Peek-a-Boo

When I was about six, there was a girl at school who would charge boys 5p for a look at her, erm... "lady garden".

Strangely enough, I wasn't disgusted by this, I was just surprised that people did stuff like that. It was something that would never spring to my mind. I just found it odd, like boys who used to eat ants. I thought OK, some kids eat ants, some kids wet themselves, some kids live in flats and some kids live in houses.

Children often rationalise differences. It's not until you become an adult that you then start to analyse why people do the things they do and why people live the way they live.

I guess children need to get on with playing, having fun and learning as they go along - they don't need to get bogged down with psychoanalysis.

It's only now that I think to myself, what the hell was going on in the MacDonald household to make that girl want to do something like that. In this day and age, if the authorities found out what she was doing, they'd probably investigate her parents. That's a big PROBABLY. A lot of family drama slips through the Social Services net.

Anywway... I still see the girl in question from time to time. She's now married with children and doesn't look at all like she's gone on to pole-dancing or prostitution! Unfortunately, every time I see her, I remember her for what she used to do in the playground all those years ago and it's quite possible that she's totally forgotten about what she once did to earn extra tuck-shop money, but even when I'm 101, if I see her, I'm going to remember her as the girl who used to charge boys 5p for her little playground peep show.