Sandy Supposes....

A Schoolyard Biting

PROMPT: Take us back to a memory on the playground when you were in school.

          When I attended elementary school, vampires and the like were not as popular as they are today; they didn't permeate television programming and kid literature. I mention this because one of my most vivid memories of my school playground involves a bite. No, a rabid dog did not terrorize or attack me. The schoolyard was vampire-free. I did not bite or snap at another child. If there was confrontation or frustration, I was more than capable of using my words to solve a situation; I didn't need to resort to biting or physicality. I was the unfortunate victim of a biting incident or more accurately, a biting accident.

         One fateful day, my forehead met the fangs teeth of an older, taller girl as we collided on the playground. The accident stars were aligned; my forehead was the same height as her open mouth and distinct over-bite. As I ran that day, probably in a game of tag, I didn't think to be on the look-out for a set of sharp girl teeth. I'm pretty sure I was trying to avoid a tag/touch; maybe a shove if absolutely necessary. I obviously wasn't looking up, and my biter obviously wasn't looking down.

          Head wounds tend to appear far worst than they really are; the gushing blood is not a sight for the faint of heart. I believe several of my friends were impressed. In due course, I was whisked into the school's inner sanctum, and an attempt was made to staunch the bleeding. I don't recall being or feeling upset enough to cry; this wasn't my first blood-letting. Perhaps I was a wee bit dazed, or even concussed. The teachers tending to me seemed to think I'd suffered a memory-impairing blow to my senses. They shook their heads and tut-tutted when I assured them I'd been bitten. They were incredulous and asked me to repeat my story many times. I said over and over that a bigger girl had sunk her teeth into my forehead. Funny, I don't remember my biter coming forward. No one could or would corroborate my tale. Surely her teeth and jaw must have ached at the very least. Hadn't I loosened one of her teeth?