrs Curtis always makes him feel like he’s earned his place in her classroom with the twenty-three other children, all of whom are a solid year older than Tom. ‘You wouldn’t be here if this wasn’t the spot for you, bright and clever as you are,’ she said on his first day in her class, and she’d repeated it more than once since. Mrs Curtis is the kind of teacher who likes to say nice things, and does it effortlessly.

Tom wears his overalls almost every day. It would be absolutely every day without exception if he could, but they had to be washed every so often. Mother was pretty insistent on that. So once a week, or sometimes twice, depending on the intensity of play, he’d appear in jeans and a T-shirt. He felt like a different boy when he had to dress in those old things. But it was only ever a temporary measure. He’d always be back in the overalls the next day.

This insistence on his favourite outfit isn’t, however, helping fend off the accusations of some of the older boys who like to tease him for being poor. Before, they’d taunt him for not having a better family car, or for the holes in his jeans. Now it’s for his new outfit. Tom considers overalls to be the epitome of class, style and function. They’re the perfect attire: they’re not like trousers that fall down when you’re too active or require a belt. They can be worn with or without a shirt. They’re quick on and quick off. And you can even go through growth spurts – he gets those now and then – and they still fit, since they’re supposed to be a little baggy and loose. Perfect.

But some of the boys call them ‘country crap’ – employing a word Tom thinks they really shouldn’t use – and like to tease him, especially since he wears them so often. ‘Only set of clothes you got, eh, poor boy?’ they would say. ‘Can’t afford anything else, poor boy?’ And then on the days the overalls were in the wash and he’d wear jeans, ‘What’s wrong, poor boy? Your country crap outfit go missing? Wouldn’t think it’d be hard to find one set of clothes in a house that ain’t got nothin’ else in it.’

The boys might be mean, but they were also inconsistent. They teased him when he wore his overalls, and they teased him when he didn’t. Tom felt like they should pick one or the other.

On one occasion, a few days after Christmas when this was all first starting, the taunts bothered him and Tom went home crying.

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