My Share of Sand (A Calabasas Fable)...Slightly Revised Edition

20-The Hero...revised

Friday, September 29

The excited Friday end-of-day rush was starting to die down outside of Mr. McWilliams' classroom, where the LVHS Quizbowl team would be holding a special meeting. Darius took his seat to find Colinda and Genefer already seated and talking.

"And you just make up names for streets?" Genefer asked Colinda for clarification.

"Right. All these neighborhoods have themes for their street names, and I just...do it better."

"What's like...you're the Brian Wilson of street names, and what's your SmiLE, you know. What's your grand epic set of street names that will turn the world on its ear?"

Colinda thought for a few seconds. "Memecrest Estates," she smiled.

"Memecrest Estates?"

"Yeah. Disaster Girl Way, Distracted Boyfriend Circle, This is Fine Drive, Evil Kermit Avenue, Lady Yelling at Cat Alley."

Gen nodded approvingly. "Tall Girl Power." And with that, the two girls interlocked their middle finger.

Darius was completely baffled.

###

Let's backtrack to Monday.

After having their special moment ruined by the remainder of the Quarles family, Colinda and Genefer said nothing as they put their shirt and pants back on, except for Colinda silently shooing QQ away from the doorway. Finally Gen shattered the silence: "We should probably back off a little bit for now."

"Why?" asked Colinda in the tone of voice of a five-year-old girl whose mom just asked her to stop playing with a doll.

"You've obviously got some issues, with your family and whatnot. And, honestly, I kind of pushed you a little bit. Maybe I was being a little manipulative. Maybe your being ready was just wishful thinking."

"No, I don't think so." Colinda was still a little defiant.

"We can still be friends," promised Gen. "Like, close, close friends. We're not separating, just...cooling off."

Colinda considered this for a bit. "Do you pinky promise?" Colinda held out her pinky.

"Nah, we need a bigger finger. A finger you can't forget. Middle finger?"

"Oh, Tall Man, you mean?" Colinda chuckled.

"Well, Tall Girl."

They interlocked their middle fingers. Genefer gave the invocation: "Tall Girl Power."

###

"OK, UCLA Equinox Quizbowl Invitational," Mr. McWilliams told the assembled quizbowlers. "Twelve schools will compete. First tournament, so everyone will be rusty. The most disciplined players tend to win. Team assignments will be: Team A—Captain Chen, Bullock, Gregorian, Zuckerberg; Team B—Captain Resnick, Almer, Kearns, Poulain; Team C—Captain Hightower, Lawrence, Purveyor, Quarles. Bus leaves promptly at seven-thirty tomorrow morning. Try to get a decent amount of sleep and a good breakfast, please. I know some of you have activities late into the night tonight...Darius. Are you punting tonight?"

Darius winced a little. "That is a very good question."

"A lot of people will be upset if you don't," McWilliams noted.

###

Let's backtrack once again to earlier in the week. Over last few days, Darius reached memetic status in the school. LET DARIUS PUNT had become the school catchphrase, sometimes with shared images pairing those words with a copy of his ninth grade portrait at Glendale someone found. It reached the height of zaniness on Wednesday when a huge WE LOVE YOU DARIUS sign was taped up above the garage of Asha Nanima's house (with her kind permission). He enjoyed attention as much as any 15-year-old would, but it was starting to get a little obnoxious.