Red Peter

June 2008

Contents:

Heavy – Bob Rosenthal page 3 Was He One of the Ones? – Jack Selber page 4Kneeless – Lee Klein page 5 Waveson: A Monologue – Jo-Ann Whalley page 7 Wired: Part One – Vera Chernova page 15

Heavy – Bob Rosenthal

I am thinking I carry the beatings I got as a child. I carry them on me --they are the weight I carry on me. Father beat me for not eating fastenough. I was humiliated with food. I was skinny. I a finicky eater, slim.I hated fat. I hated peas. I hated things. Peas! I hated peas. I hated peasout of a can. I hated mushy peas not as green as in England. He put twopeas on my plate and two eyes on me! He would wait. Watch me eatthose poison pills of peas. Those vomit producing unctuous orbs. Watch. Watch. There was no escape. And the big eye was on me. And I couldn’tdo it. I would take a pea and put it in my mouth -- my stomach wouldtighten -- my throat would close -- reverse its flow, I’d start heaving ahmm uhmm uho out my nose. I couldn’t get it down -- jam it on the roof of my mouth (later scrape into toilet bowl) and pretend to swallow. Notdaring to meet his glare.