Window #14

The girl with the big, loop earrings never takes them off. Other girls wear earrings every day, but at least they change them. Jesse goes from her birthstone studs (Aquamarine) to ones with a cool, oval emerald, to our favorite that looks like a sun with a fake ruby in the center. Once the girl with the big, loop earrings let slip that she is afraid of taking them off. She said that if she does, she’ll lose one and become unbalanced. So Thomas brings a long stick on the bus with a hook duct taped to the end of it. As he reaches across the middle-rows, some of us have to dodge out of the way. We stifle our giggles and duck. He hooks the girl’s left earring and pulls. Of course, there’s blood. Jill even swears a torn piece of lobe lands on her. Thomas raises the earring high in the air. Some of the kids stand on their seats, trying to reach it. But Thomas holds it higher still, like a piñata. One kid dives over everyone trying to grab it, but misses and falls in the garbage on the floor. Another tries bribing Thomas, promising he’ll be picked first for smear-the-queer next time. Arguments break out over who deserves the prize. Bob and Jimmy start shoving each other, and a circle forms around them, chanting: fight, fight, fight.
“Stop!” the girl with one big, loop earring shouts. We stop. We turn. Her head doesn’t tilt to the side at all. What a disappointment. Totally balanced.