All I ever wanted was for Julie Baker to leave me alone. She was aggressive and obsessive. And it all started in the summer of 1957 at the start of second grade. We were just moving into a brand new house, and that’s when I first noticed her. She was immediately staring at me and wondering what my family and I were doing. She was just watching. Waiting. Wondering. Waiting for my next move. And that was moving into our new house.

“Come on Bryce,” my Dad said.

“Coming!” I said.

What become 7 years of avoidance of girls all came crashing to an end. 

“Hi, I’m Julie Baker!” Julie said to my father and me in the moving truck.

“Woah, what are you doing?” Do you need some help? You have a lot of stuff. No, no, no, run off to your mother!” my father and Julie said to each other.

Then, after that entire interaction, I was told by my Dad to go help my Mom with unpacking. When I ran off, Julie even followed me onto our lawn. She attempted to grab and hold me. Once she grabbed me she looked straight into my eyes and just stood there. Admiring my eyes. I couldn't handle it. It marked me. There was a sense of calm but of fear. And it was at that moment my mother came out and questioned both of us. I then did the only manly thing possible seven-year-old, and that was hiding behind my mother. Yep. And Julie was confused but heartbroken at the same time. Moving on, Julie didn't stop there. She would stalk me and try everything she could to be by me. And I was branded for life.

“Bryce and Julie sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G,” the children said at recess.

Even in the classrooms, in the cafeteria, and the hallways, Julie Baker was always there. I just wanted nothing to do with her. But it was clear right from the start that Julie Baker couldn't take a hint, or anything, for that matter. She couldn’t stop. And I thought she never would. That was until 6th grade when I noticed Jullie was calming down. And what I mean is she was not as aggressive in trying to hold my hand or announce a marriage. But I could still tell she was trying everything she could. To negate as much as possible of Julie Baker, I wanted a distraction. And that was my girlfriend Sharry Stalls. She was nothing more than a prop. And I hate to admit it. But it’s true. I acted as if I liked her but it was all an act. A rouse. Julie saw this “relationship” and all she would do would stare and give dirty looks. My plan was working. 

“My dad thinks you are amazing. A great boy!” Sharry said. 

“Thanks!” I would say back. 

Conversations like these would be the focal point of my prop. Every time Sharry and I would come near Julie, I would make sure to hold hands with her so Julie would see where we serious. And this worked. That was until my “best friend” Garrett took an interest in Sharry… too much. Garrett then told her about what I was up to. And let’s just say Sharry didn’t take it well. That was it. We were done. And, somehow, Julie immediately knew about this breakup and she started up with goo-goo eyes. 

“Hi, Bryce, you look great” she would say to me when I walked into a classroom.

“Hi, Julie” I would say back nonchalantly.

She would start sniffing my hair in class. That’s right, sniffing my hair. It was supper creepy and awkward. I was just hoping someday some time this would finally be over. And that was 7th grade. Now, 7th grade brought changes alright, but not where you would think. Home. And what changed was my Grandpa moved in to live was us. It was unprecedented. It was strange. And what was strange was his lack of socialness. He never said a word to me. And I was okay with that. I even found him staring into space most of the time. My Mom said he stared like that because he missed Grandma. But all that changed when one week later when he was reading the newspaper in our living room.

“Oh, Bryce may I speak with you”? He asked me.

“What”? I asked back. 

“Have a seat, son” he replied. 

“Tell me about your friend Julie Baker”, he told me.

“Julie, um, she’s not exactly my friend” I exclaimed to my grandfather.

“Why is that”? My grandfather asked.

“You’d have to know Julie”, I said to him.

He then handed me the newspaper he was reading and said

“Read this, without prejudice”. 

And then I read it and it was Julie Baker, in the newspaper. Now, you may think she got into the newspaper because she did something famous or amazing. No, she got on the front page because she refused to get out of a Sycamore tree. Julie Baker and that stupid Sycamore tree. She claimed it was “gods gift to our corner of the universe.” Yeah, sure, I thought. From 2nd grade to now, all she did was beg me to come up into the tree with her. Nonstop. Everyday. It was annoying, to say the least. One morning, while Garrett and I were waiting for the school bus, Julie was, of course, up in that darn tree. She would even give a blow-by-blow traffic report on how close the bus was getting. 

“Three blocks away…two blocks…one block away!” she would yell. 

“You know, I’d like to think the bus won’t show up today,” Garrett said referring to how annoying it was for Julie to keep saying where the bus was.

“Yeah, I know, I wish it wouldn’t show up”, I said back to Garrett. 

And just when the bus arrived, Julie would come down like a monkey. She would say

“I think the tree looks particularly beautiful in this light, wouldn’t you say so?” She asked.

“If by beautiful you mean unbelievably ugly, then yes, I would agree”, I said back to her.

She then just gave me a dirty, annoyed look and said

“You are just visually challenged, I feel sorry for you”.  

I then thought, visually challenged? Visually challenged? That’s coming from the girl whose yard was a complete mess with weeds and turds everywhere. And that bugged my Dad big time. 

“Oh, there he is again. Stupid brick-later thinks he is a painter. If that truck is not ugly enough, he’s got to make a painting of it.” My Dad would proclaim. 

“Oh I feel bad for his wife he married a dreamer; because of that one of the two of them will always be unhappy.” My Mom would say about Julie’s parents. 

“Yeah, but why do we have to be unhappy”? My Dad asked. 

I then sat there and thought about the judging my Dad was doing. Out loud, I agreed with him, of course. But in my head, I didn’t. I didn’t like the judging he was doing to Julie and her family. Even though I wanted to avoid her, it felt wrong. But, my Dad eventually felt better when Julie’s Sycamore tree was chopped down. She was so sad and distraught. But after this, Julie began lighting up. This was right when Julie started a new project for her science class. It was, get this, about chicken eggs hatching. Yep. For my project, I had a live-action volcano that could erupt at any moment, and at the same time, Julie attracted the entire fair with her stupid hatching eggs. That bothered me big time. But, after all of that, and into the eighth grade, I noticed that I didn’t “hate” her anymore. Heck, I would be okay with seeing her at school, even though she flipped and was “not interested” in me like she was. I realized something happened that I never thought would happen. And it was a shock. Julie Baker no longer liked me but I didn’t hate her. What?    And after everything we both went through, after all the judging by my family and my friend Garrett, after all of it, I realized…I liked Julie Baker. But, there was a big problem, and that problem was she no longer liked me. She now knew I was less than the sum of my parts. She knew my family and I criticized and judged her. She knew. And that’s what bothered me more than how much she used to bother me. I had to show her how I felt, I just had to. And I didn’t know how to at first. I didn’t know what to do. Should I give her something? Should I just apologize? Then I thought, what is one thing she loved the most? What is one thing she loved dearly and was destroyed? What is one thing she was by all the time? What is one thing that actually made her happy? What is one thing that healed her? That Sycamore tree! I hatched the plan. I had to show her how I felt. It was going to require empathy, compassion, love, caring, and just plain politeness and niceness. I liked Julie Baker now, and I had to, just had to show her just that.