Glynnis (Empire of Oz series, #1)

Glynnis by Ellie Bernard - Chapter Ten

Glynnis made her way to the third and final building, marked Brown Bass Academy Elementary, secretly hoping, upon entering, she could leave immediately.

"Then I'll walk back to Meridian, resume heading northward, and see Abes Braun again!"

Thus fortified, Glynnis crossed the threshold of Brown Bass Academy Elementary, strode purposefully to a counter with three women behind it, only to see a shiny red plaque, stating, Volunteers Welcome.

Feeling a tad let down by her earlier optimism, Glynnis took a deep breath, and loudly announced,

"I'm here to volunteer."

"I'll take her!" rasped a booming voice from somewhere left of the counter, Glynnis turned her head, as a veritable giant of a woman loomed in from the side, declaring,

"The name's Larjhinna, Virjhanna Larjhinna," the woman grinned, "I'm the librarian here."

"Oh," said Glynnis, never, until this very moment, encountering someone more intimidating than Matron. "Erm...my name is Glynnis," she ended feebly.

"Well Glynnis, follow me," barked Virjhanna Larjhinna, grabbing a stack of papers off the counter. "This year is textbook renewal year," she explained, both walking towards a small room, "and someone needs to keep an eye on the textbooks, so the students don't find the answers, and," shuffling a few papers off the stack she was carrying, "I need you to sit in this room and watch the textbooks. Teachers will come in to vote for their favorites and," she continued, handing the papers to Glynnis, as well as a pencil she'd just pulled from behind her ear, "you will need to tally their votes."

"Oh," replied Glynnis, holding the papers, the warm clammy pencil, as Virjhanna Larjhinna walked off in the opposite direction. She turned to face the room, where she'd been left, only to find a small closed in space lined with tables, piled high with stacks and stacks of shiny new textbooks.

"Okay," Glynnis sighed, watching over textbooks boring her, before she'd even begun.

"Surely they wouldn't mind if I looked at a few," she mused, removing her hat, hoping to find something, pique her interest and keep her volunteering.

Holding onto the papers and using the pencil, she jotted down how the textbooks were arranged, thinking as she did so, this will make tallying the votes much easier. She noticed each table contained different publishers' collections, on any number of subjects, from grades K thru 12. And in the farthest corner, a table labeled AP Courses.

Glynnis had heard of the subjects, English and Math, from the Wizard, but there quite a few she hadn't heard of, and what AP Courses were, was a complete mystery. So that's where Glynnis began, at the AP Courses table, and the first book she pulled off the stack was Intro to Psychology.

"Hmm..." she wondered, noticing the words Psychology and Psychiatrist - as featured on Abes Braun business card - both started with Psych, since she was still planning on seeing him, she thought this textbook might be a good place to find topics of conversation. She lifted the book off the table; it fell open by itself, right at the middle chapter labeled, Human Sexuality.

Glynnis began to read, finding herself immediately fascinated with such terms as Zygote and Ovaries, all the while seeing picture-drawings of naked people, she wasn't bothered by the fact, they were oddly reminiscent of Flatterie And Lyes, mainly because there were no accompanying ghastly odors, which reminded her of her last hours in Oz.

And after what seemed only a little while, a teacher wandered in, only to find Glynnis sitting on the floor, propped up against the wall, her pillow from Allis Mawkree stuffed behind her head, cape falling off her shoulders, with the Intro to Psychology textbook widely open to a large-scale drawing, where Glynnis found the exact location of the Vas Deferens.