I’m sitting in the little room listening to the Talking Heads with the book in my hands. I’m afraid to open it, but already know what I’ll find inside. I’m already thinking of places to hide it so my mother won’t find it while I’m at school because I’m sure she’ll look.
Today when I came home from school the package with the book was waiting for me. My mother was all like, “This came for you today.” And I was like, “Thanks,” and snatched it away from her, heading for the basement and the little room. She didn’t dare ask what it was, though I know she was dying to. That’s why I have to figure out what to do with it while I’m at school.
I suppose I could take it with me and keep it in my locker or carry it around with my books, but then the risk of someone seeing it and looking inside would be too great. I would be absolutely horrified if anyone I knew saw it. I still can’t believe I entered that stupid contest after Mr. Walls, my creative writing teacher suggested it. And then that I won a prize for that awful poem I wrote. I can’t even look at it now. I mean, I wrote it over a year ago. It sucks and now it’s forever in this book of whiny teen poetry from around the world that I wish didn’t exist. But I’m definitely cashing the $25 cheque.\
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Image: David Byrne and Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads, MTV: Who’s Who in Rock Video, Zomba Books, 1983.
Welcome to the Little Room is a series of 250-word re-imagined vignettes from my ’80s youth with a focus on music and style. It appears weekly on periodicult.com.
