Aqua Maria

I'm so excited.

I just found the cartoon I used to watch when I was a kid was released as a DVD set. For years I remembered this cartoon, or barely remembered it, would be more correct. What I remembered was the end credit song. I remembered more than just that song. I did remember that it was an underwater adventure and that my favorite character was a mute sex goddess named Marina, but I really remembered that song.

I was in grade two and my teachers name was Miss Curtis. We had a really large class that year. I can't remember how many students were in the class but I do remember that among the numbers there were five Pauls, a Carlos and... Maria. I remember going to school every day and looking across the room at Maria, trying to get her attention, trying to talk to her. I don't know how obvious it was or even what reactions I got from her, if any at all.

We had a school bizarre / bake sale that year and I remember getting money from my parents for a piece of cake. I loved cake. I was seven years old. What kid that age doesn't like cake? I walked to school that morning. It was one of those five mile walks to school we tell our kids about. The change jingling in my pocket. My cake change.

After some time in class that day, which is a total blur, I hit the hall and the bake sale. I made a beeline for my cake but something got in my way. Ahead of me was Maria. She was eyeing something she liked but she apparantly didn't bring enough change or spent it on something else. As she walked away and I eyed my cake, I glanced at what she was looking at.

Back in class everyone was sitting down with their goods and I walked in, trotted over to Marias' desk and placed a pair of earings in her hand. I sat down at my desk, cakeless, and very happy with myself.

That weekend I got up for my saturday morning cartoons like I did every weekend and I watched Stingray. The end credits rolled and the song started playing. Maria... Maria.... I pined for my schoolmate Maria and couldn't wait to see her again on Monday.