Mommy hadn’t completely forgotten about me while I was out shopping, but given what she had chosen to purchase, I wish she had forgotten all about me. Mommy had bought a portable potty-training toilet, purple and pink, with cartoon characters from a pre-school level children’s show. I didn’t know what was more embarrassing, that mommy had bought a potty-chair for me, or that I was scrawny enough to still fit in it. Anytime I went to a different room in the house, I was supposed to bring it with me so that I could relieve myself quickly enough to avoid any accidents, but that created a situation where wetting my pull-ups was the least embarrassing option between that and using a toilet in front of someone.

Elaine and I did our homeschooling lessons together. Since I had repeated kindergarten back when I had been in a public school, she had caught up to me and we’re now both in fourth grade. After getting up on Monday morning, eating breakfast, and doing our chores, our school day begin with our reading lessons. Elaine and I alternated reading each paragraph out loud. We were reading “Black Beauty,” and I winced internally as we read through a scene where the horse’s owners were thoughtlessly hurting it.

During my turn to read, I stuttered through the word “contemptuously,” butchering it into an incomprehensible jumble. Elaine giggled. I responded by shoving my younger sister in the shoulder. Mom grabbed my arm and then smacked me across the face with the palm of her hand.

“Annabelle, stop fighting with your sister. You know better.”

I barely had time to register the pain on my face when mom began prompting me to say the word correctly.

“Kuhn-temp-choo-uhs-lee,” mommy said slowly, as she emphasized the phonetics of the word. “Say it ten times, but slowly.”

My cheeks burned for multiple reasons as I repeated the word. I kept my eyes focused on the book laying in my lap. After several tries, I was finally able to say the word correctly without any stuttering or pauses. I knew how to say it now, but I didn’t have a clue as to what it meant, and I didn’t ask for fear of a further lecture from mommy.