Ten O’clock Scholar – rock

This snippet is written for Tuesday Tales, where a group of authors write to a word or picture prompt each week. This week we’re writing to the prompt ‘rock.’

Enjoy the snippet here, then go check out the other delightful tales you’ll find at Tuesday Tales.

Wanda patted Peggy’s shoulder in a motherly fashion. “You’ll understand one day. Life is more than learning for a job. It’s the learning that’s the plus. Learning for the sake of learning. I strongly feel that when someone stops, sits down, and stops learning, their life is over. I never want to be that person.”

Peggy cocked her head and thought for a moment about her new friend’s words. Her fingers stroked her chin as she mused. She finally answered. “You know, I suppose I never thought of it in that way. I always thought that taking classes like this was always to meet some sort of end goal. I never considered that anyone would want to spend all the time and money to get a degree…simply to learn without an end goal in sight.”

Smirking, Wanda tucked her hand in the crook of Peggy’s arm and began walking towards the parking lot. “You’re still young. You’ll discover more about life as you muddle through it. Nothing is ever rock solid.”

Peggy threw her free hand over her mouth and stifled her laughter. “Young? You’re calling me young? And here I thought I was one of the oldsters in class. Have you seen some of those girls? Barely out of high school. Here I thought I was one of the matronly students.”

“Oh, you’re older than some of them by a piece. But you don’t have near the foot leather behind you that I do.” Wanda tweaked some of the short gray tresses tucked behind her ears. “Now this is old. Why I learned to type on a good old-fashioned typewriter. An IBM Selectric, thank you very much. Not like these children do on these keyboards, hunting and pecking, and sending emojis instead of full-on words.”

Peggy leaned over and nudged her friend as they walked. “You’re not doing all that bad. Here you are, cell phone equipped and toting around a laptop too. You’re not too far out of it.”

Wanda stopped and pulled her arm away, pointing to the opposite side of the lot. “I’m over that way. But don’t go thinking I’ve got this all handled. Why, you should have seen me the day when I came home with a new cell phone. I had to get my teenage son to come out and program in the phone numbers I wanted.”

Giggling, Peggy waved as she moved in the opposite direction. “At least you got it done. I’m over this way. But I have an hour before my next class, so I’m going to sit in the car and enjoy the solitude.”

“And the quiet, I’ll bet. You probably don’t get much of that at home, not with the little ones you have.”

Peggy sighed and shook her head. “Not a chance at home. That’s why I enjoy these brief respites. I can close my eyes for a few and try to recharge.” She pulled the iPhone encased in a dragonfly case from her back pocket. “And luckily with this…I can set an alarm and not oversleep and miss my class.”

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Ten O’clock Scholar – picture prompt

Our current story is Ten O’clock Scholar. This snippet is written for Tuesday Tales, where a group of authors write to a word or picture prompt each week. This week we’re writing to a picture prompt. These snippets will be short. Each one is 300 words or less. There are several pictures to choose from and we each pick one to write to. This is the one I chose.

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A wave of curiosity overtook Peggy. “At your age, why are you starting these classes now? Are you going to try to work as a designer when you’re done?”

Wanda flinched and pulled back slightly, a frown filling her face. “Oh, my lord, no. I quit working a few months ago. I’m ready to slow down, spend more time with the grandbabies. No more day job in this lady’s life.”

Lines of perplexment etched themselves around Peggy’s eyes. “Then…if you don’t want to become an interior designer…why are you starting all these classes?”

“Because I want to learn. I want to know all about it, even if I never work a day in the profession.”

Peggy cocked her head and looked closer at her friend. “I don’t understand. You’re going to spend two years to get your certificate, but don’t want to work with it?”

Wanda nodded towards the door, where the teacher stood waiting for the two laggards to exit so she could close the room. She dropped her voice to a whisper. “Better head out before the old battle-ax starts another tantrum.”

Giggling, Peggy lifted her tote on her shoulder and headed to the door, Wanda right behind. When they got outside and the door clicked shut behind them, Wanda resumed the conversation.

“I want to learn for the learning. And I can use this skill to beautify my home. You know, just dress it up a bit. Last year, hubby and I were on vacation in a historic old west town. We stayed at this lovely period hotel. Of course, the décor wasn’t a theme I’d like to live with every day. But it was such a delight that enveloped the senses, I came home determined to learn the art of interior design.”

“But…” Peggy trailed off.

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Ten O’Clock Scholar – sticky

This snippet is written for Tuesday Tales, where a group of authors write to a word or picture prompt each week. This week we’re writing to the prompt ‘sticky.’

Enjoy the snippet here, then go check out the other delightful tales you’ll find at Tuesday Tales.

Pulling her attention back to the teacher’s lesson, for the next hour Peggy immersed herself in antiquities. While she thoroughly enjoyed the lecture and found the facts about historic time periods fascinating, she also wondered what role that played in current interior design.

After all, it’s not like I’m going to be creating a living room to look like the inside of a pyramid, she mused quietly in her head. After Mrs. Stone’s earlier rebuke at the start of class, she certainly wasn’t going to speak the words aloud to Wanda. She stifled a giggle and tucked her bookmark in the current page on the textbook as the teacher wrapped up the lecture.

Mrs. Stone shut her laptop with a solid click, bringing the slide presentation to a close. As she stood and unlocked the classroom door, the students rustled about, picking up belongings and scurrying towards the door in a hurry. With only ten minutes between classes, with the next class sometimes being clear across the campus, there wasn’t time to dally.

Peggy felt a rush of relief, knowing that she had a free period between her Introduction to Interior Design and her Mechanical Drafting 101 class. This brief respite between classes gave her either time to study or catch up on reading – or, if she needed to doze for a few minutes and catch up on her missed sleep, then she could merely sit in the car and close her eyes. Today was probably going to be a day where she did the latter.

Before she could zip her tote closed, Wanda tapped on her shoulder. “Hey, on the museum tour day, you want to ride together?”

Conflicting emotions tore at Peggy. Rather than waffle about, she decided to be honest and direct, a lesson that she was finally learning how to do in life. “I’d really love to. It would be fun to drive together and chat. But with getting the boys to the sitter first, it would be too sticky for me timewise. By the time I drop them off…if my babysitter can watch them early, I’ll barely be able to make it to the museum in time.”

“That’s alright. I understand. Maybe I’ll check with the girl that takes the bus to class. If she doesn’t find anyone else to drive with, she might not mind taking a trip in with an old grandmother like myself.”

“Psshaw! You’re not that old.”

“How old do you think I am?”

Peggy hesitated. On this one, she decided she’d best pass on the honest and direct mode. She squinted her eyes and tipped her head, making a big play about looking closely at her classmate. “Hmmmm…hard to tell. I’m guessing older only because of the gray hair…fiftyish?”

A hundred-watt smile lit up Wanda’s face and she raised a palm to high-five Peggy. “Off by a mile! Sixty-four next month.”

A grin flickered across Peggy’s lips. Seeing the pleasure on Wanda’s face, she vowed to never admit she’d fudged on her answer.

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Ten O’clock Scholar – hard

This snippet is written for Tuesday Tales, where a group of authors write to a word or picture prompt each week. This week we’re writing to the prompt ‘hard.’

Enjoy the snippet here, then go check out the other delightful tales you’ll find at Tuesday Tales.

Mrs. Stone stood in front of the classroom; a frown burrowed across her brow until the classroom quieted. No one spoke. Not a twitter. Not a laugh. Not even a cough broke the silence that wound its way throughout the thirty plus students.

Once she had the entire classes rapt attention, the teacher picked up a stack of stapled papers from the corner of her desk. “Here is a revised syllabus. One of the scheduled speakers had to cancel. And I’ve added in a mandatory field trip to the LA County Museum of Art.”

One of the younger girls in the front row raised her hand. When the teacher nodded in her direction, she dropped her hand and fidgeted with her ponytail nervously. “Is a school bus taking us there?”

“No. We’ll meet there. Everyone is responsible for their own transportation.”

“But Mrs. Stone…I don’t have a car. I take a bus from Ontario. I don’t know how to take a bus all the way into L.A.”

“Perhaps you can ride with one of the other students. You’ll have to figure out how to get there. As long as you’re all there by ten o’clock sharp for our tour.”

Peggy stifled a giggle as thoughts of the children’s nursery rhyme book she’d read to the boys the night before ran through her head. She doodled on her legal pad — A diller, a dollar, a ten o’clock scholar – and encased the words in a huge clock with hands designating the proper time.

When Mrs. Stone turned and passed the stack of papers to the lone young man in the class sitting in the front corner seat, Peggy held up the paper to show Wanda.

Before Wanda could stop it, a laugh erupted, which she quickly turned to a cough to try and disguise the mirth which would not be appreciated by their fearless leader.

Peggy’s amusement simmered down and dissipated when she thought of the new field trip that was added to the classes’ agenda.

I don’t drive into LA. Thank goodness for GPS! That’s going to be a hard trip to fit in. I hope Mary can watch the boys earlier than normal so I can get there on time. That sounds like fun. I’ve never been to that museum. How am I going to get the extra gas money?

Her mind whirled about with conflicting emotions and when the lights dimmed for the start of the morning lecture, and a shot of antique pottery vases appeared on the screen on the wall, Peggy realized that she’d tuned out the teacher’s last comments. She hoped she hadn’t missed anything important.

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Trisha’s Website