I am the Skeleton in the Closet

The Scouts

It was a colorful happy rug. A circular rug that had the alphabet spelled out and picturized along the edges spiraling in. There was always a capitalized letter then a fun cartoon right after it about something that started with that letter. I always sat on the navy blue H square.

"H is for Elise!" I'd excitedly proclaim as I squatted above the yellow letter until gravity made me fall to sitting. I liked to play in the carpet there. I'd rub it back and forth creating shapes in the grain.

"Today we're gonna talk about the pins we're making for the event this year." The Scout leader started excitedly until she laid eyes on me. "Karen......" She called over her assistant and whispered something in her ear.

"Ok." The assistant nodded and strutted over to me. "Elise?" She reached down and grabbed my hand. "We're gonna go over here and do something really important for the troop." She pulled slightly.

"But I thought we were gonna talk about the badges we make every year. Ya know, the ones for the big thing where we all hold hands and sing the song?" I protested.

"No this is more important than that. We're gonna go over here and make something else." She pulled again.

"Just go." The girl sitting next to me, Maddi, jabbed.

So I followed her over. She did her best to keep me entertained and not focused on the group behind me. It didn't work, but I pretended that it didn't bother me. Just means I don't have to do that much work. I rationalized as I pasted my multicolored cut outs together.

"What kind of badge are you making this year!?" Mom beamed at me through the car as I climbed into the back seat after the meeting.

"We're making these little angels!" My carpooling neighbor excitedly replied for me.

"Oh! Well that sounds just fabulous!" She responded with the same amount of vigor. "How are you going to do it?" She was looking directly at Kory completely disregarding my glare out the window.

"So we're going to...." She replied in full but by this point I was doing my best to just tune it out. I had already heard everything at the meeting.

Number four, unpopular. Five? Annoying. If I'm going to be happy I need to work on all of these. Then maybe they'll accept me. I rationalized as she droned on. At least her explaining this means I won't have to try later. I wonder what's for dinner tonight. I hope it's not pork chops again. Mom always overcooks them and they always turn out a bit dry. I distracted myself watching the telephone wire chase us, bobbing back and forth as the trees hid it from view. Mom always took us home down an old bumpy road. It was a long straight dirt road that ran right through the forested part of town. The trees were small then, but still big enough to speckle the road with patches of sunlight that would freckle through the leaves and over each mound, playing in the dust the car kicked up behind it. The tree branches scraped together down the middle in an arch. Each side of the road, like most all michigan roads, abruptly ended with either a ditch or a raised portion of dirt that broke way into a dense shroud of underbrush leaving barely enough room for two cars to comfortably pass each other. I had memorized this trail by the time I was in second grade, by now I was tracking the growth.

We soon were at Kory's house. A right after three houses then a left after two and we were home. It was a nicer neighborhood. My house was two stories plus a basement and an attic. Massive square footage. We had a three car garage that emptied out into the first floor. That alone had a laundry room, family/TV room, living room, front room, bathroom, kitchen, foir, and an office. The basement was the same size as the first floor but unfinished. Up the half spiral stairs was the second floor which was home to my bedroom, Alex's bedroom, the guest room, Alex and my shared full bathroom, and the parents master bedroom that had a full walk in closet and bathroom attached.