The Child of Keigman

School

Mary Fern slept snug as a bug her bed, with the clock above her slowly ticking down to 8:39 precisely.

That was the time she was to wake up to get ready for school. Her dreams danced with all sorts of stories and songs that she could never remember, but were pleasant nonetheless.

Mary awoke to her mother gently shaking her awake.

"It's time to wake up, dear. Your father's making pancakes." Her mother said with a smile as Mary slowly stirred awake.

Mary slowly climbed out of bed, groggily walking to get dresser and grabbing her school uniform.  She slid on the skirt and then the shirt, tucking it in and smoothing it out nicely. She went over to the mirror, checking to see if she missed anything before sliding on her socks and shoes.

She then scurried out of her room and to the kitchen, where her father stood in front of the stove, making pancakes. A few were done already and sat tantalizingly on a plate next to the stove. Mary snuck over, quietly reaching over the counter to grab one.

"ah ah ah!" Her father playfully scolded, gently smacking the back of her hand, "We need to say grace first, young lady."

Mary stuck her tongue out to him as she turned around and walked to the table, sitting down on her chair. Her mother was already there, pouring coffee for the grown ups and for Mary, cup of apple juice.

Her father finished cooking, sliding the apron off and sitting down with the two at the table. They all joined hands, ready for grace.

Her mother and father spoke the prayer softly, with Mary not really being able to hear what they were saying. She wouldn't be required to say the grace prayer until she was 18, so she didn't have to learn it yet.

"so," Father began shortly after grace was finished, "What was that paper Mary got yesterday at school?"

"Oh! Yes. Apparently, the kids are going to be watching a movie in school today." Mother responded.

"Oh yeah, I remember that from when I was a kid! You excited for it, honey?"  Father asked, turning to look at Mary.

She couldn't respond, as her mouth was already filled with pancake. She couldn't help it, her father's pancakes where the best she'd ever tasted. She nodded to her father to respond, with him chuckling a bit.

"It's a good film for a kid your age to watch. Its gonna show you how Lord Keigman saved the chosen people. You're gonna love it, honey." Her mother said before finishing her coffee.

Mary quickly ate the rest of her pancakes and got up from the table, grabbing her lunch box from the fridge and her backpack from it's hook. She kissed Mother and Father goodbye before running to the door and outside.

Her two friends, Harriet Green and Penny Hall were waiting at the end of the street. They always walked together to school, and today was no different. Their mothers had been friends, and their children would most likely be friends. That's just how it was.

They walked to school, walking past the baker, the grocery store, and the deli before making it to the big highway that separated the shopping district from the school. They waited for a moment for there to be a break from the cars passing by before quickly rushing across the street to school.

They entered the school, with Mary quickly glancing up at the clock.

10:03. Right on time. School wouldn't start for about 10 minutes, giving them enough time to put their stuff in their cubby and get to class.

Harriet and Penny were talking to one of their classmates, so Mary went on ahead to class. Their teacher, Miss Perrywinkle, was fiddling with the small roll in television that would be used to show the kids the movie. She appeared to have difficulty with the plugs, plugging in a different combination of the tricolor plugs and glancing at the TV.

"Fucking shit." She growled after another failed attempt. She slammed the cords onto the ground before slowly turning around and noticing Mary.

"Oh..oh dear...I apologize, child, I..." She started to explain herself as Mary walked over.

"Can I help, miss?"

"Go for it, honestly your guess is as good as mine."

Mary grabbed the cords, putting them in the first combination that she thought of.

Yellow, red, green.

The television clicked to life, the main menu of the movie playing. Miss Perrywinkle stammered a bit, grumbling how she "just tried that" before patting Mary on the head.

"Thank you, dear. Will you go ring the bell for class?" She asked, standing up and going to her desk.

Mary rushed over to the classroom door, grabbing the bell and ringing it as hard as she could before going back to her desk. Soon, her classmates trickled in until every desk had a pupil sitting at it.

"As you can tell, students, today we are watching 'Glory of Keigman'. Now, you will be tested on some facts presented in this film, so don't think you can just goof off and sleep while the movie is playing." Miss Perrywinkle said, walking over to the light switch and turning off the lights. She then grabbed the remote and pressed play, the movie starting.

After about 2 hours, Miss Perrywinkle paused the movie and turned on the lights.

"Lunchtime, students."

The class quietly lined up at the door, and the teacher led them to the lunchroom. They all sat down and joined hands for the lunch prayer. Miss Perrywinkle pulled out a small piece of paper and read the prayer from it as the students sat quietly with their heads bowed.

After the prayer, Miss Perrywinkle put the paper back in her pocket.

"Now, anyone who brought a lunch may be excused to go get it from their cubbies."

Mary, along with a few other students, quickly got up and exited the lunch room, walking over to the cubby area and collecting their lunchboxes. As she walked back to the lunchroom, Mary heard a voice.

"Hello, child."

She couldn't tell where it came from, or who it was. She was alone in the hallway.

"Be not afraid, sweetheart. Your time will come to you." The voice spoke again. It sounded like a man's voice, and it was gentle and sweet, like a father speaking to his small child.

Mary stood there for a moment, listening for the voice again until a louder, much clearer voice rang out.

"Mary? Is something wrong?" Miss Perrywinkle was crouched in front of her, looking her in the eye. Mary quickly shook her head, her face burning with embarrassment.

Her teacher chuckled slightly, standing up and offering Mary her hand.

"Let's go eat, shall we?"

Mary took her hand, following her back to the lunchroom.

After lunch, the movie was un-paused,  and played for the rest of the school day. It was quite a long film in Mary's opinion, about 5 hours long. But it was worth it, for the students got a chance to witness, on screen, the many miracles of the Great Lord Keigman.

At the end of the day, Mary sat outside of the school and waited for her parents. While she always walked to school, her parents always picked her up to take her home again, as the highway was much busier in the afternoon.

Soon, her father's white car pulled up to the school and Mary stood up to greet it. She climbed inside, hooking on her seatbelt.

"so, I heard you spaced out a bit at lunch?" Her father asked, glancing over at her before looking back at the road.

"Yea..I..guess I just heard something." Mary responded sheepishly.

"Really? Like what?"

"A voice.'

"A voice. What kind?" Her father seemed slightly concerned that someone his daughter didn't know was talking to her.

"a guy's voice. He sounded like a dad."

Her father froze, eyes widening slightly before he relaxed, nodding to what she was saying.

"I see. That's nice, honey."

They drove the rest of the way home in silence.