In-Between

Fifteen thousand times a day,
I hear a voice within me say,
"Hide yourself behind a screen,
You shouldn't be heard, you shouldn't be seen,
You're just an awful in-between!".

That's what I am, an in-between,
It's just like smallpox quarantine!
I can't do this, I can't go there,
I'm just a circle in a square,
I don't fit in anywhere!

I'm past the stage of doll and carriage,
I'm not the age to think of marriage;
I'm too old for toys
And I'm too young for boys,
I'm just an in-between!

I'm not a child, all children bore me,
I'm not grown-up, grown-ups ignore me,
And in every sense
I'm just on the fence,
I'm just an in-between!

I'll be glad when momma lets me go to dances
And have romances.
I'll be glad to have a party dress that boys will adore,
A dress that touches the floor.

I'm sick and tired of bedtime stories,
I'm so inspired by love and glories,
But I guess it's no use,
I still get Mother Goose!
I'm just an in-between!

I'm allowed to go to picture shows,
That is, if nurse is feeling able;
But we only go to Mickey Mouse,
I'm not allowed Clark Gable!
It's such an imposition
For a girl who's got ambition
To be an in-between!

My dad says I should bother more
About my lack of Grammar;
Huh! The only thing that bothers me
Is my lack of glamour!
Why, if I use a lipstick and a powder puff,
Who knows, I might be Garbo, (in the rough)
Instead of in-between!

I'll be glad when uncle Jim
Can't call me "Precious child!",
That simply drives me wild!
I'll be glad to have a date
That doesn't grow on a tree,
A date that's not history.

I'll be so glad when I have grown some,
All by myself I get so lonesome,
And I hope and pray
For the day
When I'll be sweet sixteen,
Then I won't have to be an in-beteen!