Nudity

It was a summer morning, not too hot, and I stood in the cool shade under a large maple tree in my backyard. I took off my striped tee-shirt and enjoyed the breeze on my chest. It felt so good, I decided to try and remember the moment. I was eight years old and took seriously what I was told about childhood being special. I figured remembering calamities wouldn't be a problem, so I put my efforts into filing away memories of the mundane.

Mother called me in to tell me I had been invited to play Barbie dolls. I wasn't sure what a Barbie doll was, but I knew it was by Mattel and therefore too expensive. Mother told me to go and take my Tiny Tears doll.

At the Barbie doll party, a half dozen girls were swapping Barbie outfits and demonstrating how to improve Barbie's out of the box hairdo by ratting her hair with a toothbrush. Tiny Tears was not welcome. I was told to play in the corner and pretend that Tiny Tears was Barbie's baby. The Barbies were not good mothers to their gargantuan offspring, and were not charmed into visiting by her now passé ability to "cry real tears."

Several girls told me that I had been seen outside without a shirt and it was wrong for a girl to do that. At that I lifted my chin proudly and went home, where I begged my mother until she bought me Barbie. I never took my shirt off outside again.

©1996 by Marilyn Knapp Litt

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My Vietnam Related Websites: Women in Vietnam ~ Read about ALL the women who served . . . The Irish on the Wall ~ An effort to locate the Irish who died in Vietnam Tim O'Brien's Home Page ~ National Book Award Winner and Americal Vet Emily's Poetry ~ By a Red Cross Donut Dolly Shrapnel in the Heart ~ The most moving book you will read on Vietnam All About Vietnam ~ An annotated bibliography of books about Vietnam for sale thru Amazon Worldwide! ~ The Journey of a Nurse in Vietnam Project Hearts and Minds ~ Help put Viet Nam back together Photos from a Holts' Military History Tour ~ My trip to Vietnam, February 1998
My Other Websites: Maybe Later . . . ~ My Creative Nonfiction Irish in Korea ~ Irish men and women who gave their lives in the Korean War Literature of the Korean War ~ Don't let the literature be forgotten Samuel Pepys ~ One of my favorite authors Chicago Theatre Z - A ~ This is the best theater town in the country! Soccer Literature ~ I'm a fan and I read O'Leary Lantern ~ Fire! Fire! Fire! Gil Thorp ~ THE Coach (apologies to The General!) Poetry of the First World War ~ Owen, Hardy and others Chi-COW-go ~ Cowz plus Commentary (this used to be a cow town) Graham Fulton, Scottish Poet ~ Charles Manson Auditions for the Monkees
Other Important Websites: The Truth About Caroline ~ a *really good* Young Adult book by my niece, Stacey M. Lane Grosh Remember Oklahoma City ~ The Civil Service and Military will NEVER forget! Milton L. Olive III ~ Posthumous Medal of Honor Recipient

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