My Life in the First Grade
In which Teófilo continues his A.D. 1971 annus horribilis narrative with his rise to the first grade.
July passed and August came, and I started my first grade at la Academia. This signified my first teacher crush, as I came to love my home room teacher, Sister Amelia María - last name unknown. She was very attentive to me, and I sensed a lot of love flowing from her. Many times, I even walked half-way to her nearby convent in the mornings to wait for her. She would appear, and I would help her carry some of her books and stuff. Mom never found out I would leave the safety of the school to do this. But these were safe times and I felt somewhat autonomous and self-driven, so I did it. Other times, Sister had to send another kid to fetch me at my waiting place. She often absconded inside the classroom to prepare for the day and shut the door. Lacking X-ray vision, I couldn’t tell she was inside.
My first school picture dates to this time. In it you can see the starched shirt I wore with the school’s insignia sewn on the left pocket. I was missing a top front tooth. The bloodstain from my close encounter with my front gate is visible in my left eye. I wore a green “happy face” button which was all the rage back then.
First grade when I and my classmates learned to read. In our reading primers we first encountered Pepín (peh-PEEN) and Rosa. They played the Puerto Rican counterparts of the US Mainland's Dick and Jane. Unlike their Anglo counterparts, Pepín and Rosa’s youngest sibling was a little blond boy named “Tito.” They also had a dog named “Lobo” (“Wolf”) and a cat named “Mota” (“Puff). Very like Dick and Jane, Pepín and Rosa lived in a perfect home, with perfect parents. I related with them a little bit, sublimating in my imagination my own circumstances.
Let’s play!
Run, Tito, run.
Let’s go to Father and Mother.
Mother is with Father.
And Pepín is with Mother!
Let’s go Rosa!
I discovered early on I had an extreme facility ro read. I went through the first book like lightning. Then on to the second and third textbook, while others struggled on the first one. I made no secret of my delight in reading and of my skill. Some classmates sought me out for help or Sister Amelia would pair me with them. Others would resent me and the unapologetic nerd and teacher’s pet I was growing up to be. All that is normal.
My thirst for reading and knowledge came to the fore during my first grade. It’s never left me. I’ve never stopped reading.
I also began receiving religious catechesis. The reading material was as simple as the Pepín and Rosa readings. The readings consisted in simple, declarative sentences. They taught me, among other things, that Jesus was the Son of God the Father. Jesus had come to die on the Cross for me. He was my hermano mayor, my Elder Brother.
I absorbed it all and believed it all as if it were the natural thing for me to do. After all these years the answers have stood the test of time. All these teachings are true. I still don't need complicated language to understand these core Christian teachings.
Meanwhile, in another school in town, a girl also rose to the First Grade.
My love was too ascending through the grades in her inexorable trajectory toward me.