Naomi gathered her hair into a ponytail over her left
shoulder. She held it there and slowly began
twisting it into a coil. When she could
twist no more, she pulled it around in front of her face and began examining
the ends, tapping at the tiny spikes of hair held tightly between her thumb and
forefinger. After a few minutes she released
the twisted rope of hair and combed her fingers through it to straighten it
onto her shoulder. Then she put her hand
under it and tossed it to her back. She slowly
stretched her head back over her chair and let her hair fall loose. As her hair hung above the floor, she began
shaking her head back and forth.
I sat at my desk, resting my chin on my left hand, watching
the show.
“How’re you coming on your math test, Naomi? Do you have any questions?”
Naomi sat back up and gave her hair a final shake.
“No.”
It was like watching the dust get shaken out of a dust mop
– only there was no dust . . . and no mop - just a 12 year old girl having a
hard time staying on task during a test.
Naomi looked down at her shirt. She grabbed the bottom, wiggled her
shoulders, and tugged the front of her shirt down. She smoothed her hand down the front of it and
the watch on her left wrist caught her attention. She studied it for a moment and then adjusted
the watch face 7 millimeters to center it on her wrist. She continued studying her watch and decided
to pull the watch face around to the inside of her wrist.
She held her arm up to her face with her palm turned inward,
and stared at her watch. Her head was
tilted to one side, and she was biting the tip of her tongue. She quickly turned her hand back over and studied
the back of her wrist. She must have
decided the traditional placement of the watch face was best because
she slid the watch back around to where it started.
Naomi continued to study her watch a few seconds more and
then suddenly twisted around and looked at the clock on the wall. She held her wrist up, studied her watch
again, and then looked back at the clock.
“You’re clock’s not right Mrs. Jones.”
“My clock is fine.
All the clocks in the building are set to the bells.” I switched arms, tilted my head even more,
and settled my check completely into my right palm. “How’s your test coming?” I called dryly.
“Fine.”
Naomi turned back to her desk, picked up her mechanical
pencil, and pressed it down to the paper.
Not satisfied with what she felt, she held the pencil back up close to
her face and began clicking it. When
nothing came out she unscrewed it to retrieve some lead. Finding no lead stored inside, she stood up, went
over to her book bag on the shelf and began rummaging in it for extra lead.
I hate mechanical
pencils. All teachers hate
mechanical pencils. I lifted my head up
off my hand.
“Naomi, do you need a pencil?”
“No." Rummage. Rummage. "I’m good.”
She continued poking through her bag until she found the little plastic
box.
Naomi walked back to her desk and began feeding tiny sticks
of lead into the tip of her pencil. When
it would take no more, she tilted the pencil back down and began clicking it
again. Finally a tiny shoot of lead
peeped out. Satisfied that her writing
tool was now ready, Naomi looked back at her test. As her head bent down, her mouth dropped open
into a wide yawn.
She bent her elbows upward and leaned back as her yawn
deepened into a low throaty “aaahhhgg.” As
she brought her elbows back down, her left hand slid through her hair and
pulled it over her left shoulder. She gathered
it into a ponytail and slowly began twisting it again.
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