60% Chance of Rain:

Jim invited me into the Too Cool for School Gang. There was nothing big about it, really. He just said I could hang out with them. Now, your grandfather said that, but his little buddies? Well… There were still some issues.

One of which was race. The Gang was black and I was just a little white girl. So most of them didn’t want me there. Again, this was different times, Frida. Anyway, they would just ignore me. Some would even take cheap cracks at me. Looking to your grandfather for help was rather pointless. He would just laugh right along with them. On, that goofy grin of his made me want to hurt him so much! Ooo! But, he would try to make up for it with cute little gifts.

Still, I was determined to be one of the gang. Why? I couldn’t go back to that fake, popular world I lived in. I belonged with the Too Cool for School Gang. I just had to make them see that. So, I started to pull my weight together. But first, I needed a guidance.

“Baby,” I complained to Jim one day. “How can I get the guys to like me?” I heard that boy snickering at me. I turned from the window at him. I made a face at him.

“What are you laughing at me for now?” I asked. Jim smirked at me with his cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

“First of all, baby, don’t twist your pretty little face up like that,” he said. “You look like a mud carp when you do that.” I deepened my frown.

“Watch it, mister!” I hissed. Jim quickly put up his hands.

“Okay, okay,” he brushed off. “Anyway, that’s never going to happen with those guys.” I began to look like a disappointed little girl at Christmastime.

“What?” I asked. Your grandfather shook his head at me.

“Sorry,” he said.

“B-But why?” I whimpered. Your grandfather shrugged at me.

“You know what you are, right?”

“Yeah…”

“And you know what they are, right?”

“Well, yeah so?”

“Think about it.”

Oh, I did and didn’t enjoy it one bit! I began frowning again.

“That ain’t right!” I yelled.

“Sorry,” your grandfather said. I puffed up my cheeks as well. “Oh, that’s how it is, huh?” I thought. “I’ll show you! A white girl cane hang out with the boys! You watch!”

So began my mission to prove could hang out with the Too Cool for School Gang. Why did I do it? Hard to say exactly now. I could give you many reasons; none of which would be right. To impress your grandfather? No, it would take a whole hell of a lot to impress him than to hang out with his friends. No, there was something deeper than that. What that was, I can’t remember anymore. But, I was determined to prove my worth to the Gang. Pretty stupid, I know. But, I didn’t care. That type of thinking fueled the unseen wreck within your grandfather. But yet, it wasn’t the source. Oh no! That’s coming later.

Back to the current story…

1984