Polly,
>>The prompt: 400-word autobiography
I was born in northern California. For three years, I lived in the country. We had a pool and one day it was 120 degrees. Then my family moved to a larger town. On my first day of preschool, I stayed in the book corner all day. In kindergarten, I puked the day after Halloween and Kee Grinde laughed at me. My third grade teacher had a butterfly tattoo on her shoulder. She cried a lot. I received an illustrated children’s Bible for being such a fast reader. In junior high, I became mopey and puffy. We listened to Ziggy Stardust at lunchtime. My Doc Martens were a dress code problem. I butted heads with Coach Jon, my P.E. teacher who subsisted on Diet Pepsi and those huge bags of popcorn. I saw MC Hammer. I had an online affair before it was fashionable. It was consummated with my first kiss, an awkward event on the grassy knoll in front of an L.A.-area McDonald’s. My first real boyfriend gave me a lovely necklace with pink crystal flowers that I later learned he had stolen. He could fit quarters into his nostrils. We made out a lot under a tree after school. I did a lot of acting in high school. I always got cast in the character parts. I was hilarious. I took Spanish and Latin, and won fourth place in the vocabulary contest at the Junior Classical League convention. I refused to go to Mass. I did not kiss any boys. I ate a lot of bagels, pasta, and peanut butter sandwiches. I loved the drive from my parents’ house to my junior college; it took fifteen minutes and I would sing a lot. I discovered jazz singers and fell in love with Gene Kelly. I had my first drink of alcohol when I was nineteen; it was a cosmopolitan. I lived in San Francisco for two years and drank a lot of Midori sours. In college, I kissed a man who was playing a bearded lady. His breath always smelled like alcohol. Then I moved to Portland, Oregon, and worked at a toy store. I had a Persian cat, but she went crazy and only slept in the sink. I dressed up as a Christmas tree. This past spring, I was a clown, and I liked it. I saw a shooting star at the river.
Polly ““ Age 24 ““ Portland, OR
from 400 Words, Issue 1–Autobiographies
page 136
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