Jeez. It’s annoying being in between. Being
neither here nor there. You’re not a kid, but you’re not quite an adult either.
Where do you slot yourself?
Don’t bother. They do it for you anyway,
right? The adults, grownups, whatever. They decide when you’re a kid, when
you’re a ‘mature person’. As and when it’s convenient.
If they feel like disallowing something,
you’re a child. Too young to be doing this, not old enough to be watching that,
not ready to be going there. “I don’t want you kids parading around alone.
Without an adult, that is.” “This movie is completely inappropriate. Give it a
few years.” So fine. You’re treated like you’re ten. You can make it work. And
then you figure you can’t yell, you can’t throw tantrums, you can’t make unfair
demands and pull long a long face and hope to get what you want. Nah. Only kids
can get away with that.
You’ve gotta be a “responsible young
lady/man”, “set a good example for the younger ones”, “be reasonable, act your
age. You’re nearly an adult, no?” That’s
what teenagers do.
Um, but you just like, said the other
thing, that I’m too young. That I’m a kid.
“Young adult, ma. Now go keep an eye on
your brother for me. I’ll see you in the evening. You can watch TV or
something, just don’t watch any violent films, HBO’s been playing a string of
ridiculously gory ones this week. God, the way they make action films these
days…and just walk Ceaser at four, but don’t stop and talk so much to those
boys across the street, baby, they’re quite loutish…”
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