Good Morning

Good Morning everyone (or evening as the case may be) this has been a very busy week, and suddenly I find myself in the car, riding to lessons and Wednesday church, with about twenty minutes to come up with a blog post.  I apologize.  This is why only the first half of the story is being published today.  That is, I might call it a very optimistic half: it may be more like the beginning description that occurs at the start of a Story.  Anyway never mind this!  Here it is.

Janet Wilson was convinced that nothing and nobody had warned him properly about the dangers of school; and if this is surprising, I must admit that he had had his expectations set rather the wrong way.  First of all, he had spent the months leading up to the first day of school buried in his chaotic and cluttered bedroom space, reading up on every subject he could think of.  Then, he had occupied his mental capacity on all other occasions with frightful anxieties that he would fail all the tests despite his valient efforts to be prepared.  He even considered lying awake at night and reviewing the names of the constellations, in case his teachers required such information, but his mind was muddled with math and music, and the facts and principles of English (and there are many of these) entwined with science experiments and history dates to produce a churning garble of information through which no constellation names could penetrate.
Yet one area of school Janek overlooked entirely, and it was this that waylaid his expectations; namely the School itself (or rather, the relationships pertaining thereto.) Let me explain.  Janek was an only child, and his excursions beyond his parent's roomy residence were mainly limited to Sunday church and weekly prayer-meeting, and this ensured that Janek was not a sociable personage.  He had in fact never interacted with a person his own age in his life.  His parents did not see this as an issue; they were of unsociable dispositions themselves, and their errands to church and prayer meeting, though regular as clockwork, consisted of marching through the doors, sitting stiffly in their bench for the duration of the service, then marching out again, exhausted, and ready for a quiet lunch and nap.  
Therefore, as Janek stood nervously outside the school building five minutes early, he was unaware of exactly how unprepared he was.  As he busily reviewed adjectives and adverbs, however, he heard a sound of footsteps and turned to look at who was making them.
The footsteps were swift and brisk on the gravel drive before the low brick building, and they were accompanied by a loud jangling sound.  A tall woman with a long dark dress and long dark sweater marched towards the door, clutching a jingling and rather rusty ring of keys in one large hand.  She reached the door and thrust the key in, turning it creakily.  Muttering something about needing new keyholes, she pulled the key out and thrust it into a deep inner pocket.  Next, she fumbled with her hair for a moment in the dusty reflection of the door's rectangular window.  Then she took out a handkerchief and rubbed both sides of her nose vigorously.  After this, she stooped and hid the key under a rock.  Straightening with a little sigh, she said.  "Aha, right then--" and made to open the door.  It was then that she noticed Janek.
Her reaction Janek thought odd.  She started violently and stared vigorously, blinking several times as though she didn't believe he was there.  She frowned, rubbed her eyes, blinked, shook her head, and announced, "Well well well!  Dear me!  O me o my!  What have we here?"
Janek scrambled for his manners. "Im Janek Wilson, starting school, ma'am."
"Well well." The woman raised her eyebrows. "You're.  . .you're early.  Interesting."
Janek felt the first hints of confusion.  "Er, Im sorry ma'am---did you expect me. . . Er, um, to be late?"
The woman's eyebrows nearly sprang off her forehead. "Certainly.  Naturally.  Everyone is late on the first day of school.  Never in all my days. . . Early on the first day. . ."
Her voice faded to mutterings and she shoved open the door.  A long, dark, and generally mysterious corridor gaped beyond, and she motioned for Janek to follow her inside.
"Come on then!  Busy day ahead!"
She marched inside with Janek tiptoing nervously behind.



This story was prompted by a Prompt---"shy student that loves astronomy is turned spokesperson for his class when alien lands during recess"


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