Cowboy Boots

[shanmonster]

When I was in grade five, my parents splurged and bought me a pair of cowboy boots. They were the fanciest-looking boots I could find, with black, cream, and dark brown whorls. I thought they were mighty spiffy. For the first time in my life, I was going to school in a city: Kamloops, British Columbia. In case you don't know, Kamloops is a desert city--not desert as in sand dunes and camels, but desert as in tumbleweeds and cowboys. The area is surrounded by cattle ranches, and at the time, it was a city bylaw that all hotels must be equipped with water troughs and hitching posts for the cowboys who occasionally rode into town.

I was proud of those gaudy boots, and I wore them with pride... which is a bit ironic for what comes next. I was walking through the schoolyard when a boy came up to me, looked me up and down with disgust and said, "Your boots are gay."

My mind raced. Gay meant happy and joyous, but the expression on his face did not match with the word he said. Confused and cautious, I said, "Thank you." How could boots be happy or joyous?

Suddenly, he looked as confused as I felt. Obviously, my response was not the correct one. So he spat on me and left.

I don't know when I figured out why "gay" was an insult, but I do know that I started using it as one. I also started spitting, but not at/on people. That was just gross. It took me about a week before my Mom angrily stopped me from spitting all the time. It took me much longer to stop using "gay" as an insult.

Comments

[clevermanka]

Kids can be The Worst. I bet those boots were gorgeous.

[valkryor]

Agreed. Kids are often little shits because empathy is a learned behaviour, and most kids are very slow learners.

PS. I love your icon! I recall seeing the original in Heraklion many MANY years ago.

[clevermanka]

What a treat, seeing her in person!