seemed to be in his head, and then he had thought, maybe that's not so, because I look down and there's my hands and my feet and my bellybutton, and they were all him, at least everybody seemed to think they were. And then he had thought, no, I don't feel me in my hands and feet and my bellybutton, he was just all in the head. And he had tried to touch it, the place in his head where all of him was, but he couldn't. Then he had gotten real scared and thought, maybe I'm sick, maybe I'm different and like I'm not supposed to be. Then he had run to Mom and pulled on her apron and said, "Mom, is all of you in your head?" And she had looked down from the stove, and he had had an awful time making her understand, because at first she thought he had something called a headache. But then he told her about his hands and his feet and his bellybutton not being the same him as his head. Then she had laughed, then looked at him funnylike, like he had gotten to be somebody else all of a sudden, somebody new. Then she had laughed again and then said, no, everybody is like that, it is called a brain, and it is in your head, and that is why you feel like all of you is in your head. Then she had laughed again and looked at him funnylike, so he had gone away. But a great peace had come over him to know he was all right, and he had sat for a long time by himself wondering about it all. He knew he had learned something, but he knew it was something you couldn't tell anybody about, so he kept it to himself and never told anybody. But from that special day on, he felt different, like he was somebody else all of a sudden, somebody new. You weren't quite sure what it was, but you knew for sure something had happened to you.

All of a sudden, Jeffy was asleep.

Lines

14

for the almost gone...

Pack your leather jacket up,

Donate it to the Sallys:

The time has passed for straddling stools And hanging out in alleys.

Stuff paper in your dusty boots,

Strip them of their buckles:

The time has passed for kicking balls And stepping hard on knuckles.