school lunch

The next chapters in the book Bird by Bird, were about shitty first drafts, perfectionism, and school lunches. I opened my memories to my school lunch experience. This is what I found there.

the lunch times I remember best are the ones in grade school. Must have been 4th through 6th grade. I had a Fintstones lunch box. It had a Thermos drink container in it that I remember breaking several times.

The lunch my mom made usually consisted of a sandwich in a baggie. The sandwich was peanut butter and apple jelly on Gardner's Softtwist bread. That was our local Wonder Bread brand. Along with the sandwich there was always a Twinkie and a bag of Frito's corn chips (I liked to get the Frito Bandito eraser inside the 6 pack boxes). Inside the Thermos there was usually white milk, maybe once in a great while some Chicken n Stars soup. Lastly she put in the napkin.

The lunch room was strange on its own. I remember it as being mostly whitish gray tiles with these windows on the south side of the wall that looked out onto a grassy part of the playground. If we got there early for lunch, the tables would still be folded up against the walls. They'd stretch them out and down like some big leg of a giant spider. Slowly extending. We'd have to sit on them to get them to fully lower and lock.

I remember the whitish grey Formica tops and bench seats. You'd have to angle your leg just right to get in, and if too many people were sitting there it was hard to get into the seat without making them lean over. I remember one girl in the lunch room particularly well. Her name was Rosalie Jones.

Rosalie was the girl that was teased mercilessly by everyone because she was dirty and smelled. But Rosalie was somewhat pretty behind her shabbily clad exterior. Her teeth were covered with whatever that yellow stuff is when you don't brush your teeth. Her skin had a brownish cast, but mostly because of the dirt. Her hair was matted and greasy. She smelled of pigs. And that is what she said to me, when I asked her; "Rosalie, why don't you get to shower?" and she replied; "We live on a pig farm, and we don't have indoor plumbing."

Turns out Rosalie lived on a farm somewhere with many sisters and brothers. They were poor as dirt. Rosalie did try. Her dresses were cute and she wore white anklets with lace around the top. She had pretty brown eyes that glowed when she smiled. But usually she just kept her head down and mumbled a little if people asked her something.

I saw Rosalie one time after high school, I'd long since moved from Sun Prairie and hadn't seen her since junior high. She was working behind the beauty counter at the OSCO store that used to be in East Towne Mall. She didn't smell anymore, she looked pretty happy. I asked her how she was doing and she said fine, she was going to school. I was so happy for her. I wonder where she is now.