1. I used to count squares.

4. A chessboard grid seemed like an endless horizon of possibility.

9. In the hallways of my high school, I would walk diagonally along the tiled floors.

16. Careening from one side of the hallway to another, I bounced off the wall and continued like some wayward electron or pinball.

25. There were lots of squares everywhere, but not in the sky.

36. Except when I played Tetris.

49. That was most of my sophomore year of high school.

64. People said I didn't have any friends, but that was the way I
liked it.

81. When I watched television on the couch, everything seemed blurry and out of focus.

100. Until I pressed my face up close to the screen, when I could see the perfectly stacked pixels.

GAVIN EDWARDS