I was a never ender. Never out. Dolly Dutch, Double Dutch. I skipped 'till I had to throw up. I hated being an only child because after school there was no one to turn the rope for me and I had to tie it to the metal water tap in our driveway and turn it for myself. Sometimes it was worse: sometimes my mother would come out to help me, with her tiny arm movements, syncopated rhythms, tripping up my feet, knowing none of the songs.
"Are you trying to kill me!!!?" I'd ask. But it wasn't really a question.