You Precious Thing
Prologue
The Meaning of Words
With a wave of the hand, so many things happened. For one person, it was a loving caress upon the face. For another, it was the stinging pain on one's flanked rear. For Sarah, however, it was another thing.
She reached for the blue pompous hat upon her head and heaved a sigh. How she wanted to yank it off, tassel and everything, and throw it into the air. She just wanted things to be done. She didn't have anything to look forward to, and felt it was best to pretend this day had never happened.
She could hear her parents giving cheers and cries of exclamation. She was certain they were merely thinking about the times they would cherish once she had moved out. Gee, those were encouraging thoughts. She wished that she could just go through her high school years again. That way she'd never have to grow up and face the burdens of becoming a full-fledged adult.
To be honest, she was frightened. Frightened of the things to come. Frightened of her future. Had she the power of foresight, or even believed in such things, perhaps she would not have been so terrified.
While her fellow peers were headed off to prestigious colleges and universities, she was stuck in town. She knew her grades weren't good enough to get into any of the foreign colleges or U.C. systems. With her kind of luck, she probably wouldn't be able to get into a college at all. She pictured herself this crazy, white-haired old woman with fifteen cats and a Ph.D that she got off of one of those "take classes at home" television programs.
As her name rang out over the PA speakers, she pushed herself through the crowd and over the stage as the principle for her four previous years handed her the rolled sheet of paper with her name on it.
Amazing. Words on paper could affect anything and everything. After all, all colloquial languages were made up of words. Words were powerful, hurtful, loving… and indescribable. Sarah liked words. She liked using big ones that made her sound smart. Not that she wasn't smart. It just seemed that she often made unwise decisions or chose poor ways to confront her problems.
She could hear her stepmother scolding her from the third row for not smiling. What was there to smile about? She was graduating from high school and becoming an adult, never again to reap the joys of her childhood fantasies. Sarah didn't want to grow up. She wanted to have responsibility, but on the other hand, she knew responsibility was difficult to maintain. She wanted to dress up and play with her stuffed animals. She wanted to have fun, not work her tail off at some job where she wouldn't be happy. Want, want, want. Need, need, need. In Sarah's mind these two things were the same.
She gave a sigh of relief when she was finally dismissed from the stage. And then moments later, her peers threw up their hats and tassels into the air as they cheered. She waited for that moment as the others around her began to take off their graduation robes. Amongst the distraction, Sarah kneeled down and took her tassel into her hands gently.
Maybe you will be needed in the future… like a good luck charm. Knowing me, I'll need all of the luck I can get, she told herself.
After she folded up her robe nice and neatly, she bid a bittersweet farewell to some fellow classmates, and then headed through the front doors of the school to meet her family.
