Volume 1, No. 1

The Plague / Hooper ... 10 

four-letter code -- in blue ink -- sticking out from under Cynthia's paisley dress, on her scraped and bony knee. I don't think Cynthia ever really recovered from the week's worth of detentions slapped on her by her favourite teacher. Now nine-year-old girls are generally not known for their sensitivity, but none of us, not one of us, could bring ourselves to tell Cynthia the terrible truth -- that of all the Grade 4 girls, she needed protection the least. She was never in any danger of contracting boy fleas. No Grade 4 boy would ever have gone near her. Not even if you had paid him.
From the day of Miss Gordon's branding the "boy flea protection program" went underground. We simply couldn't give it up all together. Instead of tattooing ourselves and everything in sight, we had to settle for whispering "Super Boy Flea Proof" to ourselves or over a friend's shoulder whenever a boy was in danger of