Harrison's First Crush

Playing with moon sand eases the pain of the lonely heart.

One night Harrison was very chatty as he got ready for bed.

He said, "Mom, there's a girl with red hair in Miss Penrod's class. Have you seen her? She looks familiar."

I replied, "No, I don't know that girl. Do you?"

"No," he said. "I don't even know her name."

Then he blurted out, "I'm in love with the little red-haired girl!"

"I see her at Lively Letters. But I think if I talked to her she would be shy to me." He sighed. "I can't believe I'm in love with that girl!" he half-shouted, half-cried.

"I guess I'm going to have to tell Emily that I can't marry her now," he concluded.

We talked. I dispensed motherly advice. He revealed his dilemma about his crush, which reminded me of this monlogue from "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown":

There's that cute little red-headed girl eating her lunch over there. I wonder what she would do if I went over and asked her if I could sit and have lunch with her?...She'd probably laugh right in my face...it's hard on a face when it gets laughed in. There's an empty place next to her on the bench. There's no reason why I couldn't just go over and sit there. I could do that right now. All I have to do is stand up...I'm standing up!...I'm sitting down. I'm a coward. I'm so much of a coward, she wouldn't even think of looking at me. She hardly ever does look at me. In fact, I can't remember her ever looking at me. Why shouldn't she look at me? Is there any reason in the world why she shouldn't look at me? Is she so great, and I'm so small, that she can't spare one little moment?...SHE'S LOOKING AT ME!! SHE'S LOOKING AT ME!! (he puts his lunchbag over his head.) ...Lunchtime is among the worst times of the day for me. If that little red-headed girl is looking at me with this stupid bag over my head she must think I'm the biggest fool alive. But, if she isn't looking at me, then maybe I could take it off quickly and she'd never notice it. On the other hand...I can't tell if she's looking, until I take it off! Then again, if I never take it off I'll never have to know if she was looking or not. On the other hand...it's very hard to breathe in here. (he removes his sack) Whew! She's not looking at me! I wonder why she never looks at me? Oh well, another lunch hour over with...only 2,863 to go.


Poor Harrison.
 
One day he's going to look back on this and be mortified that I shared this story.