General Update

I know I haven't posted in ages...sorry? I have a reason. For the first half of April, I was working on Summer in Spring Heights for Camp NaNoWriMo. It was going really well, well, until my computer went into a 'coma.' Pretty much whenever I started it, the screen would freeze and I'd have to shut it down and try again. It is still in that coma, and the computer that I am on now I can't guarantee use all of the time. I decided that since I am on it to check my email, I might as well try to write as much as I can in the little time.

So, sorry again for not being able to post in ages. I'll try to start again, but no guarantees for being able to post daily.

Thanks,
Pippa

Life in Mill Halley (9)

-----Linnette Birdie-----

The Light Never Stays, Yet Life Moves On

      When Ginger began playing in the band, she told us about how her teacher told them that when you get lost in a piece of music, the rest of the ensemble isn’t going to go back for you. You have to learn to find where your peers are and join them in the music. And my popularity was like that, but I wasn’t able to catch up in fourth grade, when I sort of melted into the background. I was ‘that girl’ who was always reading, who never raised her hand in class even though she knew all of the answers. I was the ‘know it all of third grade,’ and now Skyler was the know it all.

         Life continued. Fourth grade was a good year. In class I would listen to the lectures- the worst lectures that we would get were 10 minutes- do the worksheets, and pull out Lois Lensky’s Strawberry Girl. Skyler sat on the opposite side of the room, and she would try listening to the lectures but often her gaze shifted in my direction. It wasn’t because she was trying to look at me- She was looking at Lusis Karmackle.

         Though Skyler would never admit it, we all knew that she loved Lusis and was awful at hiding it. She would bring him up in the weirdest ways possible- when someone said their favorite color was green, she would smile and say, ‘Lusis’ favorite color is green.’ I would look at Roslyn, who would turn to Ginger, who would turn to me, and then we would all look Skyler dead in the eye just in time for Roslyn to say, “You’re in love, Skyler.”

         Skyler would suddenly begin to whistle, and we’d all roll our eyes, and drop the conversation for another time.

         I hated the conversation. We were in fourth grade! It didn’t seem right for Skyler to be in love, yet she was. She just didn’t want to say so. Maybe her thoughts were the same as mine, maybe she was just embarrassed to like someone who hardly knew her. And at the same time, I felt bad for her. Lusis hardly recognized her existence, Roslyn, Ginger, and I got all over her for it, and her parents had no idea about anything that was going on.  But Skyler was still Skyler, and she had poetry now.

         Though Ginger wasn’t in our class, at recess, she would be the Ginger she’d always been- swinging upside down on the monkey bars, swinging on her front side, going down the slide head first- until the recess monitors would catch her. Then, Roslyn, Skyler, and I would wander away so we wouldn’t get in trouble, too. After being released from the wall, Ginger  would run to play soccer with the boys.

         Roslyn was just Roslyn. She drew all of the time- during class, too, I think- and didn’t care what anyone thought. She dared to be different. It didn’t matter. I was pretty sure she didn’t take up Skyler and my request to for a crime trio and break into those pastels, but she still made artwork beautiful with the pencils, watercolors, and crayons. It was crazy how a fourth grader could have so much talent.

         On our birthdays that  year, we really could all expect what type of card we would get- From Skyler, a poem, from Roslyn, a painting, from Ginger, a gift card, and from me,  a Hallmark or Dayspring. It was the peak of our friendship, if you graphed grades 1-12. Not a care in the world, except for the Skyler Situation (we called it the SS), and what was that but foolishness?

         We had yet to discover.

We Used To...

I remember days
When we'd read books
Off of paper
We'd Write papers
with number two pencils
and today
We write papers
With a Keyboard and screen.
We read books
with a tablet
and the swipe of a thumb

I remember days
When we'd run outside
We'd swing
Up and down, back and forth
Play catch
With dad's baseball gloves
and today
We play inside
On Video Game consuls
And sit
watching figures move
across a television screen.

I remember days,
But today is different.