"You are ugly!" "Well, you are stupid!"(Kevin Hughes) She was only seven years old. He was almost exactly the same age. They faced off at the swings. She had her tiny fists balled up and pressed against her hips. He had his hands shoved, hard, into his pockets. He was not going to hit a girl, ever. No matter how mad he was. So he heard the words come out of his mouth before he even thought about them:

"You're ugly!"

He could almost feel the impact his words had. He saw it in her eyes. Tears welled up and made her eyes shiny. He wished he had never said those words. She was tough though. She held them back. no way was she going to cry in front of a stupid boy. As soon as she said that, the words flew from her mouth:

"Yeah. And you are stupid!"

She knew her words hurt. She saw the look in his eyes. She had wounded, if not killed, something inside of him. She felt bad for saying he was stupid.

Both knew they had hurt each other. But they were seven years old. So they just stood staring at each other for a long minute. He took his hands out his pocket. She watched as he reached for her. She stood still. Not knowing what he was going to do.

He put his arms on her shoulders, pulled her closer. So close their noses almost touched. He let a tear fall from his eye.

"I am so sorry. That was mean. I ...i..you are not ugly. You are beautiful. I am just so stupid."

She didn't tell her arms to pull him to her. They just did. Tears fell from her eyes too.

"You are not stupid. Don't ever say that again. I was just hurt and wanted to hurt you. It was mean. I am sorry, okay?"

He felt her tears falling onto his collar. She felt his tears falling against her hair.

Then they heard some classmates start to laugh and sing:

"Hey, Look! Kevin and Kathy sitting in a tree...K ..I...S...S - I..N...G ! First comes ..."

They couldn't help it. They laughed too, Turning to walk back into school, their hands reached for each others. It would be seventy years until they let go.

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