Written in my Heart: Sash

Chapter 2: She

I remember only few things of my life till I have met Sash. We lived in a farm with my old grandpa, about 4 km from nearest village. I am the youngest of three sons. My brothers hated me these times. They saw me as a burden to them. Karol was seven years older of me, Roman six years older. They were not only brothers, but each other's best friend too. But I did not fit into their company. They had to take me wherever they went, so my Mum could do her duties. But I was too small for their games, too slow and too stupid as brothers had always told me. So, they took me out of the sight of my parents with some fairy-tales books, and left me there by myself. I used to sit under a big tree while they played in the tree house, or any other games. I used to watch pictures and try to understand what is written in these books. Whenever there was any opportunity I asked about meaning of various letters. So, that is how I learned to read when I was 5 years old. Not that I only knew alphabet, I could really read. And I read a lot.

Following year I started to attend the first year of a primary school. When a teacher found out that I could read she was not annoyed, but very kind and helpful. She brought some books to me and I could read whenever other pupils learnt to read and I could take those books home. She chose books for me very carefully. These books were adventurous and full of different knowledge about lots of things. She insisted that I would write a special notebook, where I would write some information about the books I have read. Such as the name of the author, a book title, main characters and few sentences about the plot. And add anything what I like about the book like quotations, interesting information that book taught me, or whether I like the book or not and why. I liked this school and the teacher. When she found out I was good at Math she had prepared special assignments and examples for me and for one other boy who was even better than me. In June, my grandpa died. It was the first time in my life when I met death. I was devastated,  I truly loved my grandpa. In August our family moved into the town, where my father used to live till he got married my Mum.

In September, I started to attend a new school and the first school day was exactly the same day when I had met Sash. The second class that I was intended to attend had written on its door 2.B. I remember I had made a deep breath and opened the door. There was a middle aged woman in front of the class full of kids. I came to her and said: "I'm a new pupil here, Andrej Vesely." She smiled at me. "Welcome Andrej. I'm Mrs. Borska and I'm glad we have you here. Please sit next to Alexandra to the last desk by the window."I scanned the class. It seemed to be the only empty place in the class as far as I could see. Then, she shifted her attention to whole class and said: "You can say a little about yourself to Andrej and a bit about your holidays, too. I hope you enjoyed it and had a nice rest so we can start our new school year full of strength. Let's start in first desk left. Kate, go ahead." I sit and tried to remember the kids' names and all the information they shared. They told their names, age, which was unsurprisingly seven or eight years, except the girl sitting next to me. Her name was Alexandra Delarova, but she wanted me to call her Sash and she was just six years old. She said that she liked reading books, maths, watching TV and hanging out with boys. I was a bit surprised. I wondered why she was only six. Is it even possible? When kids finished their introductions, the teacher asked me to tell them some more facts about me. I told them, that I was seven; we had lived in a farm near a village, but moved to this town. That I had two older brothers and I loved universe, books, maths and watching nature programmes. Alexandra told out loud: "Two older brothers? Great! The Universe?! Do you mean like observing stars, planets, constellations, comets and so?" I nodded. And she shouted: "Cool!" The teacher admonished her for not raising her hand up when she had any questions and for not waiting for permission to speak. "OK, I'll do it next time", Sash said. The teacher scowled and muttered something but I was not sure what. Then, we went for lunch and to the school club. Sash stayed with me and told me a lot about the school, kids, and teachers. She said that this school was boring and our teacher had never taught her anything really interesting. But what she did quite often was sending her behind the door and to the director's office. I was shocked. Was she a bad girl? Or stupid, lazy or something like that? I was 7, still not enough decent so I asked her directly. She did not agree. She said that she was very clever, that her IQ was about 156 and she was way smarter than any kid in this school, or maybe even any teacher.

Oh, I such admired her! And this is it. I met the girl who made my world completely different.