The Booklet on 'Booping'

"Boop!"

Annie Chen blinked and twitched, stunned in the middle of completing a math assignment. Her classmate Jamie Fitzgerald laughed at her, having taken her index finger out of the blue and swiftly connected it with the tip of Annie's tiny nose.

Before Annie could think to say anything, Jamie and her other nine year old followers ran back to their table before the teacher could notice they were out of their seats. Perplexed by what had just occurred, Annie forced her attention back to her work, knowing there were only ten minutes left and she still had two questions to complete. If she wanted that A (which she did), she had to show all her work, and that took time.

She tried to put the strange "boop" incident out of her mind, but couldn't help but feel that it was just the opening salvo of a brewing storm which would be hitting her classroom and entire school in the days to come.

**

"Yes!" Annie said out loud as she received back her A+ English assignment from the teacher on her way out the door.

Annie exited to the school parking lot, and waved her paper at her father, Edward, who was leaning against his used black Chevy truck. As she reached him, Edward took the paper from her, perusing it with an approving nod.

"Very good. Though I haven't heard of this book, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon." Edward said this with the undertone that if he had not heard of it, it probably would not meet his standards of quality literature.

"It's written by Grace Lin, an Asian American author. It's won awards and has been compared to The Wizard of Oz." Annie replied in the book's defense.

"Lin? Chinese writer?" Edward asked.

Annie grimaced, "Does it matter?"

Edward's face said it did, but he knew better than to say it aloud; Annie was thankful for that as she buckled in to head home. She appreciated her father's pride in their heritage, but not to the point it made him prejudiced.

Not a minute into the drive, Edward was already being paged on his CB radio. He ran a trucking company, and Annie felt some resentment towards her father's dispatcher, who reported even the tiniest hiccup, though she knew that's how her father liked it. The overachiever gene ran deep in their family.

Edward picked up his radio mic, "Dispatch, what's going on?"

A scratchy and static voice replied "Hey boss, Trent's truck got a flat along the 5 to Olympia. Shouldn't be delayed more than an hour. Also sounds like Betty's gotten into some kind of situation again en route to Spokane with her apple delivery."

Edward put the mic to his head, as if he hoped the vibrations could heal him his headaches, and muttered inaudible frustrations to the heavens. Annie took this in stride, as it was her father's general way of handling stress. She appreciated that he didn't scream expletives, but did worry that all his contained anguish would cause an ulcer (she had taught herself about the general maladies that can be caused by excessive stress).

Since her mother died three years ago, Annie had been seeing a therapist to help her cope with her grief. Believing that she now had to be the lady of the house, the therapist noticed Annie was experiencing an unhealthy amount of stress for someone so young, and encouraged her not to carry such a weight of responsibility on her shoulders. On the contrary, Annie would retort, not taking on this assignment and tackling it with all the energy she could muster would overwhelm her with guilt and anxiety, so she chose the extra work. Seeing the kind of type-A beast she was dealing with, Annie's therapist begged her to at least find moments for some fun and "kid time" to keep herself balanced.