School reflections: Travis
Self-tutoring about elementary school-mates: the tutor recalls one named Travis.
My father was in the military, so we moved a lot. I attended six schools from K to 12. As a result, I could never watch my peers transform from one age to the next. Instead, I knew kids at one age, then met new ones at the next. Likely as a result, I have memories of kids I knew as classmates, but never understood. One key one was Travis.
Travis sat next to me in grade five (we sat in columns facing the front). The way it worked out, your neighbour in the next column wasn’t close enough that you’d naturally talk to them, but you always talked to the kid in front of you and the one behind.
Travis was interesting in that I never saw him talk to anyone. Moreover, no-one talked to him. I can’t recall anyone’s even mentioning him. I think I knew his name because I saw it on work on his desk.
People didn’t “ignore” Travis; no-one had anything bad to say about him. Once in a while I’d look over at him, to make sure he was still there; he never looked back at me. Travis was always busy reading.
Travis, in grade 5, constantly read thick horror novels. Stephen King was one of the authors he read. I also recall his reading the books Omen (David Seltzer), 666 (Jay Anson), and of course, The Amityville Horror (Jay Anson). Keep in mind: those titles were quite new, then.
To be frank, I never enjoyed reading fiction as much as most people do. Travis, however, wore a slight smile as he read. I don’t doubt he was more literate than I was.
The teacher never bothered Travis, so he must’ve turned his work in. There were no princesses in that class; anyone who missed a deadline got public notification.
Unless the weather was a tempest, we had to go out at recess and lunch; to my knowledge, we couldn’t even stay in the library to read during breaks. So Travis must have gone outside then, and presumably played on the playground, or hung out with friends, etc. That environment didn’t really tolerate loners. It was a farming community, and farmers include everyone – even military kids(!)
Due to the attention he didn’t get, I assume Travis must’ve been a farm kid whom everyone had known forever. He was bigger and stronger than I was, you could tell, but didn’t sport athleticism. I can’t recall his being in gym class, which we all attended together.
So how did Travis exist in that environment without my ever noticing him on the playground, in gym class, in the lunch room, etc, but still attending school every day? And how was he apparently able to evade communication or detection so that no-one else ever seemed to notice him?
Travis was absolutely quiet – no doubt about that. He always had his head in a book, which of course teachers encouraged. What he was reading – well, that always surprised me, especially in grade 5, in such a religious community. Yet, perhaps only I noticed.
Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.
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