It was a new morning. Another page of the calendar had just been ripped off of the spine. It's August! Not only that, but it's also a Saturday! Caden had just opened his eyes to the sun rays hitting his then-closed eyelids. It was hot as July just left. He woke up to patches of sweat on his shirt. Quickly, the boy got up and went downstairs to the living room.
His mom was already awake. Too awake, in fact. She was cleaning the storage room just below the stairs. Louise looked up and saw the sweat-drenched boy walking down the steps.
"Good morning! I've been waiting for you to get out of bed you log!" Louise jokingly exclaimed.
"What for? It's 9 a.m." Caden replied.
"Well, I was cleaning the storage room just now, and I found this old thing hidden in there." Louise answered. She then tapped a somewhat medium-sized box in the corner of the room. She was smiling all throughout that sentence. She couldn't wait for Caden to see what was inside.
The boy then opened the box. Inside was an electric sewing machine. It was a Singer sewing machine, something that Caden had always wanted to have.
"I don't know if that shabby thing still works. But I knew you'd be happy to see that we had one lying around the house." His mom spoke.
"I am, mom. I truly am. Thank you!" Caden exclaimed in joy. He was so excited to try out the new gift that he immediately carried it upstairs and hooked it up to the plug. He spent a few minutes trying to thread the thing. He watched tutorials, read the manual, and tried all sorts of tricks he learned from the videos. Minutes then turned into hours. He was so immersed in the craft that he couldn't hear his stomach grumbling for anything to digest.
Caden always wanted to learn to sew. He was very inspired by his grandmother. The thought of making clothes from flat sheets of fabric always amazed him. His grandmother had an old tabletop manual sewing machine that had the huge wheel underneath that spun a thick leather strap. While most children who grew up with these would play "racecar" on the foot pedal, Caden was beside his grandmother, watching how a single line of stitches would transform a yard of rectangular fabric into drapes.
Caden tinkered with the machine. He tried out different stitch lengths, stitch tensions, stitch styles, presser feet, everything you can think of. He was so happy that he immediately learned how to sew a shirt. He took an old blanket that had never been used for years. It was old, yellowed, and a little crusty, perfect for practicing. He followed instructions with laser focus and made a shirt. It had uneven hems and some stitches were skipped, but the overall shape was there. He had never felt so achieved in his life.
The weekend fluttered by quickly, and it was Monday again. Mr. Flores had just entered the classroom and greeted everyone. Everyone couldn't believe that 2 months have already passed since the start of school. The class has finally acclimated to each other, and it's finally feeling like a proper class. The original class and the adopted ones don't feel too aloof around each other anymore.
Mr. Flores set up his projector in front of the class. He then flashed a schedule on the screen right before them.
"Alright class, as you know, 2 months have already passed. That means you're almost finishing the first quarter of your academic year."
Everyone applauds. This is a milestone for them for surviving this far. Mr. Flores then gestures the class to quiet down.
"Now, with this, it also means that your Q.A.'s, or Quarterly Assessments are coming up."
YOU ARE READING
Those Damn Dimples (BL)
RomanceA lot of Caden's later years were spent with the absence of his father, a man whom he had always wanted to feel by his side. He longed for his father, to feel safe in his arms when he's in peril. The man was always abroad, working. Caden had conside...
