LEO

Free yourself of rules today. Free yourself of your responsibilities. They can only lead to trouble.



Truant

The little girl was Asian. She was reading a book. Just the bright white tips of her red Converse All Stars reached the floor of the subway car. Gus leaned forward a bit in his seat and tried to see what she was reading. It was a hard cover book, red, almost the same color as her All Stars. He couldn't get a look at the title.

Gus suddenly felt self-conscious, realizing he was craning forward, looking at a ten year-old girl on the uptown C train. He knew he wasn't a pedophile or anything, but it's not a thought you want stirring awake sleepy-eyed commuters. He sat back and looked up at the ads begging for attention above the blackness of the train windows. He wasn't really reading them. Gus was trying to figure out what it was about this little girl that had struck him. What had made his stomach drop with nervousness and angst.

Glancing around the train, Gus leaned forward and briefly looked at his shoes, inconspicuously looking to his left to watch the girl. Her olive skin was without blemish. Was that it? Was he taken with her beauty? It wasn't the beauty of a beautiful woman, but more the beauty of a perfect blue sky or a brand new TV. She didn't seem to have a single blemish, as if her skin was yet untouched by the fray. She wore glasses with light brown rims. They were one size too big.

Gus again realized he was staring. Again he sat back and glanced around at the people on the train car. None seemed to notice, yet, his infatuation. Unable to resist, he leaned forward and slowly worked his glance back to her. Why was he looking at this girl? For the life of him he couldn't put his finger on what it was that made him want to study her.

Then it hit him. It was 5 minutes past 10 O'Clock on a Tuesday morning. Why wasn't she in school? Why was she alone? A hundred thoughts hit Gus at once. He imagined the story of a wonderful little girl, ignored by an over worked parent. No, she had both parents. They must have been the ones who ordered the glasses one size too big. She would grow into them. Maybe they were hand-me-downs in a family of immigrants who spoke less English than she did, if any. They had to work 2 or 3 jobs each probably. They couldn't be around much so she had been traveling through this huge city on her own since she started school.

Sitting back, Gus looked up at nothing in particular. He wondered if his imagination had found any truth.

At the 23rd street stop, two police officers got onto the train. Everyone looks at police officers on the train. It is like students straightening in their seat when the teacher walks back in.

Gus looked at the officers, a man and a woman, and then looked back to the girl. She hadn't noticed. He thought to himself now that she hadn't so much as moved. She had just been reading. A little girl, out of school, reading. That was it, he thought. Part of it anyway. She wasn't playing a video game or listening to music. This little girl was reading a hard cover book. It wasn't a children's book. It was a grown up book. A book Gus nor any of the other passengers had probably ever taken the time to read.

Something new had occured to Gus as he now blatantly stared at the girl. She didn't want to go to school. She was, in the eyes of ten year-olds, a nerd. She didn't know how perfect she was. She just didn't want to get off the train today. She didn't want to go to math or science. She didn't want to be purposely ignored by the other kids or worse; made fun of for preferring a book over lunchtime chaos. She didn't want to see the other girls and boys she didn't fit in with. The train must have reached her stop and she must have weighed the moment. The decision was right there and she chose to stay lost in the words and world of an author. She was safest here, in the relative silence of the uptown local C train.

As the 34th Street stop approached the female police officer walked over to the little girl. Gus watched in disbelief. Was she going to ask her what she was reading?

"Where are you supposed to be," the officer asked.

The little girl sat motionless, not looking up. She kept reading.

"Hey," the officer raised her voice a little, "Are you supposed to be in school?"

The little girl looked up. Gus, eyes wide open, was anxious to hear her speak. The others in the train car were looking now.

The little girl spoke, but in such a timid whisper Gus couldn't hear what it was she had said.

The officer leaned in for a moment then straightened and said, "At this next stop I want you to come with us. Get your things."

With her index finger, the little girl pushed her glasses firm to her nose and stood up, turning around to grab her other books and gingerly place them in her yellow canvas bag. Gus hadn't noticed them beside her earlier. The officer, bracing herself with her left hand on the steel pole, grasped the little girl's left arm. The little girl stood with her arms wrapped tightly around her bag, her head tilted slightly down as she looked at her red Converse All Stars. And for the final excruciating minute before the train reached 34th street, Gus watched as a train full of gawkers stared at the sweetest, most perfect little girl in the world. A train full of twelve year-olds, silently picking on the nerd. Gus saw her glasses, one size too big, slide ever so slightly down her nose. A tear hung from the corner of her left eye. She was doing all she could to hang on to it.

As he watched them escort her off the train, Gus realized she wouldn't be alone anymore. Not alone how she had chosen to be. She couldn't be alone. She wasn't allowed. She couldn't read her book. She could no longer sit quietly and safely on the uptown train, with her heroes and friends on pages of white and black.

It was back to the wolves of young life.

Now she'll be late, Gus thought. She'll be in trouble.

Gus sat motionless. He finished his subway ride with a broken heart.