[RiddleRose]: 298.Gold Dust - NaNoWriMo '07.Chapter nineteen

Chapter nineteen.

Wren wandered on, did another deal, and decided to go back to Neil's place. It was getting darker, he needed to restock on bottles of Gold Dust, and he wasn't feeling nearly so optimistic anymore. The abrupt disappearance of Lessa and Nash had him worried.

Wren was not feeling good, so he walked with his head down, looking at the ground. He had been worried, now he was more worried. He wasn't really paying attention to what he saw on the ground, until he saw the book. It was plain, brown leather, with the word “Diary” stamped on it in gold. He picked it up curiously, and opened it to a random page. He read:
“Rough draft:

“When I was in second grade, I switched schools. I had been going to the local public school, but I was bored out of my mind, so I moved on. The school I entered was an alternative, private, eight-person, one-room schoolhouse. We had one teacher, who taught grades one through six.

“We were a wide range of ages, we came from different backgrounds, and there were only eight of us. The range of people to be friends with was thus very small. We had to work together, and keep things peaceful, because if even one person was unhappy or upset, it affected everyone. Our schoolroom was pretty small, and eight small children in there made it seem even smaller. 

“The way we managed to stay relatively happy, and at least not hate each other, was by learning quickly what some people did or didn't like, and then avoiding the things we didn't like. We always shared toys, and if we were playing a game that didn't include everyone, we had to take turns with it if someone else wanted to play.

“Older kids helped younger ones, and sometimes if two of the younger kids were fighting, an older kid would step in and stop the fight, usually be striking a compromise between the two who were quarreling. We all got to be very good at compromising, and we all learned when a fight was just not worth having. 

“Every year we put on a play. This was the time of year when most of the problems happened, because we were all working very closely together all the time. There were always little fights, especially as rehearsals got more and more strenuous. However, we always managed to resolve them, sometimes on our own, and sometimes with the help of the teacher. Usually, both disagreeing parties were relatively satisfied by the conclusion.

“From being at that school, the Farmhouse School, for four years, I learned how to deal effectively with people I don't like, how to avoid confrontations where they are useless, and how to resolve arguments by use of compromises. I also learned how to work effectively in a group, on projects, and assignments, and how to divide work up so that the maximum efficiency could be utilized.”

Wren was curious, so he looked at the name in front of the book. It said, “Alyssa Malcolm” and had a picture of a girl that look vaguely familiar. He connected her with Lisa somehow. And cameras. He flipped to another diary entry, completely at random, and read, “oooohhhhhh marvelous weekend...

quick recap of break.

Wednesday: wrote a bunch, though not enough
Thursday: thanksgiving, food, yum
Friday: saw Ian! wrote a short essay for SCAP
Saturday: saw Jacob, Tori, and Kate, then went to Tasha and Jeremy's, then went dancing, then went back to Jeremy's
Sunday: still at Jeremy's, then home on the train, then sleep for six hours, now here.

so Saturday, i went into Harvard square with Jacob, which was GREAT! yay Jacob! you make life happy! we wandered, and played on a bench, and watched what might have been capture the flag, or might have been football, you never know. then we visited tori at the Coop, and went out to lunch at Wagamama's, which was fun and yummy. then more wandering, and then tori again, and then, as we were leaving, SURPRISE! KATE! i nearly had a heart attack, right there in the Coop! alas, i had to catch a train. off i trotted toooo....

Concord, where i had an epic battle with Jeremy's voice mail, then called Tasha in self-defense. walked through concord in the dark (fun! i kept expecting ghosts) to Jeremy's house, but no Jeremy was present, so i helped Tasha and Liza with Christmas decorations, which was nice. then, surprise Jeremy AND Meghan! (dunno if that's how she spells her name though). hanging outs and lots of hugging ensue. then it was off toooooo...

the Scout House! where there was a grace, and a grace's girl Sarah, and SURPRISE! an EVAN! more huggings ensue. unfortunately, Evan had to leave. so then i learned how to contra, which was super fun! i shall definitely be attending more of those. i still do prefer swing, but this was excellent too. i luckily picked it up decently fast, although all of the directional changes kept screwing me up, cause those really don't happen in swing. but i figured it out. all was well. oh, and i drank about ten million cups of water. then, after the final waltz, it was back toooo...

Jeremy's house, where there were a million people packed into the couch! as usual, Jeremy was on the bottom, under a large pile of girls and Owen then a bunch of people left for the hot tub, but i didn't feel like going in it and getting all wet, so i stayed downstairs, and then SURPRISE!!! Evan showed up!! so then i had a cuddle-buddy, and all was just peachy keen for many hours! we managed to get a whole corner of the couch all to ourselves too, which was excellent. 

then Evan and Owen got into a philosophical argument, which was interesting, but went on for a loooooooooong time. so i went and had chips and salsa. yum! and chatted with... mmm... Kevin, and... Elise? maybe. don't remember. oh yes, Elise and Suzanne were both there. then Evan extricated himself from the argument at looooooong last, so we swung a little, because that's the best! yay! i love swing dancing!

edit right in here were more couch piles, prosthetic rectum jokes, puns, Helen Keller jokes, more prosthetic rectum jokes, a scattered game of ten fingers, bad but hilarious jokes, and cuddling. do YOU have a prosthetic rectum?

then a bunch more people left, and a few went to sleep, cause it was about two thirty (wimps) and a bunch of us went and sang shapenote funnification, and that was yay! I'm better at reading music than i thought. although probably the shapes helped. then at about three fifteen Evan left, and i was bereft of a cuddle-buddy. but i forgive him, because he had to go to work at seven thirty in the am.

at this point there were about... eight of us still up. molly and Elise went and ensconced themselves on the big couch, Kevin disappeared, and five of us, Emma, Jeremy, me, rose, and Suzanne, all crammed ourselves onto Jeremy's bed. this was at about six thirty. rose and Suzanne fell asleep, mais pas moi. but it was warm and nice. if a little cramped. at some point Jeremy and Emma left for a couch, cause i think they were falling off, or possibly Jeremy was too hot, it was unclear which. it being seven thirty n the morning with no sleep and all.

i wasn't falling asleep, so i went downstairs to find that Elise and molly were still awake too, so we chatted for a while, and i ate a bagel, with molly's help, and then i ate another bagel, again with molly's help, and amused myself by signing to Loki then i wandered around in a very silly mood for a while, singing, and then i left Jeremy a note, cause he was asleep, and off i went tooooo...

the train, where my lack of sleep kicked in, and i kept nodding off. i completely missed west concord. luckily, i managed to keep awake for Littleton i wandered up the hill vveeeeeeeerrrrrryyyyyy sllllooooowwwwwwlllllyyyyyyyy, and then fell into my bed and slept for six hours. so i feel good now.

to all the people i saw today and yesterday, and many more as well: i love you all a LOT, and to those who graduated or i don't see that often, i miss you a LOT, and every time i do get to see you everything is wonderful. come visit often!”

Wren wondered who this Alyssa Malcolm was, and envied her her friends. She was obviously well loved by a lot of people, and had a wide pool of friends. Wren grinned, realizing that he had exactly one friend, unless Livia or Lessa counted. But since Lessa didn't actually exist, and Livia was more Neil's friend than his, that left only Neil. He flipped to another diary entry. It was another rough draft for something. It read:

“I picked myself up off the ice for the third time in a row, wincing as I felt new bruises. I would ache tomorrow for sure. This turn had me completely stumped. I had been working on it for a week, and I still fell over as many times as I did it correctly. My instructor checked perfunctorily, making sure I was alright, before turning back to the younger girl she was assisting.

“At thirteen, I was the oldest in the class, having started figure skating much later than most. I towered above the eight and nine year olds who were my classmates, and performed no better than they. Many of them had mastered the turn that was giving me so much trouble, and had even tried to explain how to do it. None of their help had worked though, and I was becoming discouraged. 

“The turn was called a Waltz Jump, because it incorporated a small hop, as you turned from forward to back, and from right foot to left foot. It was supposed to be simple, lovely, and very graceful, the first turn-jump combination you learn when figure skating. I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong.

“I went over what I had just done in my mind, slowing the mental picture down so that I could watch myself doing it. There, I pushed off with my left foot, hopped, turned, and came down on my left foot, then collapsed in a heap. What had I done wrong? I watched it again, this time comparing my mental image to one I had of my instructor doing the turn perfectly. 

“And there, I had it. As I came down, my leg was straight, not bent and soft as it should be. As a result, my weight wobbled forward, overbalancing me, and making my toe pick dig into the ice, tripping me. I tried the jump again.

“This time, I kept my leg soft as I landed, and leaned into the turn, coming to a perfect halt exactly where I was supposed to be. “Good job!” said my instructor, “If you can do that consistently, you'll be able to move up to the next level after next class!”

“I grinned foolishly, and spun on the spot. Then I went to practice the turn.”

Wren grinned. It was a good story. He wondered if it were true. It could very well be, this was a diary after all. He wondered why Alyssa had thrown it onto the street, or whether she had just dropped it. He hoped that was not the case, it must suck to lose a diary. He put it into a pocket, deciding to read more of her life later, when he had more time.