Last Week's Festival

Leigh is finally fed up. If everyone at her high school enjoys drinking, cursing and getting into fights (or bullying each other), she submits her exam sheet to Mr. Wilkins and flies the coup and heads home. She doesn't plan on returning to school the next day or the day following, for that matter. She heads straight to the thrift bookshop downtown and stocks up on old books and some bookmarks and just stuffs them in her near-empty bookbag. She decides to catch a cab home.  Leigh arrives at home and pops in to see her grandmother cooking stew. She tries to see if her grandmother notices that she would not return to school anymore. She says, "Good afternoon, Grandma." Her Grandma replies, "Good afternoon, Leigh. Sit at the table and wait for a bowl of stew." Leigh takes a new spoon from the dishwasher and takes a little sip of stew. It tasted like tomatoes and onions. She hops on her way and makes it upstairs to her room. The mini-typewriter waits on her desk to write a manuscript of some sort. It waits to write a memoir, a figment of imagination. Leigh dumps her bookbag on the bedside dresser and takes out her new books. There are a total of four books. The first book reads, "The Mathematician's Life," by Abram Velard. The second book is, "Waverley Gardens: Flora and Fauna," by Selene Dimask. The third book is, "Red Moons: When They Appear," by Jameson Legrand. Lastly, the fourth book is, "Leonard Forgot: A Play," by Anastacia Antwerp. She displays them on her dresser. Leigh also takes out a used notepad from her bag and a pencil and sharpener. She tries lying in bed envisioning what she might do for her extended summer vacation. She tried making a mental list. She might do the following: 1. Send her friend, Mary Elise a letter. 2. Buy herself packets of instant garlic rice porridge, for everyday. 3. Take old reams of fax paper and note down everything that happens everyday. 4. Wear a watch everyday. She would start noticing everything that happens outside the window. 5. Read the files on her father's dashboard. There is a book there: "Birds of California," by Renault Devon.  6. Write a story on her typewriter. She's thinking of a title, "Stormy Horizon Breakfast," all about her summer vacation. She makes a guess. When she decides to go outside again, she thinks of getting a job as a clerk at the same thrift bookstore. For the meantime, she starts sewing and patching up her old clothes. A long winter could be ahead.  Leigh sews until sunset, when the sun turns orange and the horizon darkens.