Immaculate Heart of Mary

Jimmy 14

Summer was over.  This would be, he knew, the last long lazy summer that ended when Nature said it ended.  Henceforth, Summer would be stolen, dragged to the underworld like some playful Persephone by that wicked crone called School, that stifling winter of the child’s life.

Jimmy was a big boy now—so he was told.  He would be going to school, to first grade, walking on his own!

This was fine with him.  As he would be put together with a bunch of kids his age, being the only one walked to school by a Mommy would make him a target, would demonstrate his soft nature and invite cruelty.