the zoo

Sitting on the steps on the east side of the building, my usual spot, waiting for lunch break to be over, counting down the minutes, the seconds, until I can escape the unsupervised teen aged hillbilly masses -- there's that one who thought that To Kill a Mockingbird was pro-racist when I started to describe the book to him, I hear you man, kill them all he said, and there's that one who's always shooting me with with a water gun, and that one who calls me sexy, thanks! Just a sampling of the really cool people that I go to high school with. I'm counting down the minutes until the relative security of the classroom where homophobic teachers are the norm, but still they won't let me be blatantly harassed in class, or usually not,anyway, it's more of an of off-handed harassment in which they participate fully with comments like doesn't it make you sick to see those men holding hands in Natchitoches -- I've never seen them but it is a college town and Steel Magnolias was filmed there so it is like gay mecca for Northwest Louisiana, or asking some other students if it's true that I'm gay, and they're all certain that it's true. This is Coushatta High School in Coushatta, Louisiana -- the other mecca of Northwest Louisiana, of backward thought, redneck style and the perpetuation of every negative stereotype of the South that ever was. That's why a crowd starts to form while I'm sitting on the steps, counting down the endless minutes, around two new students who just appeared seemingly out of nowhere standing uncertainly against the red brick walls. Brother sister, Jose and Rosa. You get the picture here- Jose and Rosa are from Mexico, the children of migrant workers here for tree planting season. Apparently, they're planning on sticking around long enough to have their kids go to school here, but what a depressing thought. Jose and Rosa are cornered now, pushed and prodded like petting zoo animals, real excitement for these hillbilly children who never get to go nowhere, never get to do nothing. I want them all to die except for Jose and Rosa. I already feel solidarity with the recent arrivals. They're the only Mexicans, and I'm the only fag. I'm sure we'll be friends. I have a hard-on unrelated to the recent arrivals and now break/hell is over. I rearrange my stuff discretely and proceed towards some version of education.