You're Short | Teen Ink

You're Short

August 8, 2010
By OfficialApprover PLATINUM, Orefield, Pennsylvania
OfficialApprover PLATINUM, Orefield, Pennsylvania
48 articles 0 photos 1752 comments

Favorite Quote:
Grab life by the balls. -Slobberknocker<br /> We cannot change the cards we&#039;re dealt just how we play the hand<br /> Experience is what you get when you didn&#039;t get what you wanted<br /> It&#039;s pretty easy to be smart when you&#039;re parroting smart people<br /> -Randy Pausch


“You’re short.”

The words slide from your lips, as you gaze down at me with your clear, fathomless dark blue eyes. Those two words swirl through my brain, taking it along a new track, remembering how we met…


It was second grade. I was standing on the playground, staring forlornly at the monkey bars I was unable to reach and holding back small, childish tears. Then you walked up. My first thought was : If he were any taller, he’d block out the sun. Of course, you weren’t that tall. But compared to my measly three foot eight inches, it seemed that way.

For a few seconds you’d just looked at me, your eyes flicking between my sad form and the unreachable monkey bars. Then, as second graders often do, you said the first thing that came to your mind.

“You’re short.”

I’d scowled, and walked off in a huff. Like I needed someone to tell me that! However, I hadn’t gone more than a few steps before your hand clamped around my arm. Despite my protests, you retained your hold on me, dragging me toward the monkey bars, surprisingly strong for an eight year old. When we reached them, you lifted me up and made sure my hands were firmly curled around the cool metal bar before letting go.

Incredulous, I swung across, using my momentum to do what height could not. I reached the last bar and dropped, not waiting for you to come and help me. A second later you were standing there. Looking at me.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, glancing down at my wiggling, sandal-encased toes. You didn’t reply. You just smiled.

It became a tradition. Every day, for the next two years, you would lift me up to the monkey bars. I would drop by myself. Then we would sit, most of the time in companionable silence, but after a while, you started talking.

You told me about your life. Your dad left you when you were four. Your mom was often drunk, and in differing states of depression. You were the oldest of three, and taking care of the little ones fell to you.

I never said it, but I guessed that this was why you were so much different from the other kids our age. More quiet. More mature. I didn’t mind that.

In return, I told you about my life, though I was almost embarrassed to do so. It felt wrong to be telling you about the nice, normal, good life I led after what you’d told me of yours. But I still told you. I told you about my happily married parents, my older sister who was closer to me than anyone I knew, our clean, average, cookie-cutter house. Everything seemed incredibly dull, yet you drank it in as if it were the most interesting thing you’d ever heard.

Life progressed. By the middle of fourth grade, I was able to reach the monkey bars. But I didn’t tell you, afraid that you might stop lifting me up. I think you noticed—but if you did, you never said.

When sixth grade came there was no more recess. But that didn’t stop us. We still talked, and every day after school we would rush to the playground a mile away—and you would help me onto the monkey bars.

Our friendship slowly changed. When we spoke, or when you touched me to lift me up, I suddenly felt nervous and light-headed. I began feeling awkward and unsure around you. I didn’t understand what was happening.

It’s eighth grade now. The last dance of the year. Imagine my surprise when you asked me to it…


I was pulled back into the present. Your hands, soft and gentle, circled my beribboned waist. Mine were clutched tightly around your neck. Your face was so close, I could feel your sweet breath brushing my cheeks.

“You’re short.”

“Thanks, I had no idea.”


The author's comments:
I was actually inspired by a facebook quote, oddly enough, but hey...inspiration can come in the strangest places.

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This article has 42 comments.


houston SILVER said...
on Jan. 9 2015 at 10:22 am
houston SILVER, Joburg, Other
6 articles 0 photos 41 comments

Favorite Quote:
I don&#039;t know about life, there is too much to it...

cute and unique!

on Jun. 19 2013 at 8:17 pm
Daeorod14 SILVER, Lilburn, Georgia
9 articles 0 photos 6 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Look inside yourself to save yourself from your other self. Only then will your true self reveal itself.&quot;

So adorable! It kinda makes me question my tallness. =)

fireswatter said...
on Dec. 18 2011 at 3:59 pm
fireswatter, Denver, Colorado
0 articles 0 photos 16 comments

Favorite Quote:
&ldquo;I cannot sleep unless I am surrounded by books.&rdquo; <br /> ― Jorge Luis Borges

such a sweet story! i like it a lot!

on Apr. 8 2011 at 9:44 pm
Untouchable-Summer SILVER, Cranford, New Jersey
6 articles 0 photos 86 comments

Favorite Quote:
Even the best fall down sometimes

so sweet :) <3

on Mar. 29 2011 at 9:02 pm
weebnini DIAMOND, San Diego, California
55 articles 3 photos 164 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Done &amp; Over&quot;<br /> <br /> &quot;Anyone can give up, it&#039;s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that&#039;s true strength.&quot;<br /> <br /> &quot;People should be able to say how they feel. How they really feel. Not, you know, some words that some strangers put in their mouth.&quot;

i like it so much because i'm short too LOL, :) its absolutely the most adorable piece i've ever read and I especially enjoyed the last sentence:) 

well i'd be so, very happy if you'd sneak a peek at some of my stories if you don't mind:) thankyou!


on Sep. 29 2010 at 8:44 pm
OfficialApprover PLATINUM, Orefield, Pennsylvania
48 articles 0 photos 1752 comments

Favorite Quote:
Grab life by the balls. -Slobberknocker<br /> We cannot change the cards we&#039;re dealt just how we play the hand<br /> Experience is what you get when you didn&#039;t get what you wanted<br /> It&#039;s pretty easy to be smart when you&#039;re parroting smart people<br /> -Randy Pausch

Thanks:)  

on Sep. 29 2010 at 3:42 pm
that waz soooooooooooooooooooo cute

on Sep. 23 2010 at 2:09 pm
OfficialApprover PLATINUM, Orefield, Pennsylvania
48 articles 0 photos 1752 comments

Favorite Quote:
Grab life by the balls. -Slobberknocker<br /> We cannot change the cards we&#039;re dealt just how we play the hand<br /> Experience is what you get when you didn&#039;t get what you wanted<br /> It&#039;s pretty easy to be smart when you&#039;re parroting smart people<br /> -Randy Pausch

Thanks:D 

on Sep. 23 2010 at 12:22 pm
Chitra.I PLATINUM, Dubai, Other
44 articles 2 photos 131 comments

Favorite Quote:
Everything makes sense if you think too much about it.

That was plain adorable.=)

on Sep. 7 2010 at 8:02 pm
OfficialApprover PLATINUM, Orefield, Pennsylvania
48 articles 0 photos 1752 comments

Favorite Quote:
Grab life by the balls. -Slobberknocker<br /> We cannot change the cards we&#039;re dealt just how we play the hand<br /> Experience is what you get when you didn&#039;t get what you wanted<br /> It&#039;s pretty easy to be smart when you&#039;re parroting smart people<br /> -Randy Pausch

Thanks:D Yes I have a soft spot for sarcasm since I utilize it all the time.

on Sep. 7 2010 at 9:25 am
DiamondsIntheGrass GOLD, Martinsville, New Jersey
14 articles 1 photo 278 comments

Favorite Quote:
Worry is simply a misuse of the imagination.

awwww... thats so sweet. i love the bit of sarcasm in the end, and the blunt honesty of the monkey bars thing.

on Sep. 4 2010 at 12:06 pm
OfficialApprover PLATINUM, Orefield, Pennsylvania
48 articles 0 photos 1752 comments

Favorite Quote:
Grab life by the balls. -Slobberknocker<br /> We cannot change the cards we&#039;re dealt just how we play the hand<br /> Experience is what you get when you didn&#039;t get what you wanted<br /> It&#039;s pretty easy to be smart when you&#039;re parroting smart people<br /> -Randy Pausch

Thank you!

on Sep. 4 2010 at 6:53 am
SecretNonConformist SILVER, Marblehead, Massachusetts
6 articles 0 photos 195 comments

Favorite Quote:
The only thing necessary for the triumph of<br /> evil is for good men to do nothing.&quot; <br /> -Edmund Burke<br /> <br /> &quot;Bless the children, give them triumph, now!&quot;<br /> Aeschylus, The Libation Bearers

such a sweet story! I loved it.

on Aug. 29 2010 at 2:23 pm
OfficialApprover PLATINUM, Orefield, Pennsylvania
48 articles 0 photos 1752 comments

Favorite Quote:
Grab life by the balls. -Slobberknocker<br /> We cannot change the cards we&#039;re dealt just how we play the hand<br /> Experience is what you get when you didn&#039;t get what you wanted<br /> It&#039;s pretty easy to be smart when you&#039;re parroting smart people<br /> -Randy Pausch

Haha thanks:D

on Aug. 29 2010 at 2:12 pm
lucybrown SILVER, Blacksburg, Virginia
7 articles 0 photos 112 comments

Favorite Quote:
The wastebasket is a writer&#039;s best friend. ~Isaac Bashevis Singer <br /> <br /> First things first, but not necessarily in that order. ~ From Doctor Who

I love this!

Short people rule!  (:


on Aug. 27 2010 at 12:27 am
OfficialApprover PLATINUM, Orefield, Pennsylvania
48 articles 0 photos 1752 comments

Favorite Quote:
Grab life by the balls. -Slobberknocker<br /> We cannot change the cards we&#039;re dealt just how we play the hand<br /> Experience is what you get when you didn&#039;t get what you wanted<br /> It&#039;s pretty easy to be smart when you&#039;re parroting smart people<br /> -Randy Pausch

Thanks for the comment! Although I think you may have me confused with someone else.

on Aug. 26 2010 at 4:52 pm
BooBooBunny BRONZE, Burnesville, North Carolina
2 articles 0 photos 24 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;A man&#039;s a success if he wakes up and goes to bed-and in between does what he wants to do.&quot;- Bob Dylan

Sorry, I couldn't find "Now or Never," so I read this instead, and I thought it was marvelous! So I'm assuming "Now or Never" was as well. The story was a little cliché, but still sweet. I enjoyed it a lot. 

Only Complaint: The sentences "It's eigth grade now. The last dance of the year. Imagine my surprise when you asked me to it..." were a little awkward. Besides that, all good.


on Aug. 26 2010 at 7:40 am
OfficialApprover PLATINUM, Orefield, Pennsylvania
48 articles 0 photos 1752 comments

Favorite Quote:
Grab life by the balls. -Slobberknocker<br /> We cannot change the cards we&#039;re dealt just how we play the hand<br /> Experience is what you get when you didn&#039;t get what you wanted<br /> It&#039;s pretty easy to be smart when you&#039;re parroting smart people<br /> -Randy Pausch

Haha thanks:D No problem.

on Aug. 26 2010 at 3:24 am
weebnini DIAMOND, San Diego, California
55 articles 3 photos 164 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Done &amp; Over&quot;<br /> <br /> &quot;Anyone can give up, it&#039;s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that&#039;s true strength.&quot;<br /> <br /> &quot;People should be able to say how they feel. How they really feel. Not, you know, some words that some strangers put in their mouth.&quot;

every short person's dream:) lol, jk. but honestly.. how realistic of you? i'm a short person myself haha, not wen i was young but as i got older and everything in this story just makes sense:) really, thanks for writing this piece 

on Aug. 25 2010 at 8:06 pm
OfficialApprover PLATINUM, Orefield, Pennsylvania
48 articles 0 photos 1752 comments

Favorite Quote:
Grab life by the balls. -Slobberknocker<br /> We cannot change the cards we&#039;re dealt just how we play the hand<br /> Experience is what you get when you didn&#039;t get what you wanted<br /> It&#039;s pretty easy to be smart when you&#039;re parroting smart people<br /> -Randy Pausch

Thanks for the feedback! I appreciate it. I'll look it over.