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#Post#: 114--------------------------------------------------
How come...
DIR By: StoryGod
Date: January 7, 2020, 9:26 am
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"This sounds like a date," scoffed Zia when Marion told her that
she was eating lunch with Oded Siegert, the plump, smart, boy
that haunted all her classes like a shadow.
"No, I think he's lonely. No one wants to get stuck by
themselves."
"Do you feel sorry for him?"
"Not really. He's too smart for that."
"Yeah...some day we'll all work for him, prodigy."
"Everyone's a big fish in their small pond before they get to a
place like this."
"Was that you?"
"Malt Middle School was in the MIDDLE of nowhere."
"I've been going to convent school since sixth grade. It's not
as isolated as you think, but sometime the shopkeepers looked at
you funny. It was in one of those towns where people had been
for centuries and we were...just passing through." Zia grabbed a
quick look at herself in the mirror. She had on a light blue
blouse with her navy army pants. She made sure her collar was
straight. Marion had on an RPI t-shirt with carhart pants and
sneakers. "I'm starved. We need to catch Oded in line, she
reminded her roommate. Marion did not want to look in the
mirror. Her hair was still half wet.
Outside clouds gathered in the sky. "We are due for a rain," Zia
mused. The line for lunch in Landon-Burchard-Durren snaked half
way through the first floor, common room. "Hold my place Zia,
please," Marion begged her roommate as she went to look for
Oded. He was nowhere to be found. Marion walked down to the end
of the line for a second time just in time to see Oded and a boy
with oily, brown sugar colored skin, thick, black hair, and
bushy eyebrows push through the doors. With them was another
somewhat taller boy who walked with a stoop in his shoulders.
"...You did this with old acoustic phone lines," stoop shoulder
kept up an old conversation not even noticing Marion who
wondered why she had bothered to even go looking for Oded.
"Hello," she called out, trying not to let her exasperation
show. "Hi," Oded answered sheepishly. "We're about twenty people
ahead of you. We'll wait for you at the menu easel. "
"They have burgers this week," commented stoop shoulders.
"Some of us want something different," Marion answered
peevishly.
"OK, let's meet at the menu," Oded tied up manners, vaguely
perhaps remembering his role as host.
"I found them," Marion told Zia, who was now saving her place
near the bottom of the stairs. A fifth grader behind Zia
complained when Marion returned to the line. "She had to go look
for a friend," Zia reminded the twirp. "She was here before. You
saw her." "Thank you Zia," Marion thought. At least they could
really study the menu. Occasionally, this was worth while.
LBD Lunch 9/10/20
Main Line
Ground Beef Gumbo
Waldorf Salad Sandwich
Tuna Rice Burgers
Dill Havarti Melt
Winter Squash
Sweet Corn
Cold Bar
Red Cabbage Salad
German Potato Salad
Canned Peaches
Fresh Fruit
Assorted Baked Desserts
Specialty Station 1
Burger Bar
Specialty Station 2
Extended plant Protein for Salads
Four down and one to go!
"Disgusting," commented Stoop Shoulders who finally made it to
the top of the stairs. "Waste of time."
"Not really. I'm torn between the dill havarti melt and the tuna
rice burger," Marion told him.
"To each their own," commented Oded "We're going to get burgers
and Mounish will probably eat off the salad bar or have bread
and butter." Zia shook her head. "Where do you want to sit?" she
asked.
"Anywhere," answered stoop shoulders who for some reason was the
leader of the group.
"It's a big room," Zia reminded him.
"You pick the place then," stoop shoulders replied.
"OK, you come looking for us, but we're sometimes slow to get
our food."
"Look," Stoop Shoulders argued. "On days like this the line for
food gets really long. They can run out."
"It doesn't take that long, and we're slow," Marion insisted.
"I'll go look," Oded finally caught on.
#Post#: 115--------------------------------------------------
Re: How come...
DIR By: StoryGod
Date: January 7, 2020, 1:11 pm
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Stoop Shoulder, whose real name was Farley took a big, sloppy
bite of his double burger and glowered over the table. "What I
don't get," he began "is how they could fuck up the schedules."
"The computers were down for only a little while during
registration," Marion remembered back nine days ago. Why did it
feel like a different world now?
"That's not what I'm talking about," Farley groused. "It's the
groups we have to join. Why does the STEM Club meet at the same
time as the Chess Club or that Legion d'Honneur Francaise that
half the girls join? I mean it's one big conflict."
"It's a cluster fuck if you ask me," Mounish who ate a tuna
burger smothered in ketchup and a bowl of hot pickles on the
side, "It's not just STEM Club, though that's bad, it's Debating
Team and Young Programmers."
"Young Programmers do anything?" Farley asked.
"They're pretty good," Mounish replied but the vice president
couldn't show up because he's also on debating. Mounish gave a
snot-filled sniff of total disgust.
"Well I talked with Madame Grosse, cause I missed Legion
d'Honneur for STEM," Oded complained. "She knows about the
conflicts."
"So much for girls in STEM," sighed Farley, not that there's
that many of them anyway. "I didn't see either of you at the
STEM Club meeting."
"That's cause I didn't join STEM Club," Zia bravely spoke up.
"I'm taking Junior Achievement and Chorus"
"Why the fuck?"
"I like to sing and business makes the world go round."
"OK, if you want to make little plastic dinguses. I guess it's a
girl thing."
"It's a matter of interest. I joined the Environment Club
because I want to use science to change things. I study enough
during the day," answered Marion.
"Distributing recycling baskets is not science," Farley
pronounced.
"Yes, but recycling is based on scientific principles, if it can
pay," Marion answered. "Besides if we do more of it, we keep
more carbon out of the atmosphere and save more energy."
"Girl science," sighed Mounish. "If they had a horticulture
club, all the girls would be lining up to grow flowers, and the
smart ones would be at the effing head of the line."
"What's wrong with breeding flowers?" asked Marion.
"It's..." Farley searched for a word. "It's not important. Now
my parents twisted admin's arm to get me an assembly language
course and differential equations. It means no electives,
but...I'm learning something."
"I learn something in all my subjects," Marion could feel her
face hot with anger.
"OK, how about PE? I can't get out of it either so I also take
it," Farley added.
"I'm taking intermediate aquatics so I'm going to learn to
dive."
"How exciting."
"After that it's advanced aquatics, and I'll learn water safety
and some lifesaving."
"You better not fall into a pool without Marion around, Farley"
Mounish said.
"And are you taking Advanced Aquatics, Zia?" Farley seemed
unfazed.
"Beginner Aquatics," Zia chirped. "I also went out for chorus.
I'm going to learn more about singing in a group. It's a good
skill because it satisfies the heart. We have hearts as well as
minds."
"Your heart will make you boy crazy you know," Farley observed.
"For you, never or at least not until you stand up straight and
use some deodorant, " thought Marion.
"And art helps me think visually. Ask Oded about biology
yesterday." Marion tag teamed the boys.
"We have two, typical, well-rounded smart girls here" Farley
summed it up. "They are good in French, history, biology,
geometry, which is girl math, pretty much everything and they
take art and swimming and love all of it. My parents wish I was
like that."
"They'll wish it until you are out looking for a job," Mounish
consoled his friend.
"My parents want me not to close off my options. I'm just taking
regular classes," Oded responded.
"Then your parents want you to be number one in the class
val-ed-ict-orian," Mounish said. "Now those girls have a shot at
beating us. That all aroundness is something teachers really
like and some parents."
"There is always more demand for technical skills," Farley
argued back.
"And medicine needs bed side manners," added Oded, who would
not attend med school for eight years, at least, "so humanities
are important."
"But the shit they make you read," Farley replied.
"It gets better in highschool," consoled Mounish.
"I hate fiction. It's a fucking waste of time."
"It depends on the story," Marion waded into this cesspit of a
conversation.
"What stories do you like?"
"On the Road by Jack Kerouac."
"Didn't he commit suicide with drugs?"
"I believe he drank himself to death."
"Doesn't that say something?"
"About the man, yes, but his art... You can make great art and
have a wretched life."
"OK..." Farley, who had no use for long lunches wanted to get
back to eating. He left before Marion and Zia were half done
with their meals. The conversation turned to different computer
languages and the possibility of using DNA to code information
instead of silicon, and then it turned to CRISPR which both
Marion and Zia knew about by keeping up with the news.
"So if you could engineer your baby girl to have blonde hair and
blue eyes would you do it?" asked Zia.
"Probably not," answered Mounish. "I'd want her to be smart."
"I'd want her to be immune to alcoholism," Marion volunteered
"and have a low chance of getting Alzheimer's later in life, and
a low chance of cancer."
"But you would still design a baby?" asked Zia.
"If it could be done and there was no risk of harming the child
sure. Everyone wants a healthy kid and people do get addicted.
It would be nice to get rid of that."
"And what about your Kerouac?" Oded asked.
"How do you think his mother felt?" Marion found the words.
Mounish and Oded exchanged looks. Marion wondered if she scored
a point as her mind wandered to her parents who were down the
black hole of a sober home. She also wondered if there were a
gene that didn't just code for addiction, but for a flaw that
made getting stoned and partying the highest aim in life, even
if the person could sober up long enough to talk his way into a
port or drive a ship safely for eight hours. Science, after all
had its uses.
#Post#: 136--------------------------------------------------
Re: How come...
DIR By: StoryGod
Date: January 16, 2020, 3:34 pm
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"Oh there you are!" Oded Steigler greeted Marion and Zia as they
stood in line for lunch on a rainy Monday.
"We just adore being in line," Marion replied.
"Would you like to eat with us?" Oded asked.
"When did you become a plural," Zia replied.
"Farley, Mounish, and Gabriel are worth me. "They're holding my
place in line. You can get us a table."
"You have it all figured out," Zia told him and Marion added the
words: "don't you..."
"Well, it would be nice, don't you think."
"I'm glad you offered," Marion found the words. I got a rag from
the art room over the weekend. It's kind of green colored. I'll
tie it to one of the plant brackets." Marion squirmed out of her
backpack, opened it, and extracted what was probably half of an
old ratty towel. Something had died it greenish gray and it was
colored by the various pigments and inks it had wiped off tables
and scrubbed from plastic palettes over the years.
"Where'd you get that?" Oded regarded the rag.
"Art room. I was scraping silk screen this weekend."
"Sounds like fun."
"It's good work if you can get it."
"OK, I'll see you girls."
"Uh," Marion inquired. "Is everything OK with Farley and
Mounish? They just might want to eat by themselves.
"They're fine," Oded replied as he sauntered away. By now the
line was approaching the stairs.
"You OK with everything?" Marion asked Zia.
"The boys are rude, but I need to get used to them," she told
her roommate. "Besides I think they're rather intelligent."
"They don't have space for rent upstairs," answered Marion as
the line moved five or six places. "What's for lunch," Marion
sing-songed to herself. "I don't eat, I just wait in line."
Zia smiled faintly. She looked as if her thoughts were somewhere
else. "The food here is probably better than the sober home,"
Marion continued her internal dialog. At least mom and dad are
still in the sober home and not in the kind of trouble that will
get them kicked out, unless you get thrown out for not doing the
program. At least they had written, though Marion realized that
due to snail mail's rapid pace if nothing else, she would always
be a letter or two ahead. She was glad things were manageable
for now. She did not have two loving, involved, law abiding
parents like Oded or Zia, but lots of people didn't have
everything.
#Post#: 137--------------------------------------------------
Re: How come...
DIR By: StoryGod
Date: January 16, 2020, 3:36 pm
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Marion and Zia went through the motions of finding a table,
leaving Marion's rag tied to a bracket that held a wandering Jew
that was growing out of its basket, and heading off to peruse
the menu.
LBD Lunch 9/14/20
Main Line
Mexican Beef Patties and Rice
Chicken Romanescu Bow Ties
Pain Baignat Tuna Sub
Egg Salad Plate
Sweet Corn
Braised Escarole
Cold Bar
No-Meat Waldorf Salad
Green Pea DeLite
Canned Peaches
Fresh Fruit
Assorted Baked Desserts
Specialty Station 1 -- Quick Bread Bar
Apricot Almond Bread
Potato Muffins
Specialty Station 2 -- Deep Fried Delites
Breaded Fried Mushrooms
Fried Green Tomatoes
Have a great week!
"So many decisions," smiled Marion.
"I know I want mealies, I mean corn on the cob," answered Zia.
Marion gave her a look of disappointment and headed off to deep
fried delites and then to the cold and beverage bars.
"It looks like somebody's happy the burgers are gone,"
complained Farley as Marion sat down. "And that," he eyed Zia's
tray, "is not a burger."
"It's a Mexican beef patty," Zia replied.
"Are you a good eater or brave?" Farley asked.
"Neither. I like beef and corn."
"The tuna sandwich is not half bad," commented Mounish
"The fried veggies are better," answered Marion.
"If you like vegetables," commented Farley.
"The chicken is pretty good," Oded replied.
"I can't believe we get girls at this table and all we talk
about is food!" Farley burst out.
"You started it," Marion told him tartly.
"OK, so what's everybody up to..." Farley seemed to reluctantly
change the subject.
"The Legion D'Honneur Francaise is silk screening its posters
today," Marion announced.
"How exciting," Farley replied.
"STEM Club is going to discuss speakers. That girl, Charlotte
did research and I my Dad says he knows some doctors at Sloane
Kettering."
"Sometimes I'm glad I'm not in extracurriculars," Farley
observed.
"What do you do?" Zia inquired.
"I take Assembly Language and the engineer who teaches me is
only available via SKYPE in the late afternoon."
"I take Kikuyu over Skype," Zia replied.
"What the fuck is Kikuyu?"
"A language that is popular in Kenya."
"You want to go to Kenya."
"I want to return there some day. It's my country," Zia replied.
"Well why didn't you stay in Kenya then?"
"Because one can get a better education abroad, but I'll need to
read and write Kikuyu for when I return."
"Well that must be interesting."
"It's very interesting."
"Why do I feel like I landed on some alien planet," Farley
mused.
"Go back to Planet Engineer," Zia teased.
"Yeah... You don't think of where it will all end up what you're
doing."
"I'm thinking of a future job in government or business," Zia
answered.
"And that's enough," Farley asked.
"More than enough. I'm thinking about Spirit Week next week,"
Marion waded into the desultory lunch talk.
"That is so exciting, I swear I'll faint dead away," replied
Farley.
"Same here," Mounish piled on.
"I'm looking forward to putting the silk screens together,"
Marion was not going to go down to defeat easily.
"Somebody has to be well rounded," Oded found his way into the
conversation again. "I'll be at STEM Club this afternoon," he
told Marion. "They still are having conflicts."
"Is STEM Club that much better than Legion d'Honneur Francaise?"
Marion poked at her classmate.
"Yeah...I mean STEM is the future."
"French is also the future."
"Huh...."
"Three more years of it."
"Yeah if you think of it that way."
"I do."
"Girls," sighed Farley
#Post#: 149--------------------------------------------------
Re: How come...
DIR By: StoryGod
Date: February 11, 2020, 9:34 am
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"Would you mind eating lunch with Oded from geometry?" Marion
asked Zia. Asking this when they were already in the lunch line
meant there was only one reply.
"You don't want an honest answer."
"I wouldn't mind...."
"I'd make you choose and Oded already invited us. He's OK. It's
just..."
"You don't have to tell me. Boys mature later than girls."
"They make jokes about kids like Farley."
"They make jokes about kids like us."
"Those jokes get racist."
"They can get antisemitic too but that's another story. So
you're OK."
"I'll figure it out. You want to go look for the boys?"
"Someone's got to do it."
"Why don't you let me..." That was an odd request, Marion
thought, but she watched Zia stride away. Marion considered for
a moment that Zia was lying, that she was going off somewhere to
hide in the bathroom. It would be a great way to duck the three
or four boys who stuck together in a self-centered ill mannered
pack.
A short while later, Zia returned. "They were on the stairs,"
she sighed. "Oded asked for your rag from the art room."
"He's finding the table, so sweet."
"He's educable."
"Yeah," sighed Zia as Marion handed her the rag. Off Zia trotted
again, good honest Zia. The line moved more slowly than usual
this lunch period. Marion thought back to learning to dive. When
she could dive standing instead of squatting or kneeling, she'd
take the advanced aquatics test and move up into the group,
though she'd probably get to repeat the course because she
missed a lot of the life saving. Today the advanced kids got to
jump into the water with all their clothes on, take them off,
and blow them up like balloons to lie on, make shift floatation
devices. Even the little ten year old in the orange bathing suit
could do it though she got lost in her sweat pants. "If I ran
the world," thought Marion, "I would never mix high school and
middle school kids together for gym. It's just too weird.
Zia returned once again as the line started to move. "Poor
Farley," Zia cooed maternally. "He's afraid they are going to
run out of the only decent thing to eat."
"They never run out of Cheese Doodles," Marion quipped.
Zia snorted. The line moved some more. Marion craned her neck,
but the boys at the top of the stairs already made it through
the dining hall double doors. "At least," thought Zia, they
would not have to find a table.
#Post#: 150--------------------------------------------------
Re: How come...
DIR By: StoryGod
Date: February 13, 2020, 9:48 am
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The boys had snagged a big banquette in the corner and Mounish
stood guard holding the rag with the tips of both hands'
fingers. Marion threw her backpack on the seat and told the boy
to go get lunch.
Zia was already perusing the menu:
LBD Lunch 9/16/20
Main Line
Corn Beef Egg Roll
Chicken Italian Sausage and Peppers
Fish-O-Filet Sandwich
Plain Quiche
Leaf Spinach
Stew Vegetables
Cold Bar
Pickled Beets
Authentic Caesar Salad
Canned Pears
Fresh Fruit
Assorted Baked Desserts
Specialty Station 1 -- Quick Bread Bar
Raisin Cinnamon Roll-up
Miripoix Loaf
Specialty Station 2 -- Deep Fried Delites
Ginger Panko Carrot Sticks
Corn Crisp Cauliflower
Happy Hump Day!
Deep fried delights made most lunches and dinner this week no
brainers. Farley scowled at the menu: "Nothing fucking to eat
today," he sighed.
"What about the sausage?" asked Zia.
"You know what goes in Sausage," Farley posed a rhetorical
question.
"Chicken," Zia replied.
Farley made a face. Then he asked: "What are you having?"
"Fried veggies and fancy quick bread," replied Marion.
"Corned beef egg roll and stew vegetables," answered Zia.
"Corned beef is disgusting," was all Farley could reply.
"Well what do you like?" Marion asked. She had younger siblings
like this. Farley was really mature.
"Real food, burgers, pizza, hot dogs, potato chips."
"You're batting .250," commented Marion.
"Shit," Farley summed up the menu offerings once again. They
drifted out to get their food. When Marion arrived with her
fare, Farley held forth: "... And the speakers always think all
we want to do is make money. If I wanted to make money I would
find a part time job down on Central Avenue instead of learning
Assembly and differential equations."
"I don't think they realize who their audience is," Mounish
considered.
Marion wondered if they were discussing speakers for the STEM
club. She was glad she'd be in the art room after school again,
helping with the last round of silk screening. In her mind she
thought of the odor of silk screen ink and the memory took her
back to cleaning silk screen frames with gasoline back in Malta,
a year ago "Eighth grade sucked," she sing songed in her head.
"So how do you tell a dumb adult to make a speech more technical
without hurting their poor, sensitive, adult feelings?" Farley
asked.
"Why not read up on what they do and ask them to talk about it.
If they make the trains run on time, look up the engineering and
math of trains. If they are doctors that do medical research,
look for their research," Zia offered an answer.
"Shit, that just might work," Farley replied.
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