Socorro

My new math teacher looks at me

warily when I pass her the slip

that allows me to leave class for my

weekly appointment with Socorro.

 

I tell him, “You should have seen her

face. I swear that she thinks I’m crazy

or something.” And, of course, he

asks, “How did that make you feel?”

 

I think that over and then tell him,

with a smile, “You know what? It kind

of amused me, but it also gave me a

strange sense of power.”

 

There is a kind of freedom in

having this

one place in the world

where I can say

anything I

want to.

I like how he never tells me what

I should think or how I should feel.

I know he’s guiding me

with his questions but

it is always a path to

my own solution.