Parker (standard:non fiction, 1612 words)
Author: SciFi Fan	Added: Jun 14 2006	Views/Reads: 3054/2055	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
a revised version of the original--Open fly, Canadian Accent, and Animal Crackers

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

him, he replied that he simply did.  I didn't understand the logic of 
his crush, but I advised him to work toward getting her to not hate him 
before aiming for a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.  He seemed 
content enough with my advice, and it had ended another Parker Moment, 
so I was happy enough. 

But then, the copycat stage began.  I suppose he wanted to act in a
manner that would get Amber to like him more.  Though my friends and I 
weren't the coolest kids in school, we were socially accepted.  
Consequently, he began to copy us. 

This stage began with animal crackers.  I happened to be in the habit of
bringing animal crackers to lunch every day and cracking jokes about 
the occasional Siamese mule that I came upon.  What a surprise—Parker 
began to come to lunch with a huge bag of animal crackers and make the 
exact same jokes.  My friends would sort of fake-laugh in response and 
glance at me with half-laughing, half-freaked out expressions.  I was 
really at a loss at what to do there, because I was starting to get 
very freaked out myself.  That was the end of animal crackers for me. 

He had to copy Tyler with clothes, since he obviously couldn't dress
like me.  We had to dress formally for each speech in public speaking, 
and we had already performed at least six speeches by that time.  As a 
result, formal outfits had begun to repeat.  A person only has so many 
pairs of dress pants and dress shirts.  Tyler usually wore kaki pants 
and a blue dress shirt for his speeches.  Let's just say it was 
extremely embarrassing for six foot six, noticeable Tyler to walk 
around wearing the exact same outfit as the guy next to him, especially 
when that guy was Parker.  It made it worse that Parker was incessantly 
checking his fly. 

At that point, I had just about reached my limits with Parker.  I began
to avoid him and be short with him when he tried to talk with me.  I 
was beginning to get worried about a stalking situation, so I was 
trying to break off my friendship.  Once again, I'm only human. 

Things turned ugly with the debate session of public speaking.  I was
assigned to be on the opposite team as Parker, which was probably for 
the best.  I don't think I could have worked with him harmoniously.  
Our topic was the Patriot Act, and Parker was to be my cross-examiner 
after my part of the debate.  The questions began without trouble.  I 
answered his questions to the best of my abilities while still 
upholding my arguments.  He began to look a little ticked off, maybe 
because I wasn't answering the questions the way he wanted me to.  
However, his annoyance seemed to build with each question.  After I 
gave one of my replies, Parker turned to me and screamed, “I AM THE 
CROSS EXAMINER!  YOU WILL ANSWER MY QUESTIONS!”  I was horrified.  A 
debater is not supposed to look at his opponents when speaking, let 
alone scream at them.  Not only was I embarrassed, but so was the 
teacher.  She told Parker to sit down.  Parker walked to his seat while 
checking his fly, and I stepped sheepishly down from the podium. 

Parker backed off for a little while after that.  He was oddly silent at
lunch, but I later found out that this was due to his discovery of 
Amber's boyfriend. 

One day, I sat down at our lunch table to find an extra person sitting
next to Parker.  I immediately recognized her as the new girl from 
Spanish class.  She had just come to America from Ecuador, and she 
didn't speak much English.  Parker told me that she had nowhere to sit 
because she didn't have any friends yet, and that he had told her that 
she could sit with us.  He told me that he remembered what I had done 
for him when he didn't have any friends to sit with.  He told me that 
he knew it was the right thing to do, because that was what I had done. 
 I was shocked.  I guess I had taught Parker something, without even 
knowing. 

In spite of the Canadian accent, the open fly, the animal crackers, and
the screaming at me during our debate, I know that my befriending 
Parker was a good thing.  I had found someone who didn't know how to 
interact with other people, and I had taught him something positive.  
More than that, he had taught me something positive.  If you show 
someone in need a little kindness, good things happen.  Sure, it 
doesn't come from an old woman or a talking tree, but it is something.  
Fifteen-year-olds have to start somewhere. 


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