Leonard as a boy - a pack of lies
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 6:43 pm
I am going to write a story about something that happened to Leonard when he was a little boy. None of it is true. I never knew Leonard as a young boy, nor anyone who did. I haven't talked to anyone who would have described any of these events. Nor will I be telling about anything that happened to me personally. So it is all fiction, well maybe not all fiction; he probably was at one time a little boy.
The Story - Leonard as a boy
Once upon a time, when Leonard was 8 years old he was attending a school in Montreal that had it's own once upon a time when Catholics and Jews went to the same school.
Anyway Christmas time came and as part of the way to celebrate, presents were given from child to child by way of names chosen from a hat. Tim had picked Heather's name. Every boy in the class, including Leonard, wanted to get Heather's name but when the day arrived everyone learned that it was Tim. Tim was a bit odd and not very popular.
Leonard was one of the people watching as Tim handed Heather her present. Everybody knew that Tim especially liked Heather, except Heather who just knew that all the boys liked her. Tim was very poor and unlike the other children did not have the kind of parents who would buy a present for him to give. This was a very big moment for him that he didn't want to have pass by and so when Heather unwrapped the present she saw that he had given her the best thing that he had to give which was a small tray of used water color paints. I mean she saw the paints but what she was really seeing was that she wasn't going to be getting the very best present in the class which she thought was her due since she was the most beautiful.
Tears came to her eyes and she threw the paint set back at Tim and ran from the room. She ran past Leonard on her way out and he thought that somewhere in all this there might be an opportunity to win some favor with Heather. Leonard didn't really know what to do, going after her would be showing too much of his hand so he stayed sitting and turned his attention toward Tim.
Tim was sitting on the floor with some marks of the various water colors on his person but that was hardly an issue because what was more noticeable was that he was starting to shake and Leonard could see that Tim was about to lose a very big battle to crying. The battle was lost and Tim started crying and was also still shaking. He was never going to be able to forgive himself for hurting Heather like that and he cried and he trembled.
Leonard found himself deeply moved by the scene and somehow wished he could do something and felt that something was required of him. He wanted to go over to Tim and find a way to help him but he also felt frozen. Who wasn't frozen was a girl that was sitting beside him and she rushed over to Tim and put her arms around him and held him tight until he stopped shaking and eventually stopped crying. She looked clumsy and awkward doing it but she did it. Her name was Bernadette.
Bernadette got a lot of teasing for what she did, including some teasing from Leonard but she seemed to take it all in her awkward gracious way. For a long time there were calls of "Bernadette loves Tim" and stuff like that. Leonard never got to know her very well but from then on he always felt that he liked her although she wasn't his kind of girl. They did spend a bit of time talking the next year which was the year his dad died and it was during this time she told him how she said the Rosary every day. He did have his mind on other parts of her body when she showed him the religious medals she had hanging from a chain around her neck, but nothing ever came of that.
Many, many years later when he was riding the Paris metro at a part where it rose above ground he had looked out the window and seen a man at the end of the station platform who was crying and shaking and all of a sudden he remembered Tim and Heather and Bernadette. As the train left the station he saw a woman walking toward the man but never got to see if she was there for him and he had to let go of trying to watch. What he didn't let go of though was that memory of the way Bernadette had held Tim and he rushed back to his hotel room and wrote a song called "Song For Bernadette" which some very lovely women have been singing ever since including Barbara Dickson
She can be heard at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVRD1xtLQ0s
The little girl at the beginning of the video reminds me of someone.
Anyway that is my story of lies. If you hate it please don't hate me because it just came to my mind and my mind seems to have a mind of it's own and doesn't mind telling these lies.
The Story - Leonard as a boy
Once upon a time, when Leonard was 8 years old he was attending a school in Montreal that had it's own once upon a time when Catholics and Jews went to the same school.
Anyway Christmas time came and as part of the way to celebrate, presents were given from child to child by way of names chosen from a hat. Tim had picked Heather's name. Every boy in the class, including Leonard, wanted to get Heather's name but when the day arrived everyone learned that it was Tim. Tim was a bit odd and not very popular.
Leonard was one of the people watching as Tim handed Heather her present. Everybody knew that Tim especially liked Heather, except Heather who just knew that all the boys liked her. Tim was very poor and unlike the other children did not have the kind of parents who would buy a present for him to give. This was a very big moment for him that he didn't want to have pass by and so when Heather unwrapped the present she saw that he had given her the best thing that he had to give which was a small tray of used water color paints. I mean she saw the paints but what she was really seeing was that she wasn't going to be getting the very best present in the class which she thought was her due since she was the most beautiful.
Tears came to her eyes and she threw the paint set back at Tim and ran from the room. She ran past Leonard on her way out and he thought that somewhere in all this there might be an opportunity to win some favor with Heather. Leonard didn't really know what to do, going after her would be showing too much of his hand so he stayed sitting and turned his attention toward Tim.
Tim was sitting on the floor with some marks of the various water colors on his person but that was hardly an issue because what was more noticeable was that he was starting to shake and Leonard could see that Tim was about to lose a very big battle to crying. The battle was lost and Tim started crying and was also still shaking. He was never going to be able to forgive himself for hurting Heather like that and he cried and he trembled.
Leonard found himself deeply moved by the scene and somehow wished he could do something and felt that something was required of him. He wanted to go over to Tim and find a way to help him but he also felt frozen. Who wasn't frozen was a girl that was sitting beside him and she rushed over to Tim and put her arms around him and held him tight until he stopped shaking and eventually stopped crying. She looked clumsy and awkward doing it but she did it. Her name was Bernadette.
Bernadette got a lot of teasing for what she did, including some teasing from Leonard but she seemed to take it all in her awkward gracious way. For a long time there were calls of "Bernadette loves Tim" and stuff like that. Leonard never got to know her very well but from then on he always felt that he liked her although she wasn't his kind of girl. They did spend a bit of time talking the next year which was the year his dad died and it was during this time she told him how she said the Rosary every day. He did have his mind on other parts of her body when she showed him the religious medals she had hanging from a chain around her neck, but nothing ever came of that.
Many, many years later when he was riding the Paris metro at a part where it rose above ground he had looked out the window and seen a man at the end of the station platform who was crying and shaking and all of a sudden he remembered Tim and Heather and Bernadette. As the train left the station he saw a woman walking toward the man but never got to see if she was there for him and he had to let go of trying to watch. What he didn't let go of though was that memory of the way Bernadette had held Tim and he rushed back to his hotel room and wrote a song called "Song For Bernadette" which some very lovely women have been singing ever since including Barbara Dickson
She can be heard at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVRD1xtLQ0s
The little girl at the beginning of the video reminds me of someone.
Anyway that is my story of lies. If you hate it please don't hate me because it just came to my mind and my mind seems to have a mind of it's own and doesn't mind telling these lies.
