The Nosebleed

My nose started to bleed. I didn't have any tissue so I leaned my head back like Ms. Lacey told me to do when my nose started to bleed in the third grade. I knew that was a bad thing to do because obviously blood in your stomach makes you sick. It made me wonder why grownups are always telling kids to do it. I did it anyway though, because I learned once in the movie theater watching King Kong that blood is better in your stomach than on your face for everyone to see. It felt warm and silky slipping on the back of my throat. It tasted funny, like iron. Why does blood taste like iron, and how do I know what iron tastes like? I don't go around chomping on iron. If my blood is made of iron, and if my skin was opened up and the blood was rushing around in my veins like a highway-if my skin was open and it started to rain, would I rust? I felt the taste stick in the cracks between my teeth, so I took a drink from my coke that Sarah got me at the Sprintmart. It took me a little while to get the Sprintmart cup out of the cupholder because of all of the old coke that lived on the bottom of the holder. My mother and Sarah say the old coke is gross, but I say it has to live somewhere.