After breakfast, Mom dressed me, she put me on my new clothes. Before leaving for my first day of school she advised me to be polite, to behave well no matter what. “Don't cry my little darling, you'll see everything will go well”. She kissed me.
I would have preferred to go to the school near my home, I would have liked to find my girlfriends from the street, why did Mom send me to this new school, in this neighborhood so far from home? Why was Mom showing concern when she kissed me goodbye this morning?
I am on my way to school, I walk on the sidewalk, I stand straight, I walk along a big dirty yellow wall on my right, I extend my right foot after the left, well in cadence, keeping the rhythm, I try to empty my head, I try to ignore all the passers-by who observe me, what am I special about and why do they shout at me, is it a celebration?
I have my festive clothes, mom gave me a new white dress with a nice bow on the back, she wrapped a little white bow on my little pigtail, which contrasts nicely with my black hair, at my feet white socks in small white shoes, I think I'm walking to Mardi gras!
I hold firmly in my hand at the end of my left arm my school things, Mom gave me two notebooks, one a little bigger than the other, a double yellow decimeter, she also gave me two new pencils, one green and one red. I'm going to learn to read, I'm going to learn to count, Mom told me to work well at school.
In front of me walk two men, so tall that I do not see the top of their heads, I just see their feet, they have well-polished black shoes, the one on the side of the road in light suit, the other near the wall in dark gray suit, they both walk in rhythm at the same pace as mine, The one on the left has a paper that overflows from his left pocket, there is a drawing of a little girl on it. The little girl looks like me. I am this little girl, yet it is not my father who walks in front of me.
Behind me there are also two men, they walk in cadence, at the same pace as the first two men, at the same pace as mine, one is in a light suit, the other in a dark suit, inverted compared to the first two, it is the one near the wall who wears the light suit and the one near the curb who wears the dark suit. “Come on baby, move on a bit, we don't have all day”, says one of them.
On the wall there are letters, three repeated letters and graffiti but I can't read yet, there are also red spots, like blood stars. But I know it's not blood because on the ground at the bottom of the wall I can see crushed tomatoes, tomatoes that were thrown against the wall, tomatoes that they wanted to throw at me like at carnival; luckily, they missed my little white dress. I hear people screaming but I don't see them, I continue to move towards school.
The two men in front and the two men behind me wear yellow armbands on their left arm. They push me on and hurry up; I must hurry up between them. We will soon arrive in sight of the school, the men will climb the steps and leave me at the door that will open, they will retain the screaming crowd that will want to rush after me, so I will enter alone, the door will close behind me, the four men will leave after completing their mission, to protect a 6-year-old girl who is going to school for the first time!
