The first day of school, my crayon privileges were revoked
for fidgeting during nap. Also, I got a wiggleworm jacket
hung on me that followed me through school. This was before
they gave speed to hyperactive kids. I just had too much energy
from eating sugar. My mother believed whatever the newspapers
and the radio said. This was before television. She believed she fed us
a well-balanced diet. White flour, refined sugar, saturated fats, and lots of salt.
In the Navy, my father took salt tablets, because men sweated. In the South Pacific.
In Melanesia. Munda, New Georgia, in the Solomon Islands.
I have a mahogany fish priest he brought home from there
with a crocodile carved on it. Perhaps it's ebony.