Hennessy the Shepherdess

Chapter 2

                Hennessy doodled in the margins of her notebook as she tried, and failed, to focus on the droning voice of her history professor as attempted to lead a discussion about Mesopotamian culture. Despite growing up on a farm and being used to waking up early to feed the sheep before jazz band in the morning, Hennessy wished she would have never registered for an 8 am class. She resolved that when she signed up for classes next semester, the earliest she would schedule a class was 10 am.

College 8 am was not equivalent to high school 8 am, never mind the fact that jazz band had been at 7 am. The last two weeks had been a blur. She had agreed to join Writer's Anonymous, and in addition to her classes and the resultant workload, she had been ruminating on an idea for a short story, and the first chapter was finally written and ready to post to the site. Adam had been right, setting time aside for some creativity had helped center her, even if it was only a few minutes each day. It was liberating to work on something that was not required, but rather was something she chose to do.

She and Adam had also started meeting in the library to study in between classes. Hennessy had discovered that she was much more productive studying in there, rather than her dorm room with its tempting promise of non-homework related fun with her floor mates. Hennessy credited these study sessions and the focused work she was able to accomplish with creating the time she could use to write before bed each night. While studying together did not necessarily allow Hennessy and Adam a lot of chatting time, their class schedules aligned fairly well, so they were to converse on their way to class. Hennessy had discovered that while Adam did seem to focus on fun, he also had a firm desire to help those around him. He volunteered one afternoon a week at an elementary school helping struggling students discover a love for reading.

Hennessy admired that he was able to find this balance between fun, serving others, school, and writing. She found it a struggle to balance school, self-care, and writing. She often joked that he would give Mother Teresa a run for her money, to which he responded with a sardonic grin that he could never survive a vow of chastity, which was typically met by an eye roll from Hennessy.

Hennessy was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of a bell. Her class was now over, and she had a few hours before her chemistry class. The autumn sun warmed her face as she walked through the doors of the Reneke Building. The leaves on the trees were starting to turn, and she was greeted by shades of red, orange, and yellow. It felt like a shame to waste an hour of the autumn warmth, especially with the threat of the winter chill looming closer and closer, so she found a picnic table under the shade of an oak tree and settled in.

She knew she should work on finishing the Epic of Gilgamesh. Her essay on the poem was due in two days, but she was not feeling like reading about the adventures of the ancient king. She had set a soft deadline to post the first chapter of her short story by tonight, and it was almost ready, but she wanted to reread it before doing so. Although Adam had reassured her numerous times that Writers Anonymous was a group of friends, not a group of critics, Hennessy still did not want to embarrass herself, or more especially, Adam, by submitting shoddy work. Yes, she was a bit of a perfectionist, but it had suited her so far in life, so she did not see the need to change.

Hennessy pulled out a pink folder with a picture of a leopard on it from her bag, and started to read the printed version of her first short story, red pen at the ready.