India Rose & The Eternals - The Fountain Of Youth Chronicles Vol. 1

Chapter 4. The Essay Contest

Hope Springs, Maine, United States, 1982, 7:00 P.M, 87th Day Of Spring

India Rose sat in the front row of the auditorium, hands underneath her legs, which were kicking nervously in the air. She always did this when she was excited, and her parents had taught her to sit on her hands in order to calm herself down a bit. But the nervous energy always found its way to her legs, and they frequently moved like two fire hoses at full volume.

Her formerly unruly hair had been braided into a wreath-like formation on her head, that though orderly, still had a wispy, bird's nest quality about. India was wearing one of her best dresses, the black one with the white bow, and her shoes were polished to a shine by her Father. He insisted on this point. All those nights in basic training shining his boots had instilled in him a pride in footwear that he tried to pass on to his family. It was not easy though, living as close to the sea as they did. There was always mud and sand on shoes and in houses and cars. Sand was a permanent guest in town, it could be found in every room of every home. It was frequently kicked out, only to return a few days later.

India looked at her parents and sister sitting a few rows back in the school auditorium. She made eye contact with her Father, and he silently put his two hands up to his head forming the shape of moose antlers. He then wiggled his fingers in a comical fashion. India repeated this gesture back and smiled to herself. This was their secret signal, the one her Dad gave her almost every morning as she and her sister were getting on the school bus. It always made her feel comforted inside, like drinking hot cocoa for the soul.

The commotion and noise in the auditorium wound down as Mrs. Bristow took the podium. The crowd of 8th graders in the front row took another couple of seconds to quiet down. Their excitement level was high, and a few nervous boys were still punching each other in the legs as Mrs. Bristow began to speak.

"Welcome students, parents, friends, and family to our very special awards night and essay contest reading. It's been a long day for the students, so let us begin with the student awards and then move on to the essay reading portion of tonight's program. Many of you are familiar with our annual 8th-grade essay contest, but for those of you who are not, let me go over the details. Every 8th grader at Hope Springs Middle School begins the year with the charge to write an essay, the subject of which is chosen randomly from a hat. Each teacher has put in a potential subject title, and once the title is chosen, the students have the school year to develop an essay from that theme. It can be whatever comes to mind when you hear the title. This has in the past lead to some terrific creativity. This year, the essay theme is, "What I See". I personally cannot wait to hear what our essay finalists have come up with. A panel of judges consisting of both teachers and Parent Teacher Association members have chosen three finalists and the winner. All three finalists have won a week at Camp Outermost on Monroe Island this summer. The winner will receive a "college starter" savings bond that will mature upon graduation from high school. This bond has been generously given by a trust fund which was set up at the turn of the century by Hope Spring's "first citizen" Charles Stanton. It has been helping Hope Springs students go to college for almost eighty years now. Our finalists this year are Robert Simmons, Cynthia Block, and India Rose."

India squirmed a bit in her seat as she felt everyone's eyes fix on her and her fellow finalists who were sitting beside her. She had practiced her reading of her essay, but she was still nervous to be up in front of a crowd this size. She had been informed of her finalist position two weeks ago when she had been called to Mrs. Bristow's office in the middle of the afternoon. It had been a few years since she had gone to the Principal's office, and as she walked down the empty hallway towards the office, she racked her brain to try to figure out what she had done that warranted a call down there in the middle of art class. Her classmates had all done that thing where they say, "Uh oh. India's in trouble! What did you do?" (They were mostly good-natured about this, but it still caused India concern as she moved towards the school's main office.)