3-13
From CleanPosts
In which we go back to the day when Francine met Katchoo...
In high school, everyone's assignment was to write a poem. Young Freddy Femur recites a stupid one about gay people popping up everywhere. The teacher practically has to drag Katchoo's poem out of her. She stands and addresses the class:
This mask I wear, you gave to me
One winter night beneath the trees;
Its black and blue enshrounds my life,
Surrounds my eyes and blinds my sight.
This mask I wear pretends I'm here
And hides me from the awful fear
That you might find the heart of me
And take that too, beneath the trees.
This mask I wear to hide the pain
It's all I have to keep me sane,
I just fell down, I'm told to tell.
There are no words to stop this hell.
This mask I pray to God for why
He hates me so to watch me die
A little more with every night
This man comes in and rapes my life.
But little girls grow up, my friend
And learn the wicked ways of men.
And this mask I wear comes off the day
This mask I wear lays on your grave.
The class sits in stunned silence, until Freddy breaks the mood with a stupid joke and makes the class sink into chaos. Katchoo sits like a statue. Later, in the lunch room, Francine Peters walks by with her tray and tells Katchoo, "I thought your poem was incredible."
In the school auditorium a leather-clad Katchoo smokes and watches Francine rehearse for a play. She watches Francine cower under the verbal abuse of the teacher. Just then a boy in a leather jacket comes close to Katchoo and tries to make a move on her. Katchoo lets him have it in the nose with her elbow and makes her escape. "You're dead meat! You hear me? You're DEAD! Dyke!"
At home Francine is pampered by her mother while she does her homework. Mom wants her to get even more involved in school. Francine begs her not to call her principal and pull any strings. But overall Francine has a good relationship with her mother and she's happy.
After Francine's mother leaves, Katchoo shows up outside Francine's window. Francine opens it and lets Katchoo take a look. It's very nice compared to her house, which is down by the power lines and not even cockroaches can live there. Katchoo says she watched Francine rehearse and calls Miss Beem a pig for yelling at her. Then she kisses Francine's hand and quotes some romantic lines that come across as a little jokey for Francine, but Katchoo is quite sincere. And Katchoo slips off into the night, banging herself on the Peters' sprinkler system on the way.
