Recluse Island

Chapter 32

December 2013

Etta Jamestown was not popular. Hardly the prettiest girl in school and as her classmates would readily confirm, a complete and total ruler follower.

So, knowing this you can imagine her dismay when her English teacher Miss Bernice Wolburg announced that her partner for their latest assignment was Benedict Fairfield.

Benedict, unlike Etta, was popular. Though only thirteen it was easy to tell he would one day grow into a handsome man and as for rules. Well as far as Benedict was concerned, they didn't exist.

Therefore, it would no doubt be surprising for you to learn that Etta and Benedict had at one time been good friends. One would need to travel back about six years; it was then that by sheer accident the two had discovered Sydney Falls. Both had heard numerous stories about the majestic waterfall but as you needed to be ten years old to leave the barricade on your own, they were not permitted to see it for themselves because quote, "There's no time for that," said Etta's older sister Nora and Benedict's father the ever busy and talented Dr. Thornton Fairfield.

One day they noticed the post on the East entrance was momentarily unguarded (the appointed Ra Ra guard Tag Reynolds tended to wander off to run errands while on duty, a habit that would one day land him in Mayhew Jailhouse and eventually the Clinkirk Compound). Knowing a chance like this wasn't likely to come again Etta and Benedict seized this opportunity and slipped through the heavy wooden door to the other side. They quickly ran in the opposite direction of Lincoln Ford Beach until they reached the waterfall.

The two had a fun time swimming, splashing, and cannonballing underwater. When they returned, no one had been the wiser where they had been. It remained their secret; it was still their secret. However, the reason why they are no longer friends has always been glaringly obvious. Benedict decided he would rather be "cool" than a loyal friend and so when faced between the two he chose to call Etta a pig-tailed, freckled faced munchkin. Since then, the two have hardly spoken though silence was about to be broken.

Etta's "real" friend Norman Luszak who sat beside her slid a piece of notebook paper toward her. On it he had written one word in his childlike handwriting: SORRY.

Etta shrugged in response and crumbled the paper up. Norman had a dreadful stutter and avoided speaking at all costs. Since he was comfortable with Etta and knew she wouldn't make fun of him, he talked more around her, but she knew he was self-conscious and preferred notes and gestures over speaking if possible.

Over the years Norman has attempted to overcome his stutter. It was more obvious when he was nervous or upset but he still regularly struggled with uttering a sentence without stumbling along the way. She suspected his father had something to do with it; Norman Luszak Sr was known for his violent temper and Etta suspected he was abusive as well. She supposed Norman's slight frame, long neck and bowl haircut didn't do him any favors. He looked like one good gust of wind would knock him over.

Etta glanced behind her shoulder over to where Benedict was sitting in the last row. As she expected he wasn't even paying attention as Miss Wolburg (who was undoubtedly one of the nicest teachers in the school with her kind generous nature and infinite patience) wrote the details of their assignment on the board. Miss Wolburg was in her early thirties, she had rich long brown hair that she kept pulled back with a pair of butterfly hair combs, startling blue eyes hid behind large oval shaped brown-gold glasses and a petite framed usually garbed in a short-sleeved knee length dress depicting a geometric pattern. Benedict was too busy laughing at something Blanche Addison said to notice the announcement Miss Wolburg had just made.