History lesson...

When we lived in Maryland Harry frequently came home from school with chatter about Tyrone, such as something that happened with Tyrone that day, or something that Tyrone said. For instance, Tyrone was going to have five wives. I had no idea how to respond to this. "Well he better get a good education so that he can get a good job!" I always tried to turn everything into encouragement for Harry to do well in school, since Harry seemed to have an agenda that conflicted with the teacher’s. It was a kind of survival mechanism for me.

Harry and Tyrone came from what must have been opposite backgrounds, and yet they were friends. Tyrone was black, and his family attended a Baptist church; a southern boy from a southern family and after all, Maryland was the south. Harry was white, and at the time, we were going to a Presbyterian church, which struck me as stiff and well, white. Harry was most definitely northern, last stop being Minnesota. In fact, Harry had just started using the regional expression "ufdah" before we left town. He and Tyrone made an interesting pair, both just adorably goofy and non-stop action. I would meet Harry to give him a ride home from school. There would be a boy hopping along next to Harry, and jumping in front of me with mischievous smiles. That's Tyrone, Harry would say. Tyrone reminded me of Harry.

One time I worked as lunch monitor. The kids ate their lunch in 10 minutes and then went outside, always incentive to finish as quickly as possible. The monitors would give some kids special cards to go early. Tyrone got one. That day Tyrone gave his to Harry. During moments of chaos the two boys always seemed to find each other. Coming back in they had to sit on a ledge and wait. Before long the two boys were rocking back and forth and knocking each other in rowdy camaraderie. These kids were six or seven and it looked pretty normal to me.

One day after school Harry and I had the following exchange:

“Mommy, were you alive when the dinosaurs were alive?”

“No Harry, I wasn't alive when there were dinosaurs. The dinosaurs were the first animals and that was millions of years ago...well maybe 20,000 years ago. I am not really sure, but it was way before I was born.” (Do I have that many wrinkles? Harry was so serious, like he'd been struggling with this for days!)

“Well if you weren't around when the dinosaurs were alive, then were you around during the American Revolution? Was anybody in your family alive then?”

“No Harry, I wasn't around during the American Revolution.”
(American Revolution? What does that have to do with the Jurassic period? Damn, he makes me feel like old! Hey, he knows his history though.)

“Well then Mommy, were you or was any of your family around during the civil war?Was dad around? Or was your mom or dad?”

“No I wasn't Harry. My mom's family came over during the Irish Potato Famine. That was in the 1860's. My dad was in the Korean War. My Uncle was in World War II. Your dad’s family came over from Scotland and settled in Canada. Why are you asking Harry? Is there something wrong?”
(Where is this going?)

“Well no, except Tyrone says my family killed Abraham Lincoln. But my family couldn’t have killed Abraham Lincoln because you weren't born yet and your parents weren't born yet and I wasn’t born yet. Tyrone is wrong. I'm going to tell him tomorrow!”
(It was Black History week. The guy who killed Abraham Lincoln was white. Harry is white. I think Tyrone has figured it out. Nice job with the guilt factor.)