I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do
everything, but still I can do something.
I will not refuse to do something I can do.
-Helen Keller
I was never to know important this quote would one day be to me, reading it that day in my stuffy, humid American literature class room. Leaning forward lazily on my desk, cheek in my hand, twilling my hair distractedly with my fingers, my eyes out of focus, my thoughts obviously elsewhere, though they appeared focused on the page in my old, patched, by-now falling apart textbook. My eyes roved slowly over the line again, not really seeing it. I heard a buzzing in my ears and I took a couple tries before I realized in was my teacher talking, talking to me, asking a question, whoops. "Could you repeat that?" I asked embarrassedly, and she sighed.
"Miss Yanamari, daydreaming again?" My teacher Mrs. Gantre asked, eyebrow raised. My cheeks reddened guiltily, the back of my neck heated from the embarrassment of everyone's eyes on me. Mrs. Gantre repeats her question, "Please paraphrase the quote and tell me why it is importance."
I quickly glanced down rereading the quote, finally stuttering out, "Ummmm, it means that though I am only one person, I still am a person and should be considered as such, and that though I can't do everything, since that's not possible, I can still do some things, and that I can't be kept from doing that which I can do." I ended it almost as a question, unsure.
"Excellent Miss Yanamari." Mrs. Gantre said, and I sighed, sliding down in my seat in relief. "Alright everyone, class is almost over; you are free to converse between yourselves." Mrs. Gantre said and smiled over the class. I sat and stared into my textbook, my eyes phasing out of focus, and my mind flies off; the noise of the students laughing and talking around me a dull roar that my ears didn't bother to discern. My mind was flitting through the thoughts of the latest book I had read—full of fantasy and magic and wonder and danger and everything it seemed my life was not—my imagination placing me into that world, and I was happy, no ecstatic, I so wished my life could be like that. My dream was shattered by a strange taping noise that no one else in the room seemed to notice. I tilt my head curiously, and see outside the window a precariously perched snowy owl looking into my classroom. It seemed so out of place that I laughed, the students nearest me giving me strange looks then following my line of site to the owl.
"Oooooooo! Look! An owl!" a girl cried loudly, and it took off, wheeling into the sky again, "Awwwwwwwwww." the girl said then, disappointed, while I resisted the urge to glare at her and the bell rung and I started, hurrying to stuff all of my stuff into my bursting backpack, then hurrying out of the room to make it to my last class on time, having to walk down 3 stories worth of stairs and to the other side of the building to get there. I slipped in the chemistry door just as the bell rung and I sat, breath coming short from having to run the last couple hallways. I sighed again at the close call as my teacher walks into the room. I loved chemistry, despite the fact that our teacher was completely insane and the most eccentric person I had ever had the pleasure, or misfortune, to meet. I just liked science, sometimes it so fascinating, working almost like magic, as if we were leaning the tricks of mother nature, the magic of the world around us, deciphering how things fit together, how things change, make new things, how things react. "Good afternoon class."
"Good afternoon Mr. Entrie." We all drone back to him, while he gives his standard response, "It's nice to see your bright and shining faces." While we all rolled our eyes as always.
"Okay, you know what you're supposed to do, so go to it, and for God's sake, don't let Miss Bronst handle glass or Mr. Kradse handle fire!" Mr. Entrie calls after us as we go to our lab stations in the back of the room. I finally smiled slightly as I came to my sisters, both of which are my lab partners. Chandria takes the Bunsen burner out of the cabinet, hooking up the gas hose to the nozzle and turning the release valve, while I pulled the striker out of the drawer, and Shashi got out the test tubes and the test tube holder, as well as the test tube holder. Mr. Entrie raised his eyebrow in our direction, as I stand nearby, striker in hands, while my sisters set up their parts. Mr. Entrie walked over to us and asked, "Miss Yanamari, please tell me you're not going to be starting the flame." Chandria, Shashi, and I say in unison, "Which one?" while Mr. Entrie shook his head at our three identical faces—the only difference was the colour of our shining eyes—and says, "The one with the devious pyro-manic look in her eyes clutching the striker of course." and we glanced at each other, my sisters laughing at the truth in his words.
"So what if I am?" I asked defensively while Mr. Entrie gave me a look saying, "Just remember Miss Yanamari, it only takes one strike." emphasizing the last two words, while my sisters giggled at me.
"Yes sir!" I said, striking a military pose, using the striker to salute, and Mr. Entrie walked away, shaking his head, followed urgently by his proclamation of, "I thought I said Miss Bronst couldn't handle glass!" as the shattering noise of broken glass sliced through the room. My sisters and I snickered and I lit the Bunsen burner, pulling on my goggles, my sisters doing the same, knowing Mr. Entrie would throttle us if we didn't. Then I left our table to get the chemical supplies we needed from the science cabinet. I carefully reached for each supply, while warily watching Bronst stand on tiptoes reaching for a chemical on the top shelf; all the chemicals are in glass vials. I make sure to quickly gather the things we needed then turn and hurry back to our table, wincing the sound of shattering glass behind me lances throughout the room for the second time this lab. "Miss Bronst!" cried Mr. Entrie again, hurrying over at the chemical splattered girl. Chandria and Shashi shook their heads at the scene behind me as I placed the chemicals carefully on our table. Shashi started carefully reading off what chemicals we were supposed to add to our test tube, as I add them, and Chandria records all the reactions that take place with each addition or any of our extra observations.
Finally after everything was added I picked up the test tube in a pair of tongs and held it over the lit Bunsen burner, the flames licking the bottom of the glass tube. I was watching the chemicals bubble intently, because I was supposed to remove it from the flame the moment a bubble reached the top of the tube or it would boil over into a dangerous radioactive mess, or blow up, or something of that matter, when suddenly I heard the curious tapping again, and I glace out the windows set high in the walls, touching the ceiling as the classroom was basically underground, and there sat the same snowy owl, looking in on the classroom, head tilted to one side. I stared transfixed until suddenly, "MISS YANAMARI! YOUR TEST TUBE!" cried Mr. Entrie from across the room as my head snapped back to my task, it was bubbling over, leaking unto the desk, crap! I thought my arm spazing in reflex to the sight of the corrosive liquid, the vile stuff flying out of my test tube toward a single student, who watched the coming chemical mix with horror, unable to move out of the way, "No!" I half shouted, flinging my arm out (that wasn't holding the hot test tube, duh) worried about how liable I would be, and what the chemicals might actually do, when suddenly, as if listening, the solution curved sharply, hitting the floor harmlessly, missing the student by a wide berth. It seems the only people who found it strange though were my sisters, the poor student who almost fell victim, and myself. He looked at me with wide eyes and said in a shaky voice, "Mr. Entrie, I'm not feeling well..." before sitting heavily down and passing out.
After the student I almost hit was woken and taken to the office to go home, I turned to my sisters, our identical faces staring back at each other, (did I forget to mention we're triplets? Well Chandria is the oldest, then it's me, then it's Shashi as the youngest. We also have twin younger sisters, Tavia and Teva.) who looked at me with a questioning look in their bright brown and blue eyes, and I just shrugged, averting my own flashing green eyes, while they nodded accepting that I wasn't gonna say anything. Yet I knew that later they would wheedle it out of me.
It was near the end of the period, and even though I kind of screwed it up we got all the information we needed for the lab, so we cleaned up our area and put our lab goggles back where they belonged, and packed up our bags, ready for the bell that would single the end of the day. It was November 6th and the weather outside was the high of autumn, brightly coloured leaves on every tree and covering the ground, the air crisp and slightly chilled requiring a sweater. The bell rang and we were out the door immediately, walking down the sidewalk to our house, thankful for the final arrival of the weekend to the seemingly forever week.
"Marari what was with you earlier? I mean I know you're a daydreamer but you've never done it while holding corrosive materials before." Asked Chandria, Shashi adding, "At least not often." and I gave her a dirty look, then sighed, pulling my hand through my shortish auburn-red hair.
"This is going to sound really stupid..." I started, and they nodded, as if they expected nothing less. Oh how I love my siblings, by the way, that was sarcasm for all those who didn't know. I continued, "Well you see, there was this owl outside the window, and I saw it during American lit too." My sisters raised their eyebrows at me in identical looks but didn't say anything, waiting for me to finish. "I know it sounds really stupid but it seemed almost as if it was staring at me, and when some other kids noticed it, it flew away, but then I came back during chem and it still seemed to be looking at me. I know that it sounds paranoid and impossible or whatever you want to call it, but I really believe it."
Surprisingly my sisters nodded. Chandria started talking, "Do you remember when we turned 11 and we got that letter addressed to
'Misses Chandria, Marari, and Shashi Yanamari
The Three Rooms on the South Side
808 Maragnie Court
Oconto Falls
Wisconsin, United States'
Both of us nodded at her words, remembering the strangely addressed letter we had never been able to read, because our father took it away the moment he walked into the front hall and saw us gathered around it. He had a furious look in his eye, I think it was the only time we had every really seen him angry, but he made it clear he wasn't angry with us when he saw our distressed faces, standing together tightly, staring at him. He had knelt down and kissed each of our foreheads saying that he wasn't angry at us, that it was the letter and not to open any that looked like it if we found more. Which we did, some addressed to all three of us, others to just one of us, they continued to appear in strange places throughout our home, week after week, but after the first two months we started finding less and less, and finally they stopped being sent all together. Despite how curious we all were, we never did open any of the letters, we just gave them to our father and he got rid of them, often by burning them in the fire place, while we sat by and watched, enjoying the heat of the leaping flames, warming our toes and wrapping around us like a second skin. Fire had that kind of effect on all of us. I shook the memory out of my head, and it appeared Chandria and Shashi were doing the same.
"It's strange, I really haven't thought about those letters for a long time, as if I had forgotten them completely." Shashi said, while Chandria started talking again, "Well, do you remember all the owls we saw? Outside our windows, looking in, as if waiting for us, or watching us to see if we'd do something."
"Ya, it was a little creepy, having them always around, even when we were walking home or to school, or simply out of the house, one was always perched there, I remember being glad when they stopped showing up." I said. With the owls there my young mind had felt opposed by the belief that something seemed to be expected of me, that I was failing in some way. My sisters nodded, "But still, they were also very beautiful." My sisters nodded again, this time smiling. "The one I saw today was a beautiful snowy owl, with white feathers and grey speckled throughout it."
"They're not very common around here, are they?" asked Shashi.
"Not common at all." said Chandria in response, a look of curiosity on her face. "I wonder what one would be doing around here, besides stalking Marari, of course." said Shashi. I stuck my tongue out at her just as a shadow passed over our heads, accompanied by a small swooshing noise. We all looked up to see a small winged silhouette. It got bigger as it neared, swooping down closer to us, until finally with a quick drive it landing before us on the sidewalk, a large snowy owl, looking up at us with its somber golden eyes. It held up a leg toward us and at that moment we noticed it had a letter attached there, envelope made of a thick, off-white paper. We stood there just staring at the bird for what seemed to be 5 minutes, then I took a step forward, and leaned over, the owl automatically jumped unto my outstretched arm, and I used my other hand to remove the letter tied to its leg. My sisters crowded around me, looking down at the writing on the envelope, eyes going wide as we read:
'Misses Chandria, Marari, and Shashi Yanamari
The Corner of Inirte Boulevard and 15th Street
Oconto Falls
Wisconsin, United States'
We all glanced up to see the street sign in front of us, the two green signs reading: 'Inirte Blvd' and '15th St. N.' We glanced at each other then back down at envelope in my hands. The writing on the envelope matched the writing of the envelopes from all those years ago.
"Should we open it?" Shashi asks the question that was on all of minds.
My fingers twitched as my curiosity overwhelmed me, "Yeah," I said, "I think we should, I need to know who is sending us these and what they want." My sisters nodded, gathering closer as I opened the seal of the envelope- a strange symbol, revolving around the letter 'H'. It read:
Dear Misses Yanamari,
It is my displeasure to inform you of a most unpleasant event. I am afraid there is much to explain and little time, and even less that you will understand at this moment. The matters that must be discussed are not safe to be disclosed in this letter, in the chance of this owl being intercepted. I will see you soon, when I hope to explain as much as I possibly can, but for the moment, you must hurry home as quickly as possible, I will be waiting there for you. The owl, Hermes, will stay with you. Please make haste.
Yours Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore
"What does he mean, 'most unpleasant event'?" Shashi asked shakily.
"And what about 'The matters that must be discussed are not safe to be disclosed in this letter'? I don't know you guys, this is really freaky." said Chandria.
"Well, only one way to find out. We hurry up and get home. Hold tight Hermes." I said to the bird on my arm, and it tightened its grip on my arm slightly, as if it understood, and I took off at a quick pace toward our house, letter still in hand, my sisters quickly matching my pace.