Jason and his Grandmother, parts 3100 - 3103

 3100. Lincoln wasn’t in it and Washington wasn’t mentioned.  It had chapters like Cinema, Organized Crime, Jazz and Blues.  It was full of fascinating  pictures like John Dillinger full of bullet holes. Our favorite picture was of an actress named Jean Harlow who was wearing a dress but you could see through the cloth, under the dress was nothing. 

 3101. I suppose it wasn’t the nakedness that we liked about the picture so much as the happy look on her face, like she knew you were looking at her but didn’t mind.  She was not like any of the women or girls we had ever seen in actual life.  The book had been opened to that page with her picture so many times that it opened to that page for Jason as soon as he picked it up. He looked at the picture, and then he got a big crooked grin on his face. 

 3102. That was Jason’s strange introduction to our society. Later, about half-way through the math session, Jason got up out of his seat for no reason at all and walked over to the chalk board and began looking through another book. 

 3103. To get up from ones seat without asking for permission was an act unheard of rebellion and in our entire seven years of schooling it had never happened; we were all amazed at the audacity of it. Our teacher said nothing at first, but then, using a tone that would admit of no contradiction she ordered Jason to return to his seat.