Flying Solo {Completed}

Chapter 29: 1:40 P.M. Rock Ritual

        Cartman went to the closet. From the top shelf he took down a large wooden bowl. Inside there were about a dozen beautiful rocks: polished agates and geodes, glittering chunks of pyrite, and several quartz and crystals. The bowl was heavy and he had to balance it carefully so it wouldn't drop. He put the bowl in the middle of the circle. 

          Mr. Garrison was big on rituals, especially inventing new rituals for things that mattered. 

          He had a special welcome ritual for when a new kids came to the class. He had the ritual of playing music during writing time. He had the ritual of reading aloud a certain book, The Day You Were Born, whenever it was someone's birthday. 

          The purpose of the rock ritual was to say goodbye to a class member who was leaving. Mr. Garrison called it a "Closure Ritual". 

          The class made a circle around the person and watched while that person chose one of the rocks. Everybody else took turns holding the rock and sharing a memory about the person who was leaving. The rock got passed around in the circle from student to student, soaking up memory after memory, story after story. The departing person took the rock away when he or she left. 

            Wendy remembered the rock ritual they had when Miss. Wilcox, their student teacher, left the class in February. In October they had tried to have a rock ritual after Butters Stotch died, but that time it didn't work. 

           They used the pyrite cube "Fool's Gold" that had been Butters's favorite rock. The Pyrite Cube got passed from student to student but nobody had anything to say. Now the golden cube was sitting on Mr. Garrison's desk. Alone. 

          "Ah, the ritual of the sacred rocks!" Clyde exclaimed, bowing so low his head touched the floor. He did have short legs. 

          "For once, act your age not your I.Q." Red suggested. Some of the students laughed at this. 

            "Gee, the last time I heard that one I fell off my pet dinosaur!" Clyde exclaimed. 

          "Shush" Kyle urged. 

           The class waited while Cartman peered into the bowl and picked up a fist sized rock, brown on one side, the other side, studded with sharp white crystals on the other. He moved the rock into a shaft of sunlight and the crystals threw tiny rainbows onto the wall. 

          Kyle clapped twice. "The ritual of the rock begins in silence" he said whispering. 

          Cartman put the rock in front of him and everyone closed their eyes for one minute of silence. 

          Cartman closed his eyes. He felt the strangest feeling inside of him, a sensation that had been growing during the day: a jagged kind of sadness he had never felt before. 

          He opened his eyes and peeked at the other kids. He had spent his whole life with them. He would try to keep in touch with a friend like Craig or Kenny, and Stan. But the rest of them would drift out of his life forever. 

          He didn't feel broken up about leaving any of them. So why was this sadness so sharp, so sudden? It didn't make any sense. 

          Stan Marsh cam and squeezes into the circle next to Wendy. At this instant all Wendy could think of was Butters Stotch, the way he always scurried to sir next to her during circle time. 

          That was the thing about Butters. She might forget his dirty hands, or the off key way he hummed during writing time. But she would never, ever forget the way he looked at her. A look filled with love that was more transparent than the cleanest glass. You could see right threw it. Would anyone else ever love her like that again?