Movie Stars

THEY SENT ME TO ANOTHER SCHOOL after the fourth grade. For fifth grade I was now in PS Zero on 176th Street. I had liked PS One Plus at 173rd Street very much. There was a reason why I had been there and I understood. They were teaching me English. And I learned English. I was the first to be transferred to an all English-speaking classroom. Regular 4th Grade.

“Boys and girls, this is Hay-zoos. Hay-zoos…”

“Good morning, boys and girls.”

“Good morning, Hay-zoos!”

“Hay-zoos, you may take a seat over there…”

I don't remember much after that. But I do remember the teacher's name, Mrs. Barnett, and one day she threw a pair of scissors at a kid in the back because he was pissing her off. It could have been a girl but it's hard to imagine that she would do that to a girl. But I don't know and I don't remember. Mrs. Barnett was a good-looking woman, kind of skinny, kind of old. I think I wanted to have sex with her. She had a sexy face. She was always pissed. Yelling at the kids. She was a little hysterical. But that's because I only remember that scissors incident. She was daring. Which is probably why I wanted to have sex with her. And of course her good-looking face, a sexy face. She threw the scissors all the way to the back wall. We must have been doing some kind of arts and crafts. I don't remember.

I remember When Johnny Comes Marching Home again, hurrah! Hurrah! We'll give him a hearty welcome then, hurrah! Hurrah! I don't remember the rest of the words.

And I remember Raymond Hipp. He was the only person that said hello to me and spoke to me and said, "Puerto Ricans are good people."

And for the new school year they transferred me to PS Zero. And many of the kids from my block were also transferred there. We were all there in the yard the first day of school.

“This school sucks!”

“Yeah, this school is so old--”

“I ain't going in--”

“A long time ago this was a castle with ghosts…”

“Fucking spooky school--”

“Yeah, somebody got killed in there--”

“Yeah, that's why the Police Department had it closed down--”

“Fuck, I ain't going in there--”

“We ain't going in--”

“That's where they want to stick us Puerto Ricans in--”

“Y a nosotros los dominicanos--”

“Sí, pero that’s where you fucking people belong in that fucked up school--”

“Fuck you, Puerto Rican motherfucker--”

“Fuck you back you Dominican bastard--”

“Meet me this afternoon when we get out of school--”

“We are out of school, mamao. What are you going to do?”

“Boys, don't fight with your fists. Here, use this--”

“Look at him run--”

“My mother says that school is full of asbestos.”

“If you breathe in asbestos you'll die--”

“That's bullshit! I bet you I'll go in there and breathe all the asbestos they got and I won't die--”

“Burro!”

“That’s the bell!”

“We heard it, you doofus motherfucker--”

And there he came. From the opposite direction. He weaved through the crowd of children like an adult. He locked his eyes on me. He had a receding hairline, thin hair, going bald. He had determination in his eyes and in his walk. He made fists of his hands. I saw it all. And I even had time to ask myself, Is this guy going to do what I hope he will not do? But he did it. He punched me square in the stomach. Hard. The hardest a kid can punch another kid. Though I wasn’t completely sure he was a kid. I wasn’t sure what he was. Was he white, was he black? He was light brown like me and could have been a Dominican-Puerto Rican but he mumbled something before he swung hard so I knew he was “americano.” He growled and said something else in English after he hit me hard and I heard it as I fell to the ground in pain. I heard him mumble something again. And then he walked away like a boxer who had done what he had to do.

Carlito Morel yelled at him, “What did you do that for?” and he touched my shoulder.

Eddie Barrilla yelled, “Hey!” and he put his hand on my other shoulder.

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