"Bobby! Attention!" He heard his teacher say. He came out of his daydream and looked up to see her staring at him. "Did you hear anything I'm saying?" He continued.
Bobby shrugged his shoulders. Before being interrupted, he was daydreaming that he could freeze time, and before that he was imagining himself navigating the class if he was only 5 inches tall.
The teacher continued to yell at him, as they all did, then she detained him after school on Friday night
Why is it that schools are so intent on crushing the imagination of children? What is it about creative kids that baffles so many teachers? They punished him for sketching or writing stories in class. They punished him whenever he slipped into daydream. His artwork was not the right style for his art teacher; His music was too modern for his music teacher, and he was also forbidden to use mnemonic techniques to revise exams. Whenever he deviated from their formula and their methods, he was punished and told that he would never do anything.
At the end of the school day the children ran towards the gate saying goodbye to all their friends and classmates. Although no one said goodbye to Bobby. They barely saw him untie the chains of his bike for the lonely ride home.
As he approached his teenage years, he was finding it difficult to connect with other children and was used to being excluded. Bobby's only companion was his diary, in which he revealed his thoughts and feelings. Every night before sleeping he would make an entry...
Dear Diary,
Another crap day at school. Walked around the playground alone. Another arrest took place on Friday night.
On the plus side, there are some great Xbox games coming out this month.
Bobby
Same thing happened the next day...
Dear Diary,
I saw boys in my class playing football today. I thought they would ask me to join in, but they wanted me to bring the ball. I decided to spend my break time in the library instead.
There was a dispute with the parents again. I told him I was in custody last night and he threatened to take away my books and Xbox. If he had done this, my life would have no meaning.
Bobby
The next day at school, Bobby tried to focus on his classes. Every time he saw his mind wandering, he would try to draw his attention to the teacher's words. He lasted 15 minutes before slipping into another daydream.
When the school bell declared home time for the children, he went to the detention hall. At least there was no one here telling him what to think. The supervising teacher read a book, while Bobby and two other boys stared at the walls until their time was up. When he was done, he went outside to untie his bike. It had started to rain and the sky was covered with dark clouds, making it felt much later.
Bobby rode his bike on the wet, deserted streets on his usual way home, but before he could reach home, he saw a gang of older boys lurking in a street. They seemed like trouble so he chose to bypass them through a piece of barren land behind the houses. The pavement gave way to a rocky and uneven dirt track at the bottom of a tall grass ledge. He climbed on the grass to avoid some broken bottles, but was soft and slippery from the rain. The front wheel went out of control, throwing Bobby over the handlebar. He landed on his back, knocking the air out.
He did not appear to have been seriously hurt, but sat on the ground for a while and tried to catch his breath. He was wet and his bike was lying in a heap in front of him.
"Are you okay?"
Bobby was trying to locate the source of the sound. It looked like a young girl.
"Has your bike broken down," he asked. It was coming from over the bank, but he could not see who was speaking.
He dragged himself to his feet and started climbing towards the unknown voice. Looking at the barren land below, a row of houses is supported on the bank. There was a girl standing in a garden, peeping through a wire fence.
