i went to school with
a boy named Stewart.
his hair was short
and blonde. his jaw
sharp. his tongue
silver.

Stewart and i
were very good friends.
we lived on the same street.
we would walk to
school together.

i was known
as a "good kid"
Stewart was not.
but we got along
quite well.

Stewart was always
getting into trouble.
anytime anything went wrong,
you knew it was Stewart.

"it was me"
"i did that"
"sorry"

is what Stewart would say.
i could never imagine
how one boy could
cause all that
trouble.

one day.
i broke the pencil sharpener.
and from the front of the room,
the teacher asked aloud
which one of us
had done the deed.

"oh i did that"
"sorry"

said Stewart

Stewart left the class that day.
he sat in the hallway until lunch.
just another boy
another shenanigan.
oh how could we ever
help poor Stewart
he is too young to be
this bad.