before time

in third grade we watched The Land Before Time

i am not sure why we watched this during school

math break perhaps

but i remember the dark room

with fuzzy steep steps

like a inside pavillion -- 

we would wait here when taking the bus.

i hated taking the bus --

i cried so heavily

my friends awkwardly stroked my back

and Mrs. Yates came up to me

in the sea of maroon uniform

she stroked my knee

and told me it was only a movie.

i wonder where she is