Jumping back a bit into the way-back machine, I remember a time when I was very popular, especially amongst the young women of my class. I can't really remember if it was kindergarten or first grade -- it was one of the two -- but I suspect it was kindergarten due to reasons I will explain later.
Her name was, if you can believe it, was 'June'. Taller and a bit wider than me, she wore a big aggressive ferocious grin on her face -- one of those faces that gave away her intentions like it was painted in bright neon. And her intentions were utterly frightening to a first-grade boy like me: she wanted to plant a big, wet, sloppy kiss on me, which is about as close to being eaten alive that you can imagine at that age.
I do not know why she had this peculair vendetta against me, chasing me through the playground at every recess, causing me no end of anxiety. The only thing that saved me was that she was carrying a few extra pounds around which tended to slow her pace, whereas I was a tiny little weed of a boy who could run as fast as the wind (or at least that's the way it felt) and could climb all the way to the top of the playground equipment where she couldn't touch me. But she'd park herself at the bottom of the jungle gym like a panther waiting for the monkey to fall out of the tree, pacing back and forth with an evil smile on her face, taunting me with, "I'm going to catch you and give you a big kiss!"
The result was that I was often the last one off the playground when recess was over, since I had to wait til the bell sounded and June would run back inside so she wouldn't get in trouble. And as soon as she was out of sight, I'd have to race even faster to get inside so I didn't get in trouble
I always thought she had a weird name. In my vast knowledge of the world at the tender age of 5 or 6, I knew that June was a month, not a girl's name. In fact, it was my birth-month! Why would anyone show such disrespect to an honorable month like June by naming their child after it? What kind of oddball parents did she have? Maybe that was the cause of her strange obsession: she wanted to punish a normal kid like me (who had a normal name) because her parents had given her a weird one.
So far as I can remember, this strange behavior of hers was restricted to the playground. I don't recall that she acted in this manner when we were in the classroom; in fact, it is highly probably that we got along quite well in the classroom and she was just trying to show me that we were friends in the only way she knew how - by chasing me down and showering me with 'affection'. Unfortunately, she didn't quite understand how 'cooties' worked at the time. Especially from the boys' point of view. There is nothing more dangerous in the world than getting 'cooties' from a girl! And it is downright fatal if the poison is administred with a kiss. Ooh! Ick!
At some point after kindergarten, she disappeared from my memory. The kindergarten had a separate playground than the larger playground used by the older children, and the images in my head have her firmly placed in the smaller playground, so it is likely that she was not around the next year. Many of the childrens' parents were stationed at the nearby Air Force base, and there was a lot of turnover from year to year.
Meanwhile, there was another young lady who stole my heart in first grade ... but that's another story.