Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Embarrassed (07/19/07)
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TITLE: Under Their Influence | Previous Challenge Entry
By Eva Piscitell
07/26/07 -
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Jorie couldn't wait.
She loved to sing—was always singing—her brother Ben complained. Nothing could silence Jorie's singing. She had started as a toddler echoing her mom who sang all the time. Like mother, like daughter, they'd all said.
The bus stopped and she looked up to see her two brothers getting off. She followed, lagging behind; thoughts still on the concert. Arriving home, she found Ben and Jack standing on the front porch. "Door's locked," Ben said.
"I'll go through the window," Jack volunteered, running off. As he opened the door, Jorie flew past him, went straight for the phone, and dialed the number.
"Step Right Inn", she recognized the bartender's voice.
"Hi, are Jack and Linda there?
She hoped they wouldn't be….
"Hey, Jack, Linda, you got a phone call!" Her heart sank.
"Hello?"
"Hi Mom. It's me. Remember the concert tonight?"
"Yes, Jorie, don't worry. Dad and I are finishing this beer, then we're leaving."
"Okay, Mom." Jorie hung up. She was worried, but she wanted more than ever to believe her.
Ben didn't help, taunting, "You're not gonna make it! La, la, la, la, la, la!" in his best soprano voice. Yelling at him to shut up, she went upstairs to change.
It was getting late.
"Mom, please come home. I've got to leave soon!"
"Jorie, I said we'd be there! It's just that Morris offered to buy us a drink, and Dad didn't want to embarrass him by refusing.
Another drink? Her voice began to quiver….
"But Mom, we all have to be there…." Her Mom interrupted, "I don't care what Mrs. Polk said. I said we'll be there. Now let me go."
Mom didn't know Mrs. Polk, how upset she'd be. Her parents didn't know any of her teachers, for that matter.
Jorie checked her watch, deciding she could still make it if they walked in the door right now.
The phone rang….
She let Ben answer it. "It's for you," he said, dropping it. "So much for your stupid concert!" he laughed and ran off.
Jorie recognized the "one too many" voice: "Sweetie, we're gonna be a lill late."
"Oh Mom, it's already too late," she cried.
What excuse had she used the last time?
"Mrs. Polk, I'm sorry. Our car broke down.…"
"You wouldn't believe how sick my brother Jack was, Mrs. Polk. We had to take him to the E.R…."
Lies, yes, but much better than the truth….
"Mrs. Polk, my parents were out last night getting so drunk that they didn't make it home in time. Do you think you could arrange for a ride for me next time something like this happens?"
She flushed at the thought of Mrs. Polk's reaction. She would die first. A lie would have to do. Exhausted, she fell asleep, excuses still rumbling through her head, waking only briefly when her parents stumbled in.
The next morning she told them she was sick—it wasn't a lie—she was sick.
The following day she left for school with a plan.
So far so good…the last bell! Her plan was working. She had avoided Mrs. Polk all day.
She left the study hall she'd gone to instead of Chorus. Running for her bus, she didn't see her until it was too late.
No place to run, mind racing, she braced herself. Which excuse had she decided to use again?
But she needn't have worried. Mrs. Polk brushed right past her. She knew she had seen her because "if looks could kill," Jorie's picture "would've been in the obituaries." She was so embarrassed, she wished it were. She quickly boarded the bus.
Arriving home, her mother watched as she threw her old music book and sheet music into the recycle bin. "I'm quitting Chorus." Her mother shrugged her shoulders and left her alone, thinking to herself, like mother, like daughter.
Jorie no longer had the heart to sing. The alcohol had choked every bit of a song from her.
She had finally been silenced.
Surprisingly, her brother Ben never did get the satisfaction out of that that he thought he would.
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