Thieves in the Temple: A Prequel to Purple Rain

CH. 15 Courtin' Time- Prince

The second semester of any school year was no more exciting to Kid than the first. The only thing to look forward to was Mrs. Knable's Orchestra class and snow shoveling coming to an end.

Kid wanted to sit alone in the cafeteria at lunch that day. He had been called into the eighth grade counselor's office.

"Kid, I have heard from every one of your teachers. They want your parents to come in for a conference because you get no work done in class."

"No, Mrs. Hill, don't call my folks. It won't help,"  Kid warned. His counselor was a middle aged Black woman with a southern drawl.

"They say you're always sleeping."

"I'm sleepy because, they're boring," he said with his head down. Although Kid annoyed Mrs. Hill, he was at least polite. "That's no excuse," she nagged. She handed him a daily progress report sheet. His teachers had to sign it every period, then he had to drop it by her office after school every day.  As she rattled instructions on how to complete this daily task, he thought about how he would likely forget to do it sometimes. He prepared for failure. It just did not matter.

Normally he sat with Morris and whoever but today he just didn't feel like it. He knew he was going to hear a long lecture from Juanita and likely catch a whipping from Francis when he got home. Francis had lost his day time security guard job. Every day, when Kid got home from school, Francis was on the piano. Kid wanted to yell at him, "Move! You've had all day!" He frowned as if he was in the room with Francis that very moment, rehearsing the evening's events ahead of time.

"I can get your mind off of whatever is making you so mad," said a voice coming from the short blond girl with a pixie cut. He had never seen her before. She swung her uninvited legs over the picnic styled bench. Her bell bottom met his in a friendly kiss.

"I'm not mad. Animals get mad," Kid said as if he was smarter than she. He was clearly older than she was but he knew he was not smarter. He just knew.

"Angry?" she asked to appease him.

"Sometimes."

"I don't want to hear about it," she announced smartly.

"What did you ask for?"

"I didn't ask. I said I could get your mind off of it if you want."

Kid was interested at this point and really did want to know how but returned to his peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead.

"Truth or dare?" she asked.

Dilemma.  If he said truth, then she would ask why he was angry and he couldn't let her. She was already challenging him in a mind game above his head so he could not punk out. He hesitated.

She got tired of waiting, "I dare you to walk out of that gate and skip school with me for the rest of the day."

"I didn't say 'dare,'" he whined.

"Yes, you did." And with that, she walked away through the open gate. Kid scanned the yard. Nobody paid attention to her. She just walked down the street as if a school girl was supposed to be walking around in the middle of the day. Kid found himself a few yards behind her digging peanut butter and white bread off of his gums with his tongue. He caught up after they both were a safe distance from the sight of any school faculty.

She stopped and sat at the bus stop bench. "Wanna go to the record store?" she gleamed.  She might as well have asked if he wanted to go to Disneyland.

He smiled a toothy smile back, "Sure."

"You'll have to show me where one is. I just moved to town."

Mona was from San Francisco, California. Kid had always wanted to go to San Francisco. He heard people do whatever they want and dress however they want in San Francisco. He could not wait for her to tell him what it was like.  He felt like San Francisco would be a place where he belonged. He could play the music he wanted without being considered weird, wear whatever made him feel alive, not feeling like all eyes were on him, people thinking he was queer because he wore a scarf around his neck one day. He only wore it once. He didn't feel weird in that moment with Mona. He felt right as rain.

Mona didn't think San Francisco was exciting. She thought Kid was exciting. She watched him over the course of a long first week of school. She was a seventh grader in an eighth grade math class.  Her father insisted she did not fall behind because of the different math curriculum from state to state.

Everybody in the class noticed the new girl.  She was short, thin and did not have long hair with a part down the middle like the other girls.  Everybody stared at her as the teacher introduced her and asked the class to make her feel at home. Everybody noticed her accept Kid. He was engrossed in his notebook writing song lyrics and drawing pictures. He never looked up. But Mona's eyes were fixed on him. Kid stood out mainly because all of the kids in the class either whispered to each other or stared at her but he had no response at all. It was like they were both alone in the room. She felt a connection he had not caught yet.

She waited two more days of observing him before she took a chance. He was clearly of African ancestry but she was not sure what else.  His veins ran blue through his hands. She looked in his eyes and saw a gorgeous supermodel who had no idea he was glance-worthy. How dare God bestow this kind of beauty on a boy?  She felt her heart pulled toward his melancholy mood. She wanted all of him but she predicted she might not get much.  She would have to lay her cards on the table straight because he would never catch the signal if she flirted using coy girlish mannerisms. She could easily see other girls in their class tried with no luck. He hardly noticed anything. His thoughts overtook him. His notebook imprisoned in him, so she would have to rescue him somehow.  He only seemed interested in one thing. She would have to either be part of that thing or respite from it. 

Let's get dinner with Daddy over with, she thought.