u/Muchacho1994

I'm a 27-year-old uncle who is really worried about my kindergarten-aged niece. Today my mom, sister, and brother-in-law were discussing how they would never let her step on a school bus. Their reasons included that the other kids would teach her how to smoke cigarettes "or worse" (in kindergarten) and that the bus is "ghetto" (which I think is racist and is also a word they use to describe Atlanta). My mom once insisted to me that students are now having open sex on the bus. I had to step out of the house for a moment because I didn't want to hear about it and I didn't want to say anything I didn't mean. My family has always been of the reactionary type and I feel there is no use in trying to change their minds, no matter how much I want to.

When I was a kid, I wasn't allowed to leave the house without a trusted adult, even to go out in the yard, even when I was a teenager. I wasn't allowed to go to public school, so whenever I wasn't accompanying family on an errand or whatever, I was essentially under house arrest. At the time I thought it was normal, but it really wasn't. I ended up growing up with no friends and no real opportunities, which may have contributed to my current depression diagnosis. I suppose I should be grateful that my niece is avoiding being homeschooled, but my sister used to go to public school and she got to take the bus, so this feels like a step backward. It is my understanding that my family believes we are "living in the days of Noah" and that it is all downhill from here.

I gave my sister a copy of the book Free Range Kids a while back, but I didn't see it on her bookshelf today when I was at her house and am wondering if she tossed it in the trash. I wish there were something I could say that could sway them, but I feel as though all my points will be discounted because I am neurodivergent and not a parent like they are.

Hidden on a shelf
Is an album full
Of pictures of a friend
Some of those memories
May seem quite mundane
But even they linger
In your brain

You cared and shared
Everywhere
Through thick and thin, you two
Made quite the pair
There were times,
Of course, when you would fight or spat or glare
And now you're alone and scared
(chorus left unresolved)

Sometimes you may feel
You need shelter from
A rainstorm in your life
Yet though it's soggy
It still waters your lawn
But then you blink
And now it's gone

You cared and shared
Everywhere
Through thick and thin, you two
Made quite the pair
And you wish
You both had just one minute left to spend
60 seconds to be friends
(chorus left unresolved again)

(This is where a bridge would go if I had one finalized. In my head, the lyrics here hammer home how the friend in your life is gone. However, they also attempt to be optimistic, albeit not very convincingly, making them feel all the more gut-wrenching. The chord progression is loose and disorienting. This is the part of the song that haunts you at random parts of your day and leaves you lying awake in bed crying your eyes out at 4 in the morning. I don't believe I'm capable of penning that level of nuance, but the bridge does end with a call to action which leads into the final verse.)

In the heart of fall
When the days are short
And when long is the night
It is not time
To sit alone and despair
Gather with ones
You love and care

Care and share
Care and share
With everyone you know
That you revere
Though your friend
May not come back, their spirit, it must live
You've still a life of love to give
(chorus still unresolved)

Care and share
Don't despair
Your parents or your friends
Anyone dear
Care and share
The time is now to make peace and forgive
Care and share
Care and share
(chorus almost resolves)

You know deep down
The one you've lost would ask for nothing more

Care and share
Care and share
Care and share
Care and share
(chorus resolves to tonic, as in the original)

WEEKDAY
Panel 1:
(Garfield stares at Odie. His eyes are crossed, his tail is wagging, and his drool is pooling on the floor.)
GARFIELD: Odie, it's a minor miracle you even remember to breathe.
Panel 2:
(Garfield walks away. Odie still has the same expression and the drool puddle is slightly bigger.)
GARFIELD: Because there's not a single thought behind those eyes.
Panel 3:
(Garfield is gone. Odie still has the same expression and the drool puddle is slightly bigger. He produces a thought bubble, within which a crude stick figure version of himself kicks a stick figure version of Garfield off a table.)

SUNDAYS
Panel 1: (throwaway)
(Garfield and Odie approach a street corner.)
Panel 2:
(The crosswalk signal changes to WALK.)
SFX: DING!
Panel 3:
(Odie looks both ways as Garfield steps into the crosswalk.)
Panel 4:
(Garfield, in the middle of the intersection, stops and turns around to respond to something.)
ODIE, off-panel: Ahem!
Panel 5:
(Odie, still on the corner, taps his foot with a stern expression as Garfield, sagging slightly, walks toward him.)
GARFIELD: Sigh.
Panel 6:
(Garfield, now back on the sidewalk, looks both ways. Odie nods approvingly.)
Panel 7:
(Garfield and Odie cross the street together, the latter with a satisfied smile.)
GARFIELD, aside: I'm starting to think it's possible to teach someone something too well.

Panel 1: (throwaway)
(Garfield, Jon, and Odie sit in a pizza parlor. Jon mulls over a menu.)
JON: Hmm...
Panel 2: JON: I'll think we'll get two 12-inch pizzas instead of one 18-inch. We'll have a little more that way.
Panel 3:
(Garfield tugs on Jon's shirt.)
GARFIELD: Jon, no! That's less pizza! Don't you know πr^2?
Panel 4:
(Odie shakes his head at Garfield. Jon, unable to understand Garfield, has returned his attention to the menu.)
Panel 5:
(Odie climbs onto the table and pulls a pizza pan, part of a display illustrating the different pizza sizes for sale, off the wall. Garfield watches.)
Panel 6:
(He shows the pan to Garfield, tracing its outline with his finger. Pie are not square. Pie are circle. Garfield is unamused.)
Panel 7:
(Odie smiles at Garfield, pleased to have "outsmarted" him despite having not learned geometry. Jon continues to peruse the menu. Garfield asides.)
GARFIELD: I'm starving half to death, and I'm surrounded by know-it-alls.