Jeopardy.....Jeopardy.....Jeopardy! Not the game show with host Alex Trebek...geesh I don't even know who hosts it now, does Alex still host it? Doesn't matter, when I was a little girl it was Alex. But this is not about the game show Jeopardy. This is about a little girl name Jeopardy. Yep, and its still absurd her name is Jeopardy. I was in the 4th grade at Eucalyptus Elementary and my teacher was Misses Coppins. Misses Coppins was cool and she dressed like a man with a David Bowie hair style....and it was white too. And she was one and still is one of my favorite teachers I've ever had. Lets just say this was the only time I was ever a teachers pet.
And in this classroom was a bully name Jeopardy. Not just a school bully. My bully! She would trip me in class or outside in the playground. She would purposely whisper nasty things about me to other people in front of me. The bullying names like bunny rabbit (yeah I had a pretty cruel over-bite) and of course ugly. The best was when she got together with popular cute boy Robby and they danced like bunny rabbits to imitate me. Ahh, kids are EVIL. But I was unfazed most of the time, because I had friends and I was one of the teachers pets. But man I could have lived without her.
Which brings me to the weekend where I broke my foot. My right foots two middle toes and ankle to be exact. Ugh....awful pain, I can still remember it. I was riding in a made for death "go cart", constructed with two slabs of wood, some wheels and a milk crate. My friend and I squeezed our skinny little butts in the cart, with our legs and feet dangling precariously out, while the two brothers who looked like they were spawn from the "Dukes of Harzard", pulled us on a rope that I swear was like 20 feet long.
More or less the cause of my near death!
There we were swaying back and fourth, the sound of the wheels crunching and grinding on the cement. Other friends and kids in the neighborhood running next to us and cheering us on as we zooooooom down the block. Suddenly the boys made a hard left, and we unfortunately went straight into a stone bench. My reaction was to stick my legs out to protect me from the impact and "CRACK" went my bones. Two-in-a-half-months I wore a cast up to my knee.
The Eucalyptus Principal said it would be best if lunch recess I stay in the nurses office to eat and play. I was devastated. I was also allowed to bring one classmate to help me carry my lunch tray and keep me company. Now, I knew that would get old and kids anticipated the playground. They get to run all that sugar and bountiful energy they have, as I have now lost all that as an adult. I can't wait to relax and have a bowel movement.
So a month into my "retirement" with this cast and again another day where the teacher ask who would like to join me for lunch. And she raises her hand. Yeah, Jeopardy! And Misses Coppins says "great Jeopardy, thank you for volunteering".....I want to die! What the hell is she doing? Trying to get me alone so she can break my other foot. I couldn't protest, I loved Misses Coppins, but she just signed me up for an early death.
I had to leave 20 minutes before lunch was released to the 4th graders, to give me a head start since I was a "cripple". I stood up and saw out the corner of my eye Jeopardy get up and we walked outside. I don't remember what the weather was like, just that everything was still and slow. It was a bit of a walk already to the nurses office and today it felt like a 5k walk-a-thon. We walked in silence and each time I stepped on a crunchy leaf, I felt the earth shatter beneath me. We got to the cafeteria and she eagerly grabbed my tray with a smile. I nervously smile back. It's my favorite dish today. Chicken and gravy over mashed potatoes, with some really bright green beans that look plastic, those I never ate.....yuck!
We get to the nurses office and settle in. Its awkward, I don't know what to say to my nemesis. She speaks first, "so what should we play?". I look down at my food, I have no appetite, "I usually play connect four or checkers". Oh man I want to cry, why is she here with me........she hates me! She gets up and goes to a cabinet in the nurses office and grabs connect four.
And we play a few games. I can't say we had the best time ever as when your this young you aren't exactly articulating your feelings and intellectualizing the situation. But she was pleasant and eager to help me. She never bullied me again and honestly she left sometime after that. Her family moved out of the area. I guess I can honestly say she just wanted to be my friend and maybe she felt bad that I was hurt and helpless. Or she was God fearing and thought she would go to hell and wanted to redeem herself. I dunno, and will never know. But it has forever left an imprint on me. You just never know man......you just never know.
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