| OCR Text |
Show Why We Cry Butch and Fenn Stories 138 film was about, and I remember walking home with Fenn that I felt hurt and kind of sad that we'd been dealt with unfairly. Something was going on and no one would tell us what it was. Mrs. Talbot had been our teacher all year and then they show a film; and without a word to us, she and all the girls go into the auditorium leaving us with Mr. D., the fool. And now, my mother is leaving pamphlets on my bureau. Next, I can already see it: she'll start leaving whole books and stacks of books, it's all not quite working. Well, I've touched the pamphlet, moved it, and I snap on my undershorts and go back to it. Understanding Puberty. It could be a travel brochure. Inside I see the diagram of the male reproductive organs. It all looks a lot like Florida, the capital of which is Tallahassee. Two pages later are the female reproductive organs, the side view, internal. It looks like nothing, like lines. I try to imagine Linda Aikens or Carol Wilkes with one of these. And the truth is: my imagination won't work. If I saw some girl naked and she looked like this I would scream and tear my eyes out. No wonder sex is such a big secret: it's brutal. And this is just the puberty part. A couple of pages later there is the bold print phrase: "adolescents are torn by the violent distractions of puberty..." As I'm looking at it, my mother yells down the stairs to me: "Larry, don't be late!" I drop the pamphlet again as my heart explodes and my face heats up. She knows I'm down here reading this dirty pamphlet! |
