Love Hurts

October 4, 2007

By Sarah Glover
Age 10 at the time

Mark Grady disfigured my back for life. Mark Grady. Even after thirty-odd years, the name still makes me cringe in agony. Mark Grady -- a sadist, a scoundrel and a bully. I loved him. Desperately.

Fifth grade. For me boys were nothing but chimps with less fur. Dirty nails. Dirty necks. No redeemable qualities. Except for Mark Grady, curse his lanky, green-eyed soul.

It all started innocently in Mrs. Cotoia's class.

"Should men learn how to cook and clean?" she asked. Mrs. Cotoia was a feminist. She wore cool bell bottoms and hoop earrings. She looked like she should have a theme song.

We wide-eyed girls nodded rapidly.

The boys grumbled -- the few that were paying attention at all. Except Mark Grady. He held up his hand. His clean, sculptured hand connected to his white oxford-shirted arm which led to his perfect shoulders. He smiled. I felt my heart move to my throat and beat so loudly I thought it might pop out onto my desk and lay there quivering its way to him in a frantic slimy trail. Bump, bump. Lurch. Bump, bump. Lurch.

"Mrs. Cotoia," he said wistfully. "Women are supposed to take care of men. I mean, I don't see why we need to do that when it's not our job. That's what my dad says."

My teacher's lips pursed so, her face appeared inside out. His face remained angelic. I imagined a room full of aunts squeezing that face till it turned blue.

"Are you crazy?" I shouted, coming to the aid of my teacher, intent to strike a blow for women everywhere. "Who'd want to take care of you? You better learn how to cook or else you're going to starve and your house is going pile up with junk and nobody's gonna clean it. You think we're on this earth just to serve you?" My face burned and fire filled my eyes. Mrs. Cotoia beamed. Mark Grady's hand descended, his eyes narrowing. Recess was only a breath away. Vengeance simmered in his stare.

Outside on the playground, I grabbed my best friend, Elise's hand, determined to move as far from my enemy as possible. The swings seemed the safest bet. They would offer visibility and a quick method of escape if necessary. Elise took the seat next to me and I adjusted my wrap-skirt. We pumped our legs in unison until we were soaring high up into the sky. The wind felt good on my bare legs. I watched it blow the dirt and rocks below our feet into swirling clumps.

"You know," shouted Elise, "You're probably in love."

"What?"

"With Mark Grady. Even with the yelling - the way you drool over him in class. It's love. Definitely. Right?"

"Shhhhh!" I pumped my legs a few more times to calm my frantic heart. Within minutes, I had confessed to her the deepest and most passionate secrets of my heart.

Then I heard laughing. I looked up. Mark Grady was leaning against the school, laughing. He had heard everything. I just knew it! Mortification flooded my veins. I slung low in the swing to hide my face from his sight. I slipped backwards; the swing caught my knees as I cringed with horror.

"Please, please God, don't let him have heard!"

On the downswing, the entire length of my back raked across the dirt and rocks below tearing the flesh down my spine like a giant cheese grater. My skirt flung up over my head exposing my bottom. The pain that stabbed like knives through my skin was nothing compared to the horror of having my underwear on display for the world to see. The world and Mark Grady. I screamed. The entire playground turned. I couldn't right myself. I flailed like a beached whale. My back scraped across the rocks again. I roared. Somehow, I flung my body over my knees and landed with a crash onto the dirt, skinning my hands and knees.

In the blur of the next few moments, a crowd of eager students, thrilled at the sight of that much blood, surrounded me. I was sobbing now, big gooey globs of snot and tears smeared with the dirt on my knees.

"What happened? What happened?" yelled Mrs. Cotoia's voice. She kneeled down next to me. "Jesus, Mary and Joseph!"

Her tone made me howl. Girls cringed in wide-eyed alarm. Boys sniggered. Elise was hyperventilating.

Mrs. Cotoia composed herself and tried to gather me in her arms. "What happened? Did you fall?"

I was crying too much to answer. My pigtails were glued to my cheeks.

"What happened?" Mrs. Cotoia repeated sternly.

"It's not her fault," cried Elise in my defense. "She wants Mark Grady to kiss her and marry her and have babies with her and doesn't want him to know so she fell back on her swing so he wouldn't see her face then her back scraped against the rocks and that's why she's bleeding!"

A scandalous hush blanketed the playground. My life was over. I could fall into the blood and snot-filled dirt and curl up and die. They could put flowers over my body where other ostracized children could come and pay their respects, like some Lourdes for losers.

Eventually, bodies drifted away, giggling and sniggering. Mrs. Cotoia lifted me in her arms. "We need to get you to the nurse," she whispered. My back burned with each step as we trudged the long stretch back to school alone.

"There is one thing you need to know."

I looked up into her kind eyes, wiping my nose with my arm. "What?"

I followed her gaze to where Mark Grady sat with his friends on a picnic table tossing a softball into the air and roaring in laughter.

"Scars can happen anywhere. Inside and out. And both can hurt."

My back stung terribly as I watched him sit there, smug and cruel. I sniffed. "You're wrong. The scars on the inside hurt . . . more."

Posted by Shan & Jen at 12:01 AM  

10 comments:

No less than I expected from a gifted writer and my friend!! Anne

Anonymous said...
4/10/07 2:08 PM  

I love your story! ...and such an eloquent recollection. I thought stuff like that only happened to me! I still have the scars on my knees and elbows to show for it (thirty years later, no less). How reaffirming to know that I’m not the only one for whom “Love Hurts”. LOL!!!
Arisa

Anonymous said...
4/10/07 2:14 PM  

Your writing never fails to create such amazing imagery. I was immediately transported back to such an awkward time in a child's life. It didn't matter this happened before my time; it's timeless. Well done!

Liz

Anonymous said...
4/10/07 2:40 PM  

There is so much that take away from this offering, which is small text wise compared to what we've read before.

You've provided such a great comparison of the different types of pain we can experience and give the appropriate value to that which can leave marks far deeper than scars. The kind that can effect those who come into our lives or how we treat others.

Thank GOD, some things from our adolescence are easily forgotten once we realize that some people didn't really deserve the feelings we felt for them. Not to mention that a pint of Ben & Jerry's has pain relieving properties. =)

I do so enjoy your writing.

~Sean

Anonymous said...
4/10/07 4:01 PM  

Can't stop giggling to leqve a proper comment *snigger*

CHK

Anonymous said...
4/10/07 4:31 PM  

What a wonderfully told story! It makes me ache for your young self, but it was an engaging read.
iris

Anonymous said...
4/10/07 6:05 PM  

Your writing stands above all others. The fact that you can have me pumping my fist in the air in support of all independent woman, to cringing in mortification along with your younger self, to laughing uproariously with the hysterical images that you paint with words, to having sympathetic pains shoot down my back, is just testimony to how you can pull your reader into these marvelous worlds that you create with your writing. Fantastic job!--"T"

Unknown said...
4/10/07 7:38 PM  

You are the bestest. When I read your piece, and then, I read Tammy's comment I said to myself: "self....it is not about baring one's soul like a half chewed lollipop, putting out there in the world some past injuries, it is all about how witty you are with words... let's have junior high start all over again"
So I took out I my leg warmers, cultivated my acne and insecurities and marched out like a cow pie with a bow.

Anonymous said...
5/10/07 8:02 PM  

Hi hwimsey!

Superb writing as usual! Your imagery gave me a vivid picture of the scene! I expected no less from the author of 'Coven'! Hope the novel is going well!

-But3rcupbaby

Anonymous said...
6/10/07 3:29 PM  

Wonderful, horrifying story. "Lourdes for losers" is a phrase I don't think I can forget.

21/10/07 1:41 PM  

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