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No Longer A Child
Not quite an adult
This is the seventh in a series. Read the previous chapter here.
Adolescence came early. Sexual development had been rushed due to the abuse and exploitation during his young years, and Jimmie had nothing but confusion about sex and the growing changes in his body.
Adolescence is a border between childhood and adulthood. Like all borders, it’s teeming with energy and fraught with danger. Mary Pipher
Abuse during third and fourth grade prompted early physical and hormonal changes. His beard began to grow in, and he was shaving every day by sixth grade. Jimmie’s chest grew an early dark hair carpet, and his voice cracked and changed in what seemed an overnight period. No other sixth-grade boys were going through this type of early maturity.
Junior High loomed after that sixth-grade summer. Every child seems to struggle in Middle School, or Junior High as it was called in the sixties. But because Jimmie hit his early growth spurt and bodily metamorphosis, he was an instant target for the other boys. Teasing was relentless!
The gym class was the worst! Showering daily in communal showers was mandatory, and of course, the other boys saw these changes and Jimmy became the object of curiosity. A target in Dodge Ball. The butt of jokes. Existence became a daily nightmare…
