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Riding in cars with boys
by anna at 06:53 PM on March 21, 2005
Besides the thicket of hair burgeoning in my ears and nostrils and the deeply etched map of wrinkles all over my face, there are other signs that my perennial childhood has at last come to an end. I see kids driving cars and think there's no way they are 16. Ditto for kids buying cigarettes. They get carded but they dutifully produce an ID showing that they are, indeed, 18 or older.
But that wasn't nearly as disturbing as what I saw today. You know how you look at strangers together and try to determine what their likely relationship is? Mother-daughter, hetero lovers, friends, gay lovers, spouses or coworkers, for instance. Well, today I spied a male, female and baby in a car. She was at the wheel. She looked pretty cute in a got-pregnant-too-early, single mom kind of way. She hadn't fully abandoned the makeup and hairstyle of youth. She had brazen curls and some ghastly shade of eyeshadow on. He had acne, a buzz cut and one of those tiny moustaches that look like they could be drawn on with a pencil. As I approached she fussed with the baby in the carseat. Then she turned to the boy in the passenger seat. She kissed him.
Okay, so she had one kid when she was real young and now has another, right? Wrong. This kiss involved tongue n spit and I saw her hand gravitate toward... you know. It went on way too long, so long that I feared the baby would be emotionally scarred forever.
I was forced to accept that this mature looking girl and this early adolescent looking boy must be around the same age and they just found themselves in a family way. For whatever reason they decided (or she did) not to go the abortion route.
It brought back memories of my early teens, when girls are so much further along in just about every way than boys. They're more developed physically (other than strength.) They are smarter. In general they are more grown up and sophisticated. But there's one small problem: With that status often comes a desire for sex or at least relationships with guys. And the ones they know are small, immature and awkward socially. Oftentimes they are taller than their prospective mates. This causes that weird stooped-shoulder posture many girls 5'7" or taller sometimes develop. It also causes them to wear flat shoes when heels might be more flattering. This in turn can lead to self-esteem issues.
So what do they do? Many take up with those greaser, never went to college but decided instead to take a job as a mechanic at the local gas station types who lurk on the periphery of every high school across the nation and possibly the world.
I can't tell you how much we resented these predators raiding our girl pool. Why don't they pursue girls their own age and leave ours alone, we'd lament. But that is the way it was, and I'd imagine it still is.
Such is life in all its bewildering grandeur.
comments (5)
It is sad but its true. Life is harsh and some peopel aren't ready for the real world.
As a society we make being young so optimistic, a real "you can do it" attitude can get you anywhere. But we never test the kids. Kids can literally get away with murder (not all the time) before they turn 18. Of course the kids that sit back will never make it far.
The idea of leaders implies one of subordinates. Still I can't see that being a helpful ideal to be teaching our kids.
by dominathan at March 21, 2005 11:15 PM
In many ways I think we cripple kids by sheltering them from those harsh and unpleasant aspects of life. You will want things but you can never have them. Deal with it.
by anna at March 22, 2005 7:54 AM
Anna, what happened when you became as old as the greaser? Did you get your chance?
by MrBlank at March 22, 2005 9:14 AM
I try not to let things like that bother me, but they still do. Half of the time as you say, you're staring at strangers, and you start to make judgements. One thing I hate to see is a beautiful girl hanging on the arm of a semi-evolved ape, you see these great looks, this relative goddess, and somewhere within the confines of a cushioned cell deep within your mental makeup you’re throwing a fit. "What is she doing?"
If you ever get the chance, when this happens, to walk over and have a chat with the goddess. Lament, as she squawks irritatingly, and as she finds it difficult to string a coherent sentence, messing up pronouns no less, as she explains how she and Frank the mechanic who dropped out of school met. “Me met he when me was getting me car fixed.”
I have a nasty habit of automatically mentally decorating a gorgeous woman with intelligence and wit, and a great personality when I see them. The reality is almost always disappointing.
Heh heh, I just thought, perhaps what you witnessed was an incestuous kiss? Bwahah. >8-D
by Ex Crimson Guard NCO at March 22, 2005 3:42 PM
Blank I trolled for HS tail too when home from college. I too hate to see mismatched couples. And yeah the incest angle occured to me. Too disturbing.
by anna at March 22, 2005 6:18 PM