Kid A

This is an observation of Kid A

Kid A opens its eyes and is blinded by the morning light. He gets out of bed and walks to the kitchen. Kid A's Mother and Father rush around the room, preparing for work. Kid A goes unnoticed as he watches its parents gather papers and such. Kid A asks about breakfast but isn't heard as the front door slams shut. Kid A is left to prepare for the day ahead. He opens a lower cabbinet to retrive a box of cold cereal. Leaving the cabbinet door open, he walks to the refridgerator to retrive a half gallon carton of milk. He brings both items with him to the table and places them inches away from the edge. He goes to a drawer next to the stove to get a spoon. His arm accidently touches the stove and he gets burn.

Kid A screaches. He grabs for the burn. Tears pour down his face. He screams louder as his hand touches the forming blister. He grabs a chair. The chair's leg hits the table's leg. The cereal box falls of the table. Cereal scatters across the floor. Kid A places the chair in front of the sink. He runs the cold water. He puts his burn under the water. He cringes and whimpers.

The room is a mess. Its almost time for the bus to come. Kid A runs to his bedroom. He takes off his pajama pants. He grabs a pair of jeans and pulls them on. He puts on a pair of sneakers. He runs to the kitchen and grabs a few cookies. He eats them. He goes to the door. He gets his backpack.

A honk is heard from the driveway. Kid A runs to the bus. He boards the bus and sits in the first seat. He shivers. He didn't grab a jacket on his way out. A child from the back of the bus throws a paper airplane. It hits Kid A in the head. He turns around. The children in the back of the bus giggle. A tear rolls down Kid A's face. The laughter swells.

The bus arives at school. Kid A is last off the bus. The children line up in front of the teacher. She counts the children, then leads them to the classroom. She counts the children again then lets them play. The children disperse amongst the room. Kid A goes to the table. The table is strewn with blank construction paper and boxes of crayons. He sits in a red chair. He grabs a black crayon. He draws a person screaming with their arm touching a stove.

The teacher walks over to the table. Kid A grabs another sheet of paper and places it over the first drawing. He begins drawing a flower. She smiles, then gasps. She demands that Kid A shows his arm to her. He holds up his arm and cringes. She gently touches the burn. Kid A yelps and withdraws his arm. She crouches down to Kid A's level and says "I'm going to call the nurse and she's going to come down and help you with that burn, okay?"

Kid A nods in response. The teacher walks to the class telephone. It is on her desk. Kid A takes his drawing of the flower and drops it into the trash bin. He takes his first picture and puts it face down in his cubby. He goes to the table, takes a few more sheets of paper, then puts them over the picture. He goes to the table again and sits untill the nurse comes.

The nurse comes in and smiles at Kid A. Kid A halfway smiles at her back as she takes his hand and leads him to the hallway. She brings him to her office. "Where is your burn?" She asks. Kid A holds out his arm. The nurse gasps. "Do your parents know about this?"

Kid A's face goes red. "No," he says.

"I'll have to call them and tell them to make you a doctors appointment right away. That is a very bad burn," the nurse says. Kid A's jaw drops.

Tears stream down his face as he says "Please don't tell Mother or Father. They will yell at me."

"Why is that, dear?" Kid A wails. The nurse shushes.

Kid A takes a deep breath. "They don't like it when they have to spend money on me."

The nurse sighs. She goes to the cabbinet and grabs a small tube. "This will sting a little bit. Hold still." She takes a cotton ball out of a jar and puts a little cream from the tube onto it. She rubs it onto Kid A's arm. Kid A whimpers. Once the cream is applied, he is sent back to class.

Kid A walks back to the class room. The rest of the class is at snack time. He sits at the boys table. Kid A sits at the only seat with a set of untouched snacks. He devours the celery and peanut butter. Another young boy looks at Kid A. The boy smirks and says "Hey, where were you, the retard class? Everyone knows your a retard. Right?"

The rest of the boys join in. They point at Kid A and giggle. Tears pour down Kid A's face. "I'm not stuipid. I'm smarter then you. You can't even write your name." The other child gets quiet.

"Well at least I'm not a faggot butt." The rest of the children giggle again.

The teacher comes over and asks "Hey, whats so funny?"

The child points at Kid A and says "He's a retard faggot butt!"

Kid A crys as the teacher tells the other child to go to the corner, and that its quiet time for everbody else. She goes over to Kid A and tries to calm him. She tries but nothing works. She calls Kid A's mother to take him home.

In a half hour, Kid A's mother shows up. She walks into the classroom and grabs Kid A's wrist. He stumbles as his mother strides to the teacher with his arm still in hand. He cringes, not making a sound. His mother is gripping the burn.

The teacher gasps then tells Kid A to get his jacket. Mother and Teacher talk about Kid A while he gets his jacket.

When Kid A Returns, his mother grabs his hand and leads him out of the room at his pace. She leads him to the car, which is parked in the fire lane. He sits in the front seat. His mother goes to the drivers side. She begins to scream about having to leave work to get him all for one little burn. Kid A sobs, no tears come. His mother screams about the sobbing. Kid A screams. She raises her hand...

The teacher realizes that Kid A didn't go to his cubby. She thinks about it and realizes he never really takes things out of his cubby. She goes and removes the box. its full of what seems to be blank paper. She flips over the paper and gasps. Its a crudley drawn picture of a child getting their arm burnt on a stove. She picks up another picture. Its a picture of a woman that resembles his mother. She has a red and gray can in her hand. The budweiser colors. The next picture is of a child being hit. Teacher shrugs.

The story stops here. What happens to Kid A isn't important. Its the fact that Kid A is everywhere. In every town, every city, Kid A is there.