Katie
was a lot bigger than me as well as most of the kids in our class and she
usually got what she wanted. The big
brat grabbed my sword and pulled with all her might. She put her back into it and tried to whip
the stick from me. I held on and she
swung me right up off the ground. I
slammed into the metal fence that surrounded the school yard. I bounced off and wound up flat on my back on
the ground with my skirt hiked up to the top of my legs. When I looked up, there he stood, Jimmy Bean,
a boy a year ahead of me in school.
He
stood before me with a smile on his face as I brushed down my skirt and scrambled
to my feet. His hair was almost red, but
more blonde. He was lovely. The sun behind him lit his golden curls and I
thought, “what a beautiful boy!”
“I’m
Jimmy Bean.” If he had said he was an angel I’d have believed him.
“You’re
who?” I asked, hoping he would say his
wonderful name again.
He
said nothing, but just kept smiling.
“Jimmy
Bean?” I finally said.
“I
am.” he said, now laughing. “And you’re
Mary Grace, my friend’s neighbor.”
“I
am?” I said.
“You
are,” said Jimmy Bean. He winked at me,
turned and walked away.
I
watched his square shoulders move across the playground as he joined a group of
boys who were looking my way and laughing.
But they stopped as Jimmy Bean came up to them and he assumed a position
in the middle of the group. He commanded
respect, I saw that. Something in his
eyes and bearing, just the way he moved his limbs, told you here was someone
who mattered. Katie saw it too when she
ran away at his approach. That’s what
Irene told me as we walked home from school.
“He
scared her away just by looking at her,” said Irene.
“He’s
not scary to me,” I said.
She
hugged herself. “Those green eyes of his
....”
“Jimmy
Bean rescued me, Irene,” I said. “He rescued me!”
“But
Mary, you’re too young to have a boyfriend.”
“Jimmy
said he’s your friend, Irene.”
”He’s
my brother Tommy’s friend,” she said.
