The School Chair

 

MY FIRST SCHOOL CHAIR. MY SHELTER.

My chair was green.

White classroom. High white ceiling. A huge school.

The nun sitting on a green chair on the platform. Very far.

She could not listen to me. I was very shy.

I was nearly three.

Her chair was green. Bigger than mine.

I was very short. My feet did not touch the floor.

Tired and bored.

I was nearly three.

School was full of green chairs. We had desks too.

Toilets were also green.

Blackboards were not black, were green.

Was green a school colour at that time?

It was the end of the sixties.

I was nearly three.

Plastic flowers in the vases. The sound of a piano tune.

I was nearly three.

The green toilets stank. The basins were too high to drink.

I was nearly three.

A very noisy playground.

Shouting girls.

Hide and seek.

I was nearly three

It was freezing.

My feet hurt.

I wanted to go home.

I was nearly three.

Everybody taller and bigger than me.

I did not feel safe in the playground.

Back to the classroom. Quickly to my green chair. Home.

I was nearly three

 

Author: Marta García-Sampedro Fernández-Canteli

Photo: Marta García-Sampedro Fernández-Canteli