Chapter 9



The next morning at the cottage, Barnabas sat with Rhiannon for the first of her lessons.

"Now Rhiannon, every time you stick the word "like" where it doesn't belong, I'm going to ring this little bell. The idea is to make you think about your choice of words and therefore improving your grammar. Are you ready?" "Yeah, I guess." she said, looking as though she'd rather be elsewhere. "Good, now why don't you tell me about yourself?" "Well, my name is Rhiannon and like-"*bell rings* "What?" "Let's try again." "OK, Well my name is Rhiannon Shagena and like-" *bell rings* "What?!" "You did it again," Barnabas sighed, "This is going to be harder than I thought."



Several hours later:

"Again." Barnabas sighed wearily, Then we'll take a break for lunch." Rhiannon sighed, "My name is Rhiannon Cher Shegana, My parents are Robert and Marilyn Shagena. My brother's name is Charlie, I had a poodle named Mitzy that died when I was ten, I'm scared of spiders, I like pastel colours and I've had enough of this shit! " Barnabas looked at her in wonder, "Rhiannon, you didn't make me use the bell once at all that time!" She just looked at him exasperated, "Like, can we eat now?" Barnabas groaned and waved her toward the kitchen. Note to Self, he thought, pickup more asprin.



While Barnabas was working with Rhiannon, Quentin was walking through the woods. He nearly collided with Charlie Shagena who looked up with a sheepish expression on his face. "Sorry sir, I didn't know anyone was out here." "Quite alright my boy, I remember when I was your age. Is your sister at home by any chance?" "Rhiannon? She's at the cottage with Barnabas, he's supposed to teach or something. Don't you think he's too old to teach her anything?" "HE'S too old? What do you mean by that?" Charlie shuffled his feet, "Well it's just I was sort of spying on her one time back home, when her boyfriend Brett came over to study, and well they were studying each other pretty closely if you know what I mean." Charlie blushed.



Quentin laughed, "Yes I do. Well I'll tell you what, I'll give you five dollars if you give her a message for me when she comes back." Charlie's face lit up, "sure!". Quentin leaned in conspiratorily, "Make sure no one's around when you tell her OK? It's a secret, just between us understand?" The boy nodded, "Tell her Quentin Collins wants her to come over and study."