Bedtime Story

OR Killy's Slightly Amended Autobiography: Volume 1 (The Early Years)

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Killy. She was born in a small Virginia town in a wing of the hospital that was torn down about twelve years later. In fact, it's not even a hospital anymore... small-town suburban sprawl kicked in, and a larger medical center was needed, so the original hospital building was downsized and turned into an outpatient clinic. When Killy was born, her brother (who was three years old at the time) was disappointed because he had wanted "a black baby." He also wanted to name her "Hot Dog" -- more disappointment ensued. Killy's father was a middle school shop teacher, and her mother had planned to be a teacher as well but decided that being a full-time mom was more important. The first two years of Killy's life were spent living in one half of a duplex in a poor white trash neighborhood on the outskirts of the small Virginia town.

Shortly before Killy's baby sister was born in 1985, her family moved to another small Virginia town, not far from the one in which Killy herself was born. Killy doesn't remember the events surrounding the birth of her sister, as she was only two years of age at the time, but she does remember moving to Ohio less than a year later. She remembers playing basketball in the tiny driveway of her family's cookie cutter suburban Ohio home. She also remembers playing in mud puddles and popping the tar bubbles that would form on the road in the summertime (and her mother subsequently yelling at her for ruining her bright yellow Big Bird velcro sneakers and tracking tar all through the house).

Shortly after Killy's fifth birthday, her family returned (for good) to the small Virginia town in which Killy was born. They rented a small ranch home in a decent part of town, in a neighborhood with plenty of other kids. This was when Killy met Athena, forging a friendship that would last sixteen years into their futures.

Killy began kindergarten in September of 1988 and soon established a reputation for herself as "the shy kid." In fact, she was so soft-spoken and introverted that her teachers thought she might be a little slow, so when she moved on to first grade, they placed her in a class with other quiet kids, slow kids, juvenile delinquents, and repeat first-graders. She was one of three children in that class who could read, and she would often read to her less literate classmates. Her teacher recognized the folly of placing Killy in the "slow" class, and took special care to make sure she was getting the academic attention she deserved. To this day Killy is grateful to that teacher.

Killy was never a fan of dresses and tights and preferred the mobility offered by a nice pair of sweatpants. Ever the modest girl, she always tucked her shirt in to make sure it didn't fly up and expose her chest when she dangled upside-down from the monkey bars or did round-offs on the soccer field. This, paired with her predilection for sweatpants, resulted in some very unfortunate fashion decisions.

Killy was a very active child, always playing outside, climbing trees, digging giant holes in the back yard (she was playing "archaeologist," but her father was less than impressed with the three-foot-deep hole in his lawn), setting up mock battles wearing Athena's father's old Air Force uniforms and arguing with the next door neighbor over who got to be the general, soaring high on the swings then defying all common sense by jumping off. She developed an early penchant for sports playing co-ed basketball at the local parks and recreation building (she wanted to be just like her big brother). The boys were mean and didn't want to pass to a girl, so she was forced to steal the ball from them and then strut her stuff. There was about a year-long period in which she was inseparable from her Charlotte Hornets hat. She briefly attempted gymnastics, but once she surpassed five feet in height at the age of ten, her instructors advised her to seek out other athletic endeavors.

Killy also had a passion for music. She began taking piano lessons in the third grade in the home of an eccentric woman with a big poofy white cat named Beethoven (the cat had one green eye and one blue eye and tended to jump on the keyboard in the middle of the lesson). Though she loved to play, Killy always battled stage fright when it came time to perform at recitals, and there were several harrowing incidents in which she lost her place and was forced to start her piece from the beginning. Though Killy's deepest musical desire was to play the drums like her brother, her mother forbade it (something about not wanting them to get competitive with each other), so Killy opted to play the trumpet in the fifth grade band and quickly rose to the head of her section (which was comprised entirely of boys... all the girls played flute and clarinet). Though Killy rarely gloated, she took great joy in putting boys in their places: listening to them brag, then graciously making them eat their words. She would relish this feeling for years to come.

Next installment: Middle School HELL.