Secrets

Chapter 4

There are often six ways to describe one's attendance for any event in their lives; mandatory, punctual, regular, mediocre, poor, or non-existent. Mandatory is a word which means that you must attend the event as someone has either ordered you to do so or is so important that it cannot be missed. This means the person running the event would not think particularly highly of you if you were missing and you could possibly be punished for not attending, even if you were being attacked by a hungry bear. Punctual means that no matter the weather, no matter the condition of your health or no matter if your arm was being chewed off a hungry bear, you would arrive at the event on time or perhaps even earlier. Regular could be described that you would show up to class almost every day, with the exception of days in which you may have had other engagements, like a dentist appointment or you were having your arm sewed back on after the bear attack. Mediocre is when you would come whenever you had the time to show up for class, particularly if your schedule was busy with sporting events, running errands for a secret organization, or practicing your hobby of taming wild bears. Poor attendance is when you do not show up to your events hardly at all; it can be said that your presence in class is a rare episode or event, which might not be through no fault of your own considering you might be running from the authorities or the angry bears you were attempting to tame. Finally, non-existent, a word which here means you have never shown up to your designated events, either because you have been captured by your enemies or that you have indeed been eaten by a bear.

As Holly S. stood there, she knew that she'd have to ensure that her attendance to Room Three was relatively prompt or regular in order to stay on the good side of her teacher, even if her arm was being eaten by a bear.

"But now that you are here, perhaps you would like to find a seat?"

Holly nodded and scanned the room for a place to sit. She found one at the very back of the class and slid into the seat, trying not to draw any more attention to herself. She opened up her new notebook and found a pencil in order to begin taking notes.

"All right then, welcome new student, I am Mr. Chandrid and I will be picking up from yesterday's lesson in which we were examining the various important parts of the geographic regions known as the Woebegone Wetlands..." Mr. Chandrid then dimmed the lights, put on the projector; a piece of loud and clunky machinery which uses lights, mirrors, and the silhouettes of clear sheets of paper to make the image appear bigger for its audience to view.

Several of the students in Room Three continued to stare at the new student, longer than Holly would have preferred. She did her best to ignore the prying eyes, a word that here means intrusive and rather meddlesome to her concentration. However, it did take long for Holly to realize how utterly boring and uninteresting the geography lesson was to become. She tried to take notes on the Woebegone Wetlands, but within a little while, she found herself falling asleep.

As most of you know, falling asleep while someone is talking is rather a rude and insulting thing to do, particularly if this person is describing instructions that could help you escape from the underground tunnels in which you had become trapped, or if someone is trying to communicate a secret message to you, but you cannot understand it as it was spoken in Yiddish, a language that is particularly difficult to comprehend. The only times it would be a good idea to fall asleep while someone is talking is when the words being spoken to you have little to no meaning, nothing that is viewed as useful or particularly helpful, especially if you are not receiving a secret code or being told how to escape underground tunnels. Additionally, I am willing to forgive Holly S. for falling asleep during Mr. Chandrid's geography lesson as she had not slept particularly well the night before, being out in the cold night air and sleeping on the ground underneath the school's administration building, a place in which you can understand is not very comfortable or forgiving to allow someone to get a restful sleep.

Holly's eyes began to get heavy and her head drooped onto the desk as she struggled to listen to the words being spoken by the teacher. However, the monotone voice of Mr. Chandrid, a word which means dull and not interesting to talk about a form of natural geography, became almost like a lullaby for the newest student, although the voice was neither soothing or put to music.

The girl's thoughts began to wander off, wondering what her father must be doing at this very moment. Her mind went back to herself standing on the street in front of the boarding school, watching as her father's bright yellow car drove off into the distance. She'd always been curious about where he would often go, disappearing for almost weeks on end without as much as breathing a word about it to her. While he could be viewed by anyone as a loving and good-natured father, his attendance in her life could be considered mediocre or sometimes poor, but not for the reasons you might think. He, of course, tried to be there for his 'little girl,' his 'musical major' his 'lady of disguise,' but unfortunately the man Holly S., knew as her father was someone who was off doing very noble deeds, that unfortunately sometimes took him far away from the girl that he loved. And while these deeds scarcely included bears, it did often involve the means of running away from authorities or running errands for a secret organization.

By the time class ended, the sound of the bell was what allowed Holly to arise from her sleep. She blinked several times in order to collect her bearings, trying to remember where she was. She then frantically worked to gather her notebook and pencil, shoving them into her bag and grabbing her unusually shaped case. As she opened the case to inspect her violin, she learned that the presence of her bow was non-existent. Immediately, her heart started pounding and tears reached the edges of her eyes. She became very upset, shutting her case and racing out of Room Three and towards the auditorium, thinking that she might find her precious bow there. She climbed the steps of the stage in a frenzy, but alas, the tool which allowed her to make such beautiful music was gone. And it was at that moment, the regular feeling she'd always felt while playing her favourite instrument and the mediocre emotions she had in her stomach while in the class had become non-existent, making her feel empty and very sad indeed.

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