Bobby's Sweater

"How come you didn't dress up?"

"I did."

"But you wore that sweater yesterday." Bobby smiled and said "it's my favorite."

The pair were toward the end of the line that had just moved a little. They shuffled forward to fill in the gap.

"Did you tie that yourself? I love rocketships," said Bobby. He had a lot of dreams about space and tried to read library books about it, so he was impressed by Ian's tie.

"No, my dad did it for me. He wears a tie every day."

"Do his have rocketships too?" asked Bobby eagerly.

Ian shook his head so fast that Bobby thought he might fall over. "Uh- uh. His ties are boring; they don't have anything on them."

The line was moving again so the boys stepped forward. Maria and her friends were ahead of them and they kept giggling and looking back at Bobby. When Bobby noticed he was a little bit embarrassed.

"I hope they let me take my glasses off for the picture," said Ian. "I don't like my glasses."

"How come you don't like your glasses?"

"They make my head look big."

Bobby was confused and said "you don't have a big head." "Everybody says my head's too big."

Just then, Maria ran back toward Bobby and quickly kissed him on the cheek. Bobby had never been kissed before and her soft lips made him feel tingly inside. Maria smiled and ran back to her friends who were all giggling.

Bobby started to blush and when he heard someone at the back of the line yell "Bobby's got a girlfriend!" he turned bright red. "Do not!" he yelled back.

Ian was laughing and Bobby punched him hard in the arm. "It's not funny!" Ian tried to stop laughing but it took him a long time. He thought the kiss was really funny.

The line moved forward again and Maria was sitting on the stool talking to the photographer. She straightened up her back and posed for the picture. Bobby thought that her smile made her look a lot happier than all the other girls. He liked her smile a lot.

"Do you ever wash that sweater?" Ian asked.

"Sometimes, but only when my mom makes me. I don't like to take it off."

"It has a lot of stains on it."

"I know. I'm kind of a messy eater." Bobby thought it was pretty funny how messy of an eater he was and kind of giggled when he said it.

"My dad always puts a napkin around his neck so he doesn't get food on his clothes," explained Ian. "I do it too."

"I wouldn't want to cover up my sweater with anything; I really like my sweater."

"It has a lot of holes in it. Is that one from the playground yesterday?"

"Yes," said Bobby grinning a little bit. "I learned how to do a backflip off the swing."

They moved up in line and Ian was staring at Bobby's sweater. His eyes were crunched; he must have been thinking hard. He said "I'm surprised there aren't more holes in it."

They moved ahead in line again and Ian was next. He wrote his name on the paper so the photographer would know who he was taking a picture of.

"I really like your tie," said Bobby.

"Thanks. My dad said I look so handsome with a tie on that all the girls are gonna want to be my girlfriend." It was Ian's turn for pictures so he took off his glasses and asked Bobby to hold onto them.

As Ian got his picture taken, Bobby read the paper everyone was writing on. "Miss Thomas' Class - Grade 2." He picked up the pencil and wrote his name under Ian's. Robert Parish. Ian came back and got his glasses, and Bobby walked under the photographer's bright lights. He sat on the stool and straightened his back up right. When the flash lit up his sweater, Bobby's smile was bigger than ever.

Still smiling, Bobby stepped out from the lights and walked to Ian who was standing in a new line. "Those lights are hot!" he said. I'm already sweating."

"Me too," Ian said motioning to his armpits. "You can see it through my shirt." After Bobby stopped looking, Ian closed his arms tighter to his body than usual.

"I hope we get to stand together," Bobby said. "How tall are you?" "4' 3""

"Me too."

All of the kids had finished getting their pictures taken and were standing in the new line. There was a new photographer who, with the help of Miss Thomas, was walking down the line picking out the tallest students,followed by the shorter ones. This took a few minutes and when the order was set, the photographer led the line to a small set of bleachers three steps high. The tallest boys took their places at the top and the rest of the children followed after. Bobby and Ian were in the middle of the second highest step and they were standing together. Bobby smiled a little when he realized Maria was standing almost right in front of him.

"I think these lights are even brighter than the other ones," Bobby said.

"I'm sweating again." Ian lifted his arms and smelled his armpits; his nose wrinkled. "I stink!" Bobby laughed really loudly. Ian laughed too and put his arms back tightly against his side.

Bobby was waiting quietly for the photographer to get ready when he heard the conversation of the boys behind him. They were whispering but he could hear them talking about his "ugly sweater" and the "stains all over it." Bobby looked down at his sweater and all of the sudden the lights got even hotter. He kept waiting for the photographer.

"I can't believe Maria likes him," one of the boys said. They were talking louder now and Bobby could hear them clearly.

"Do you think he ever washes that thing?" another boy asked.

Bobby turned around and looked up at the two boys who were talking about him. They both smiled and one said "Hi, Bobby."

"Hi." Bobby turned back around. He realized that the two boys who were talking about him were wearing dress shirts and ties. He turned around again to the other side and looked at everyone else who was standing on the top row. Most all of them were wearing ties too.

"Look at all the holes," one of the boys said.

Bobby's sweater started to feel really tight and itchy. He clawed at the turtleneck and stretched it out. Now he could breathe a little better. The photographer was almost ready to take the picture when Bobby leaned over to Ian and whispered "The boys behind us are making fun of me."

"What are they saying?"

"They're talking about my sweater."

"You've just got to ignore them," Ian said. He took off his glasses and put them into his pocket. "Just ignore them."

As the photographer counted to three everyone posed and smiled. Bobby's smile was really big and when he started thinking about Maria's smile it grew even bigger. He liked her smile a lot. The flash went off and the moment was captured; the photographer wanted to take one more picture.

"I bet he'll wear it forever."

The photographer was ready for the next picture. "One...Two..." Everyone smiled. Bobby's smile was smaller than before but still pretty big. Bigger than the other boys'. "Three." The flash went off for the last time.

The class started to file off of the bleachers and Bobby's row had to wait for the other rows to leave. The girls who were standing on the floor started the line. Bobby was still sweating under the bright lights and Maria's row started to file out. When Maria started to walk away, Bobby reached out to the middle of her back and snapped the strap of her training bra. All of the boys around Bobby, including the two behind him and Ian, laughed really hard and Maria yelled "Hey!" as she turned around. Bobby was giggling and staring off into space as though he never noticed what happened. All the other boys were laughing and Maria slapped Bobby on the arm and said "Bobby!" She was pretty mad, but the way she slapped him on the arm, Bobby knew she wasn't too mad.

As she walked away and Bobby's row began to fall into line, Ian put on his glasses. Bobby moved his hand subtly toward Ian and Ian slapped it with a loud low-5.

***

When Bobby got home from school he spent a long time in the bathroom. There was a long mirror on the back of the door and he was standing in front of it. He was looking at his sweater and turning left and right. He spun in a circle and when he faced the mirror again he adjusted his collar-it was stretched more than usual.

Bobby's sweater was a faded red turtleneck. It had grass stains all over and food stains on the front. It had three small holes along the bottom and a big rip in the back from his first attempt at a backflip from the swings. The sweater fit Bobby almost perfectly-the sleeves came right to his hands, the turtleneck wasn't too tight, and the fabric fell just the right amount over his belt. Bobby kept looking at his sweater with squinted eyes and a crunched nose. Finally, he lifted it up and over his head. He hadn't seen his bare skin since summer vacation and he felt a little naked. Very naked. He looked at his chest in the mirror nearly an hour-turning and spinning, squinting and crunching.

Later, Bobby opened the bathroom door and walked down the hall to his dad's office. Mr. Parish was wearing a dress shirt and black tie, and he was finishing some work he brought home from the office.

When Bobby came in, Mr. Parish looked very pleasantly surprised.

"Bobby! You took off your sweater. What gives, little man?"

"It got too small. I don't fit into it anymore," Bobby said. "Can you teach me how to tie a tie? I want to wear a tie."Mr. Parish smiled. He didn't expect to be asked that for a long time. "My son's growing up," he said.