rexphantom

Do you remember the kids in second grade who could flip their eyelids up? For me it was Josh Kirkham. He would take his big, square glasses off, crack his knuckles, and flip them up one at a time. It looked like they were inside out, with the pink showing, and he would stare straight ahead like a zombie, or sometimes roll his eyes up and look extra-creepy. I wonder about Josh sometimes--I don't remember graduating with him, but I don't remember him moving away either. He just sort of disappeared, probably during the summer between one grade and the next. We were never friends, but I still felt like I knew him. Even now I can look at my old yearbooks and see how he changed, how his bone structure altered, shifted, and settled as he grew older. In school he was always That Kid, the one who could flip his eyelids inside out. I wonder if he ever had any other talents, any more marketable skills. Sometimes at night, when I can't fall asleep, I imagine him joining a traveling freakshow as Inside Out Eyeballs, and I think of kids watching his act and going home afraid and grossed out, but at the same time wondering if they could accomplish the same trick. I think about Josh Kirkham inspiring a new generation of eyelid flippers.