Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

School has been in session now for several months, and I've been finding some interesting things near schools, notes that have apparently been passed to one person or written for one person's private reference.

The first one was folded up pocket-sized and seemed at first to be someone trying out an alphabet and symbols. I used to do similar things in school when I came up with new ways of writing.

On a different portion of the sheet were samples of different fonts, with names like "Square" and "Numbers."

When I opened it all the way up, I saw the title, "How to Draw Graffiti."

So this was a guide that someone either drew for personal reference or for somebody else. I don't know if they intend to actually use it for graffiti or just to doodle in their notebooks and pass more notes.

The next note, on the surface at least, doesn't appear to be very nice. It appears to have been written on the envelope to a card, which has been opened and which is missing. The envelope was folded once and then, apparently, dropped on the ground.

It says, "To Nette," and then a very rude directive.

Now, the first thing I thought when I looked at it was how did they know this particular action was required? Then, I gave it some further thought. After all, it was apparently on the envelope for a card, which could very well have been a humorous birthday card, for example. Given that the directive is in quotes, it could be an in joke and not meant to be derisive at all.

Strangely enough, while dictating this Musing, I picked up another note. This one was only about a block from the public grade school but, based on the handwriting and grammar, probably written by somebody much older.

It says, "You probably won't believe it, but I'll miss you." There's no telling what the story is behind this: either the sender or the recipient could be moving, or taking a long vacation.

The fact that I found this on the ground, crumpled and dirtied, seems to indicate the recipient did not feel likewise about that "Crazy Cre."

Only about a block from my place I found a piece of construction paper folded in quarters with a rich abstract pattern on it that reminds me of feathers.

The last find is my favorite sort of found object, one that tells a story. This one I found across the street from the local Catholic grade school. Whoever sent the note clearly put a lot of time and effort, actually using crayons to color the front of it. She went to the trouble of emblazoning the recipient's name on a dollar bill.

If you turn the note over, it says, "Do you want to go with me Yey or NO"

Given that neither option is circled and I found the note on the ground within feet of the school, I doubt the answer was "yey."

Since there's no "from" name on the note, I'm guessing that the note giver actually had the guts to hand this to her intended in person, possibly even in front of his friends. Anyone familiar with adolescent boys will realize this would have forced him to drop the note like it was diseased, regardless of how he felt about her.

I'm particularly fascinated by the artistic choice to put his name on money, creating "Kevin Bucks." I've fuzzed out his last name, but I can assure you that there's no word play involved for "bucks," "money" or "dollar," "currency" or anything else.

Was she trying, in her own ineffectual way, to bribe him? Was she trying to say, "You mean as much to me as money does?" Or was she indicating she really only wants his money? They're probably a little young for that last conclusion.

It looks like she was also trying to draw either a dog or a horse, though I can't make out what she wrote next to the dog's tail. It's either "letter" misspelled or some other indecipherable word. I have no idea what the dog indicates or why he's colored with only one streak of red. Something tells me, however, he's not meant to be Clifford the Big Red Dog.

Although they differed in execution, I sent many similar notes back in the day. The cluelessness inherent in sending such a note probably indicates that, having not received a response to this attempt, the note sender is even now pulling out the crayons to make another artistic proposal.

Some day when she's older, she'll realize that the answer to this type of note is never "yey." In fact, it's never even "NO." It's always either crumpled up and tossed in the waste basket or left on the sidewalk for curious strangers to find.

Copyright 2005 by Alyce Wilson

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