Jerry

When I was at the carefree age of ten, a new boy moved on the block.  You see, all the popular kids lived and hung out on the block so it was super important that we got a good look at him, a chance to size him up.  All of us were very excited and tried to get glimpses of him between the trees he was near.

“Did you see him Patty, did you?” I asked close to her ear.

“No, not yet,” Patti answered.

His name was Jerry and he didn’t look like any of the other boys who hung out on the block. While the other boys were sporting head-buzzed crew cut hair styles for the summer, Jerry had long, wavy, curly blond hair that fell midway down his neck. We could see Jerry looked older, too, and we heard him say he was twelve years old.

As we kids got to know him, we found out that he was very funny but not in a disrespectful way.  He joked a lot about everyday things and we spent hours sometimes laughing along with his sense of humor.  Needless to say, he became the most popular boy on the block.

He also became like a big brother to me. He always made sure I was close by and always protected me.  I grew up very poor, one of eight siblings and Jerry would never let any of the other  kids make fun of my homemade haircuts, worn down clothes, old shoes or the house I lived in. I adored him. I looked up to him.  I felt safe and protected when he was around.

“I’m so glad we became close like a brother and sister,” I said to Jerry.

“I am, too,” he answered. “This way when any of the other kids bother you, I can put a stop to it right away!”

Until one day, he came over to me and said he was mad at me. Not just mad, but furious.  Jerry wouldn’t tell me why and all the kids on the block didn’t have an answer for me either. I pleaded, I begged and my eyes filled with tears as I shouted at him, “Why are you doing this to me?” but he would not answer why he was so mad.  Jerry did say to me, “You are not allowed to come on this block ever again.  If I do catch you on the block, I will subject you to bodily harm.” Being so popular, he had all the kids on his side. Although I had never become a victim of it before, along with all of Jerry’s charm and popularity, he did have a bully’s streak in him. Now, I was genuinely scared.  He had turned into this threatening, mean bully and I ran home as fast as I could.

I stayed off the block. Jerry and I went to the same small public school so every day at dismissal, I snuck off my class line and went out a different door. I was so scared he would be waiting for me outside one of the school doors so I went out a different one every day. When I wanted to take a walk to the candy store, I would walk six blocks out of the way to make sure Jerry didn’t catch a glimpse of me near the block.

This time of my young life was a very lonely, sad and isolated time for me. I did not even have one friend to play with because if Jerry said, “Do not play with her,” all of the kids listened to him.

If there ever was a time I felt like I was living in quarantine it was that time.  As a matter of fact, when everything closed up and I had to stay alone in my house because of the corona virus three months ago, there were so many times I thought about Jerry and how I felt that I was in the same situation, isolated and alone.

About a year came and went and my family announced that we were moving. I was relieved knowing that when we moved, I could play and move about freely in my new neighborhood but I was sad that I had never found out about Jerry and his temper tantrum toward me.

After my family and I moved to a new house, every so often, one of the kids on the block named Joanie would call to say hello. Each time I would ask her if she ever found out why Jerry got so mad at me.  Each time she would just answer, “No.”

Within six months later, Joanie called me again. I was hoping she would have that answer to the mystery.  My ears were not ready to hear what she said next.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, “Jerry isn’t here anymore.”

“What?”  I said, “Now I can come visit you on the block and it can be like old times.”

“Wait,” she said, “there’s more to it. Jerry died.”

“What?” I screamed into the phone. “How? “What happened?”

My stomach wanted to burst out of my body right there and then.  Joanie explained, “Jerry stopped staying on the block and started hanging around with a bad bunch of kids from middle school. I guess one thing led to another and one day we heard Jerry died of a drug overdose. Shame, the same thing happened to his older brother not too long ago. Do you want to meet me at the funeral?” Joanie asked.

“No,” I couldn’t, I wouldn’t,” I answered.

I went numb and I think I stayed that way all through my school years. I realized, too, that Jerry had taken his mystery with him. I would never know why he turned on me in anger after having such a special friendship like ours. I could speculate of course. I even thought for a time that I could track down the kids on the block through Facebook and do a little investigating of my own. As time passed, I decided the best thing to do was to leave this mystery forever unsolved, and it is!

Ellen G.

June 2020