Yeah, there's five boys in your class, dude. You know damned well that there are. You know one of them is a bit biologically challenged. You know he was in earshot when you said it. So why'd you do that? If you're going to accept him and call him Max and treat him as one of the boys, why say there are four boys in the class to another student who knows about him when discussing t-shirts? What the hell are we even making different sleeve lengths for girls and boys for?
Maybe she didn't know. Maybe she did and you didn't know that she did? Who knows, and does it even matter...dude, you made him cry into his jacket sleeve for the rest of the class. Do you think he wanted to do that? I don't think so, he's got allergies and that's bad enough. Don't kick him back down when he's just gotten back up, just able to ignore all the glaringly obvious differences that strike him head-on every day.
He wants to be able to wear that shirt, with the 3/4 sleeves like the OTHER four boys. Nothing underneath, just shirt and skin and muscles and connective tissue and bones and organs. All those good things. He wants to be able to go out in the summertime and run around, head to the beach and pull that shirt off. Feel the sun on his bare chest, free of roundness. He wants to go swimming like that.
He wants to go home, greeted by his mother who asks how his day was. She'd sit down and listen to her son speak...her son, not her daughter. Maybe she'd think about how he's growing up so fast, becoming a fine young man. Or maybe not, he's always been behind in growth. Some days he'd be off swimming, others off practicing with his band or just hanging out with friends.
He wants to walk into school next year, hearing, "Hey, Max! How was your summer, dude?" from the other kids, sharing wild tales of crazy adventures. After that initial day of getting the schedule, he'd go to class. The teachers would announce Maxwell on the role call, maybe his last name too, and he'd be proud to raise his hand and answer, "here," with enthusiasm. They'd have a nice first impression of this energetic young boy, ready to learn.
He wants to hang around after school with a couple of friends, maybe head over to that field a few blocks away for a game of football. He'd be a bit clumsy at first, having grown a ton over the summer, but he'd get back into the swing of things soon enough. Feeling pretty beat, he'd high-five everyone for a good game and grab some pizza before heading home on the subway. After a bit of fiddling around on the guitar and surfing the Internet, he'd call it a night and sleep peacefully, looking forward to tomorrow.
How could I possibly know this?
Let's just say all our brainwaves are shared.
