Simply Enchanting! Part One by Andrea Lena DiMaggio   Think of your fellow man lend him a helping hand put a little love in your heart. You see it's getting late oh please don't hesitate put a little love in your heart.

Jimmy Elia finds out that empathy is much more than feeling sorry for someone, as Billy Pellegrino teaches him how to feel sorry with someone.

Jimmy walked down Littleton Road toward school. He was feeling quite bored, this being decades before PSP's and MP3's and all that. He was worried that his teacher would call for the homework before he had a chance to copy it from the paper he planned to get from Billy Pellegrino.

"Hey, Pellegrino," he shouted at the boy had just walked out of his house. Billy turned and his own look of boredom changed quickly to fear.

"Leemeealone!" He managed to yell before Jimmy grabbed his arm.

"Listen, you little fairy, gimme your homework...I gotta copy it before Mrs. McCartney collects in at third bell. You were supposed to give it to me first thing yesterday."

"I...I was sick. Here..." Billy started to cry as he pulled the math out of his notebook.

"Lissen, you little queer...If you ever pull this stuff again, I'll tell everybody that you're a fairy."

Billy was so scared that he didn’t realize that Jimmy's threat was 'idle' as some might say, since everybody at Brooklawn Junior High already thought Billy was queer. Billy wasn't queer; at least not in the traditional sense. In 1969, even in an 'enlightened' area of the United States, most people had no idea what transgenderism was. And of course, neither did Billy. He only knew he wanted to be a girl.

"I gotta get a good grade or my dad won't let me play basketball when the season starts," Jimmy said idly. He was surprised at his self-revelation, considering that Billy didn't even rate the time of day if he wasn't so good at math.

"I....I'm soooo sooory Jimmy...I promise I'll get it to you. Please don't hit me."

That Jimmy was a bully there was no mistake. He had gained a reputation in sixth grade that followed him into Brooklawn, and he needed to maintain that. He pulled back his fist and feigned a punch, sending Billy into a bush on the lawn just in front of the school entrance. Billy lifted his head and watched Jimmy climb up the hill laughing to himself. Then Billy put his head down on his arms and began to cry.

Eighth Grade Third Period Social Studies Class, Brooklawn Junior High School

"Class? Class?" Carla Brusschi, a new teacher fresh from college, struggled to keep the class under control. Finally, in frustration, she took the pointer in her hand and slammed it on her desk. The pointer shattered, with pieces flying everywhere, causing the girls in the front row to duck. The display of temper, while uncharacteristic, proved to be effective as all the children stopped talking.

Her already reddish face grew even redder, adding to her frequent embarrassment; she was all of twenty-three years old and still struggled in vain in her fight against acne. She was quite pretty, save for the several blemishes on her face, but her insecurity had only grown as the school board deigned it a wise decision to place her in ninth grade social studies instead of the fourth grade elementary post to which she had applied.

"Jeez, Miss Brusschi, take it easy, huh?" Lenny Tamson laughed from his seat in the middle row by the window. Lenny was the class clown, but his jokes favored droll and sarcastic instead of broad and hysterical. His witticisms were usually reserved for the boys in the back row; the 'jocks' of the class that rarely reacted angrily toward his jokes, since they almost always didn't understand that they were his targets.

The class started to laugh until Carla duplicated her angry outburst and took the pointer...the remaining intact piece...and slammed it down once again under her palm on the desk. The reaction was more silence, with no interruptions save for the door opening as Billy walked sheepishly into class. It was apparent to everyone that he had been crying.

"Billy...see me after class, okay?" Carla said quietly as he passed her desk and took his seat. He was the only boy in the front row, which added to his already miserable existence; wanting to hear and learn was almost as embarrassing as being considered a fairy. The only thing he had going for him was his bright and avid desire to learn and grow, and when that was a target of the teasing, it only served to destroy what little self-esteem he actually had.

"Hey...whatcha been cryin' about, Billy? You fall and dirty your dress?" Terry Davis laughed and soon the whole class began to join in. One last slam of the pointer on the desk caused the class to be quiet once again.

"If only," Billy thought to himself. To be able to sit with his friends; his only friends at school and out without being accosted? To be able to wear what he wanted? To be who he felt he was? She?

If only.

"Class? Be Quiet...Now!" By now, Carla's face was nearly a dark crimson. Her anger did help to advance her authority in class, and thankfully masked her sadness as she looked into the face of the sad boy...her own nephew...and felt his pain as her heart broke once again.

Another day goes by
and still the children cry
put a little love in your heart.
If you want the world to know
we won't let hatred grow
put a little love in your heart.

The Elia home, Halsey Road, that evening...

"So how was school?" Jimmy's mother asked as she passed him the potatoes. He went to speak but he was cut off by his father's brusque and rude interruption.

"Never mind that. Did you get your grade on the math test back?" He shook his head. Johnny Elia was an exacting professional both at his job and at home. He expected performance and accepted nothing less than perfection.

"I got an eighty-eight," Jimmy smiled broadly and his mother beamed until Johnny snapped.

"What did I tell you?" Johnny pointed to the bathroom door off the dining room. At nearly fourteen you might have expected that beatings were de classe, but Johnny Elia wasn't into convention, preferring his own unique brand of discipline. Jimmy swallowed hard. He had decided long ago that he would never show his father any display of emotion. He got up slowly and walked into the bathroom, followed minutes later by Johnny, who shrugged off his wife's hand before closing the door.

"Help him..." Amelia Elia said with her eyes uplifted as a grunt came from behind the closed door followed quickly by a loud 'thwap.' The sounds were repeated over and over as Amelia winced. In 1969, virtually no one asked for help from state agencies. The help was there, but something had to be blatantly evident for any intervention to occur. Amelia thought about leaving Johnny, but she had no education beyond high school, and had virtually no family besides her sister Adrianne, who lived out of state with her boyfriend.

"I want to see some improvement on the next test or there will be more of the same." Johnny said quietly as he sat back down to dinner. Jimmy sat down across from his father and nodded before digging into his potatoes once again. Amelia waited until Johnny turned his head before placing her hand quickly on Jimmy's and frowning in agreement. Jimmy just nodded and sighed quietly.

Take a good look around and
if you're lookin' down
put a little love in your heart
I hope when you decide
kindness will be your guide
put a little love in your heart.

Monday morning on the way to school...

"Hey...Pellegrino...got that homework for me?" Jimmy yelled as Billy tried to look invisible as he walked down the street. He added a slap of his fist in his palm to punctuate his question. Billy walked back quickly and handed the folded paper to Jimmy and stood quietly. If he had a tail, he would have been mistaken for a whipped puppy.

"Good job..." Jimmy laughed. He wasn't trying to be complementary, but his efforts at sarcasm fell short as well.

"I might let you keep helping me." Jimmy looked over the paper and laughed again.

"Anybody ever tell you you write like a girl?" It was true that Billy's penmanship was very good, but 'if only' came to mind once again. He smiled, which didn't help his situation at all.

"Why are you smiling. Are you stupid or something?" Jimmy laughed outwardly, but a shudder went through him when he realized he just asked Billy the same question his own father asked him every night at dinner. Jimmy was almost primed for a life-lesson, but his own selfish thinking had convinced him that it was perfectly acceptable to pass on what he had received. Billy offered no excuse.

And the world will be a better place
and the world will be a better place
for you and me
you just wait and see

Social Studies...later that morning...

"Okay, class. Today we'll begin by writing a two paragraph essay on empathy." Carla had thought long and hard about what to assign. And she had no idea that her nephew had gender issues; who would have known that his problems went far beyond the confusion and sadness of being the target of teasing.

"Ain't that like when you feel sorry for someone?" Natalie Speer said from the third row. Natalie was in the 'second echelon' of girls in the class, not being 'pretty' and all, as well as recently relocated from Hoboken. Her words sounded more like "feel sawry fuh someone?"

"Not quite, Natalie. But close." Carla smiled. Natalie was one of the few girls in class who felt safe enough or cared enough to participate without prompting. Most of the other girls were either in the same boat with her, having very little to look forward to outside of school because of their social status, or didn't care at all. Not because they were foolish or stupid as they might have been portrayed in a TV show or movie, but because they had been influenced highly at home and in school in other classes with the idea that girls don't need an education. The one exception to that among the 'pretty girls' was Cindy Cohen, who was very pretty, very smart and very popular. But she was also very kind. She turned around and smiled at Natalie before raising her hand.

"Cindy?" Carla said with enthusiasm. If anyone could drag the rest of the girls into the twentieth century, albeit kicking and mewling, it would be Cindy.

"It's when you feel with someone by imagining how it would feel to be just like them...with their problems?" She needn't have had to say it as a question; she was usually right.

"That's correct." Carla smiled once again.

"So I have to feel what it's like to play football?" Sue Covaleski asked. Carla smiled.

"Something like that, but a bit more." Carla didn't want to correct her. A hand raised slowly in the front row. Billy smiled at his aunt, thankful that no one knew she was his aunt, but also that things could not get any worse than they already were; whatever anyone said at this point couldn't hurt him more than he'd already felt.

"Yes, Billy?"

"It's like....If I were Tommy Colhagen, how would I feel if my team lost or what would it be like if I couldn't play because I was hurt? Like if Nancy Waddon didn't get to be in the play because she had mono and saw someone else in the lead?" Billy would have made a great teacher if he wasn't so insecure. And of course, in 1969, the only peer-to-peer education was usually about sex, usually crude, and usually incorrect. Carla wanted to praise Billy, but rightly feared he'd only draw more negative attention.

"Anyone else?"

"It's like walkin' in someone else's shoes." The student who spoke sounded confident, which was not a surprise; his participation was a complete surprise since it was Jimmy Elia.

"Hey, Pellegrino...wait up." Billy turned to the familiar sound of Jimmy's insistent yelling. He stopped in his tracks, expecting the inevitable threat. As he stood waiting for Jimmy to approach him, at the same time in the parking lot of Brooklawn Junior High, Carla Brusschi sat behind the steering wheel of her car. She bit her lip and spoke softly.

"I don't know what to do...but you do." She looked up, but instead of seeing the framework of the convertible top of her Buick Skylark, she almost saw the clouds above the school draw together as a protective canopy. She trusted that her prayers were answered as a shudder went through her body; electricity that permeated more than just the storm clouds overhead, but energy that went far beyond the natural order of things.

"Hey...I promise I'll get you the homework, Jimmy please...it's starting to rain, and I gotta get home to walk the dog before he goes on the floor. If I dont...." Billy had his own demons to face, and although at home they were actually fewer, they remained far too similar to what typically occurred in the Elia household. He trembled at the sound of a very loud thunderclap, which followed a flash of lightning.

"Come on...Jimmy....it's getting too close,’ Billy said as he realized the lightning and thunder occurred simultaneously, indicating that the storm was directly overhead.

"Whattya, Billy? A girl?" It was altogether remarkable that Jimmy had actually used Billy's first name instead of the epithet, "Hey Pellegrino." Neither boy had the chance to ponder the novelty of the moment as the thunder grew louder, almost as if it were far off and near at the same time.

"Hey, Pellegrino...answer me...are you girl?" He lapsed into formal bullying behavior and teased the boy once more until the thunder clapped again, louder than any noise either boy had ever heard. And they didn't see so much as feel it as the lightning flashed one last time, knocking both boys to the ground.

An long while later...

"Oooohhhhhh." Jimmy moaned as he sat up. He felt dizzy almost immediately and fell back, hitting his head on something soft....someone soft. He sat up again, this time slower. Turning around he noticed he had fallen on a girl....a girl who seemed vaguely familiar. She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Oooohhhhh." The girl moaned as well and then began to cry.

"Hey...it's alright. The lightening must have missed us." Jimmy said, trying to reassure her, but feeling immediately odd.

"What...what the..." The voice was crude in a way, but didn't sound at all like his own voice...It sounded....high."

"Jimmy?" The girl shook her head and stared at him as if he had two heads.

"Huh?" The girl's voice, on the other hand, sounded very familiar, but the voice didn't match the face...much.

"Hey...Pellegrino...you look like a girl." Jimmy noticed that his voice still sounded odd. It didn't immediately strike him as odd that his words were more of an observation than a cruel taunt. The girl looked at him and began to laugh.

"What's so funny, Pellegrino...you think you're funny?" The bravado was lost as his voice nearly raised an octave at the end of the sentence. The girl smiled politely.

"What's so funny?" Jimmy asked once again; no demand...his face was a mask of confusion.

"Jimmy...you look like a girl too!" Billy tried not to laugh; it really wasn't a laugh so much as a nervous giggle. Jimmy jumped up and noticed two things immediately. He felt very cold, and out of sorts, as some might say. Billy struggled to stand up and Jimmy once again did something way out of character; he offered his hand to Billy and helped him up. Him?

"Jimmy...I have a feeling we're not in Parsippany anymore." Billy's attempt at humor was not only pointless but incorrect. That they were still in Parsippany, New Jersey was obvious, but even more obvious is that they weren't ....'Them.' Jimmy turned and noticed his mother's Chevy Bel-Air in the drive way. When the lightning struck, they were in front of Billy's house; now they were in front of his....three blocks away. He walked up to the car and looked at his reflection in the driver's side window. His eyes widened in horror as he saw his image.

"Oh gosh, Jimmy..." The voice came from behind as Billy walked up to the car. Jimmy noticed a girl's reflection next to his; her hand pointing at the images in the window. The girl had the same exact expression as his....as hers.

"Oh...no!" The words escaped his lips, but instead of an angry screed or plaint, the sound was that of a fourteen year old girl that was crying, for crying she was.

"Ohhhh.....yes." The other girl began to cry as well, but her voice sounded softer; almost sweet. As you might have expected it would. Billy Pellegrino had finally gotten her wish; she was a girl...a sweet and pretty girl...a smart girl. Jimmy Elia was crying because someone somewhere had gotten their wish. She was a girl...a smart girl...a sweet and precious girl...and an identical twin to the girl who stood next to her!

And the world will be a better place
and the world will be a better place
for you and me
you just wait and see
put a little love in your heart each and every day
put a little love in your heart there's no other way
put a lttle love in your heart, it's up to you
put a little love in your heart...

Next: Hi Honey, How was your Day?

Put A Little Love In Your Heart
Words and Music by
Jackie DeShannon, Jimmy Holiday, and Randy Myers
as performed by
Jackie DeShannon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMj7UcjPZ0U