My Brother, The Peckerhead

When I was in 5th grade, I started taking the bus to school (I could walk to my K-4 school). This proved to be a learning experience.

There was a kid who lived at the end of the bus route, pretty close to our school.

When he’d get on the bus, some of the 8th graders would yell, “Hey, Peckerhead!” “Peckerhead’s on the bus.” “Peckerhead’s here.”

At the age of 10, I didn’t really know what this meant.

What I did know, was that this kid had red hair. Kind of like Woody Woodpecker. So in my mind, it kind of made sense that they called this kid “Peckerhead.”

A few weeks after starting 5th grade, I came home to find my brother and my mom in our living room, so I said, “Hey, Peckerhead, want to throw the softball around?”

My mom had to explain that “peckerhead” did not in fact, mean “red-headed.”

Oops. Sorry Johnny.