On the Lotus Leaf
It
is not a perfect day on this specific Wednesday. To be honest, I have been a total loser all
day today, however, my life goes on, just like elegant melody of Beethoven’s Fur Elise. All kids put their heads down on the desk and
appreciate its mellow tune and melody coming from the classroom speaker. Every time I hear a sharp note, I feel like
my brain is lifted up for half an inch. It
is a unique and a kind of “mini” sensation that my brain responds with D sharp
and G sharp, particularly. Therefore,
while other kids might fall sleep with this calm Beethoven’s piano piece, I am
always swaying between my dream (often about being a French) and semi-consciousness. My brain doesn’t go away from my glorious
moments of a day that should have happened.
These moments, literally, could have been glorious. Unfortunately, life is not fair. Sometimes, it’s almost brutal.
Good
news is that my final chance to shine is still on my way. Ms. Aoki sits in front of organ and starts
playing a good bye song. All Moon class classmates
sing riotously. In other words, they
technically yell to say good bye without fine tune along with the pedaled air
powered organ. The cord progress is
simple enough, the repetition of I, IV, I, V, and I. At the end of the song, with even more
uproarious yelling echoes in the Moon room, “Good Bye Teacher, Good Bye
Friends!” Kids swarm like ants gathering
around the dead worm, toward the entrance hall to change their shoes. I am in the middle of group being guided by fellow
ants toward the hall. One by one, gets
their shoes and takes off to the bus. I
grab my rain boots from the shoe shelf and sit down. It is extremely tight as if I have grown two
inches longer in last three hours. I
continue putting my effort to put my boots on.
All
of a sudden, I realize the last person is gone.
I am the only kid in the entrance hall still struggling with stupid
boots. The sun is peeking through the
cloud. I hope my bus is still
there. With the strongest forth, I
finally put them on. My right toes are
not touching to the end. My left heel is
in the air inside of a boot. But at
least I have them in both of my feet. I
dash to the ground. A bus is gone. My eyes start filling with plenty of water. My eyes are big, but not as big as to hold up
all tears that keep coming. I missed the
bus! I start hiccupping. My nose starts running. I repeat, “I missed the bus, I missed the
bus, I missed the bus.” That means I
have missed my only and final chance to shine on this unlucky Wednesday. Nobody is going to listen to my jokes after
all. I don’t know how to swear. I don’t know S-word or F-word. That frustrates me more. Turning around, I walk back to the
building. I see one teacher. Ms. Aoki!
My eyes are welled with relief. “Teacher,
I missed the bus. The bus is gone
without me. I don’t know how to get
home. My house is kind of far away from
here. Should I start walking?” She replies, “Principal will make an extra
route just for you, don’t you worry.”
Thank
you Buddha, I humbly receive your compassion right here right now from my Snow
White. This is how my “ordeal” Wednesday
is compromised. I ride the special bus trip
all by myself with principal. Principal’s
high pitch husky voice was somewhat soothing. That is the first conversation
with the principal. My vision is myself transferred to the large lotus leaf
floating on the water. I even see the
beautiful pink lotus flower by the leaf.
After all, there is always the flipped side of coin.
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