Taaj's+memoir

Taaj Robinson 2B It was 12’oclock on a Saturday afternoon, the sun was up and kids had already started playing outside in the park. My babysitter on a regular day took care of three kids me being the youngest at 8. Two of the other kids were her grandchildren so they were naturally her favorite. The other kid was along the same lines as me just the kid of a working household. Out of her grandchildren she had a niece and a nephew. The nephew’s name was Julius and 13 years old. If the phrase too cool for school could apply for anybody it was him literally. He cut school just as much as everybody said the pledge of allegiance that actually attended. Despite the daily phone calls from the school telling her that he was going to have to repeat the grade Ms. Rose stood by her stance of ‘’teachers just don’t challenge him enough.’’ Her niece on the other hand wasn’t cool at all she picked on me whenever the opportunity arised. And under the security of her grandmother being my babysitter I was helpless to retaliate. On one of the two days in which Julius was expected to sleep late he was up early at 8’oclock and was out of the door by 10. Him being 13 in his mind he couldn’t be caught around us for too long a period. The rest of us younger kids had chores to do before we could go outside. Ms. Rose would justify this by saying ‘’ he’s the oldest he should have more freedom than you.’’ Which now that I look back is a load of b.s since he was older he should have had more to do. But it isn’t like I’m bitter about it or anything. Each of us were assigned a section of the house to clean, by a happy circumstance Quanice always ended up with the smallest room to clean (which I’m sure was not on purpose). But then again like I said I’m not bitter about it or anything. The hours went by and the two others finished before me like usual and were on their way outside to go play. As I was taking one of my cleaning breaks watching Hey Arnold (which later evolved into homework breaks in the future) I found a shiny penny liying on the floor next to me. I picked it up and felt the surface of it. The penny felt so smooth and I wondered what it would feel like if I put it in my mouth. It had a weird taste to it but overall my science experiment was going well. Until my brain realized that I hadn’t swallowed in a long time. Against my will I take a hard swallow and down goes the penny. Not a lot of fancy words can describe what I did so basically I panicked. My throat was so dry it seemed as if I had traveled alongside Moses during his path through in the desert. What’s going to happen to me? Am I going to live while this penny is inside of me? Am I going to have to have surgery to remove it? Wild thoughts ran threw my mind. Anxiety and fear rose up inside me and I thought they were going to spill out onto the floor as high as they rose inside of me. But they didn’t and both of them stayed there. Ms. Rose was taking her afternoon nap(which was not what my mom was paying her to do) and I knew by now not to wake her when she slumbers. My prayers were answered as I hear the doorknob turning and I wished that person would hurry up I didn’t think I had that much longer. The door opened and based off of the three people who would enter the house there was a 66% chance that the door would reveal a guy but it wasn’t it was Quanice. Damn odds screw probability. But at this particular moment I would’ve been happy with Jason Forhess if he could help my situation. ‘’ Quanice I put a penny in my mouth and I swallowed it by accident what should I do?’’ I pleaded with her in my voice that was no where near puberty. ‘’ When did this happen?’’ As if she had experience in this type of situation ‘’About 5 minutes ago hurry what should I do?’’ ‘’First go and get a glass of water’’ as she looked into my face and saw my anxiety she added ‘’hopefully it’s not too late’’. My little heart nearly dropped to the basement even that wouldn’t have awoken Ms.Rose. I ran to the kitchen and looked for the tallest glass my arms could reach, poured water into it and drank until I had a water belly. I sat down and awaited more directions from my 11 year old elder. Folding her hands and connecting her two thumbs together as a doctor would she said ‘’ usually in cases such as this the person has about an hour to live’’ she said as casually as commenting on the weather. ‘’ But considering how you’re really small you might have less time than that’’ ‘’What should I do?’’ How should I know I’m only 11 you doofus enjoy your time see you later…. oh wait maybe I won’t.’’ and she then proceeded to get her own glass of water which was what she had originally come back for and leave the house. Before leaving the house she turned back to me where I hadn’t moved and shook her head mournfully as she closed the door. I thought I heard laughter but I knew I had mistaken that for cries of anguish. I never knew Quanice cared so much. In my last minutes I started thinking about all of the things I had never done and eating Oreo ice cream was one of them. At that moment it was the biggest regret of my life. The alarm clock went off in Ms. Rose room which meant it was minutes away from my pick-up. How devastated would my mom be when I told her I had minutes to live. I looked around the house as if I was seeing it for the first time. My mom arrived and Ms. Rose made sure she didn’t have any sleep in her eyes as she opened the door. I looked up at my mom who was so tall to me (she’s 5’3) and I tried to tell her without words that I was going to die because I swallowed a penny but it didn’t work damn telepathy. My mom and the baby-sitter exchanged pleasantries and then we left. As soon as the door closed I told her my horrific tale. She to my surprise smiled and said ‘’you can’t die from swallowing a penny I can’t believe you believed that.’’ The fear and anxiety left me and I was relieved. Then I asked her if we could pick up some Oreo ice cream. That night I ate a lot of ice cream.