speech raze i guess they turned it into a competition that year. they must have. because the students who wrote the speeches our teacher liked best got to say them a second time in the gym. not just for our class. for the whole school. i wasn't one of those kids. i don't even know what my speech was about anymore. i know i had to look at my cue cards. you lost marks for that. i couldn't memorize anything in that house. in that room. with those people. it was hopeless. jessica's speech was the only one that bit into my brain. it had something to do with growing_up. it was sadder than you'd think anything written by a smiling twelve-year-old girl could be. this was after she pinned me against the wall beside the water fountain and asked if i liked her but before she held my hand on what i thought was one of the worst days of my life. on that cold clean floor in front of the stage she talked about the hope she felt hearing the beatles sing "bridge over troubled water". i knew that wasn't a beatles song. and i thought, why didn't her parents say something? they must have known what i knew too. but no one ever corrected her. and i think she won first prize. whatever that was. because of her, there's a part of me that still listens for paul mccartney to sing about when darkness comes and pain is all around every time i listen to "let it be", though i know the words won't arrive. 241006 what's it to you? who go blather from