In kindergarten, I was told I needed a role model. Actually everyone in Mrs. Snodgrass's class was told of the express need to choose a role model before we got old, like seven years old. Grady O'Brien wanted to be a fireman like his uncle Pat. Rhoda Van Ness wanted to be a pastry chef like her mom. Candy Peterson wanted to be a bride, so she could always be beautiful and everyone would have to be nice to her all of the time.
Everyone had a real person they wanted to resemble. Well, maybe Candy didn't, but everyone else did.
Except for me.
I wanted to be like Doctor Doolittle and talk to all of the animals. He knew when they were happy or sad. He could make them well and knew the desires of their hearts. When I was told it was make believe, the whole class laughed at me. How could someone so magical be pretend?
I cried for days.
I refused to go to school for two weeks. My refusal did little to stop my mother from bundling me up and walking me to school. She made note of my protest
During my darkest time, I talked to no one. Except for my stuffed, pink bunny, Ralph. Ralph had been with me through everything; wanting a baby brother and getting him. Not wanting a sister and getting one of them. Learning how to ride a two wheeled bike. Learning my letters. He even waited at the edge of the pool when I took swimming lessons.
Ralph and I could do anything our hearts desired. There was nothing we couldn't do together. A letter went home my first day of school, Mrs. Snodgrass didn't think Ralph should go with me every day, thought he was better saved to play with at home.
Mom and I talked about it and after asking Ralph's permission, cut a small corner of his left ear and attached it to my pants' pocket with a safety pin. No one but the three of us would ever know and Ralph still got to be a secret part of my adventures.
So after three months of school and four tortuous days of taunting by the other kids, my mom took Ralph and me to McDonald's to play on their slide. We three came to a decision about Doctor Doolittle; I could still become my own version of him. I probably wouldn't live my life on an island with exotic animals. Probably I would never hear them speak. But I could learn to love them, respect them, and heal them.
tbc.
