This is an uber-short story for The Red Dress Club prompt about Kindergarten.

Although many of the stories on my blog are for adults only, this one is completely G rated.

Left Handed Scissors

We didn’t have desks at Hygiene Elementary School.  We had those odd trapezoidal tables that can be put together in various ways, either as one big hexagon, or a long straight row, or, if the teacher was feeling particularly creative, three tables made a large, awkward triangle.

Usually, we were positioned four at a time to a hexagon.  That made it easy for the teacher to prompt one table at a time to do whatever task was required, like getting scissors.

I remember listening carefully to Mrs. Brown as she explained where the scissors were kept, and how to properly take them out and put them away afterwards.  She also explained why we shouldn’t take the ones with the green handles, but I must have blanked out that part.

I had my eye on those green handled scissors.  I was smart; I was special; I deserved to have fancy scissors with green handles!

I watched my classmates, all of us new to school and sitting down and following directions.  Some were squirrely.  Most, like me, seemed eager to please.  One table at a time, Mrs. Brown allowed her Kindergarteners to go to the shelf and get a pair of scissors to use.

A couple of kids took the precious green handled scissors.  I craned my neck to see if enough were left.  Fortunately, most kids were picking the normal scissors.  How unoriginal.

Our table was called, and for a moment I looked at the plain, silver scissors, something in my mind remembering the teacher giving us some reason for choosing silver versus green, but the specialness of the green tools enthralled me.  I took them.

Back at the table, I took the paper in my left hand, and wielded the scissors in my right, just as I had done a million times at home.  I knew how to do this.  I would impress everyone.

Something felt wrong; the scissors wouldn’t work!  I put them to the paper and squeezed, but instead of creating a neat, sharp cut, the paper simply folded under the pressure, getting stuck between the blades so I had to use both hands to open them again and get the paper out.

Mrs. Brown saw.  She kindly reminded me that the green handled scissors were for left handed children, and told me to go exchange them.

So much for being special.

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