I was very, very shy in grammar school. Our school had essentially three playgrounds, one for the younger kids, one for the older girls (5th-8th grade) and one across the street for the 5th-8th grade boys. We had nothing like swings or slides or hoops for basketball...just the ground.
I always brought a book with me when it was time for recess and there was a box of some sort--probably covering some sort of machine, off in a corner, where I could sit and read while everyone else was playing. Sometimes the nuns would make me get down and play.
I was the kid they always chose last when picking a team and I was terrible at most of the games.
I was a year younger than everyone else, since I started kindergarten a year early (because my friend Stephen was starting kindergarten and the nuns agreed I could start with him, but would have to repeat kindergarten...and then I guess I was so good at coloring they let me move on to first grade after one year).
When we started to mature, I remember being surrounded by girls at recess, each reaching under my blouse to see if I had breasts, which they all did, but I didn't because I was a year younger. That still embarrasses me to think of it.
One of the things I loved doing -- and this is very weird. Our playground backed up to the church and the bricks of the church were such that if I had a bobby pin I could pick at them and remove a small piece of the brick. I did that a lot. The nuns were happy I wasn't reading, and I was happy not having to play games with the other kids.
I was a weird kid in grammar school. Fortunately, I was much better by the time I got to high school.
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