my first friend

in elementary school, my first teacher's name was ms. Jimenez.

I remember waiting in line as a child, being counted and numbered before going into class.

inside the classroom we learned how to write our names, numbers, and cursive.

during lunch time we would go out and learn songs.

I only had one friend at the time, her name was Diana.

later I learned when she was 16, her mother started seeing another man and

her father couldn't handle it so he bought a gun, killed the mother and the lover

then turned the gun and did it to himself.

I carried a purple lunch pail to school, it had a picture of chameleon on the front.

I don't remember the food I was eating,

but I remembered the first time I saw a kid eating a sandwich.

It was plain white bread without any crust, 

it had a slice of yellow cheese and a thin layer of ham and was cut

into even triangles.

later on I would come to know Diana's parents after school

and was once invited to her birthday party.

I arrived at her house too early before her father was home.

when he finally arrived he was upset that I was there early.

I waited in the living room while he grabbed her hand,

took her into the bedroom and started hitting her with his belt.

I could hear her crying and the noise was drowning out.

their were aluminum cans on the dining table, on top of the tv,

and on the coffee table. everything smelled sour.

I left that house.

I saw her again at school, but she never talked to me again.

I never talked to her again either.