Chapter Four[ School days:Mirror reaveals child dreams]

CHAPTER FOUR [School days: Mirror reveals}

On the first day of the school year, Ericka was getting ready excitedly because she will begin going to school in the first grade.

 When she sees herself in the mirror while wearing her new primary school uniform, she remembers her goals and aspirations to advance her knowledge, wisdom, and personality unconsciously.

That is what she means every time she was been awakened from night sleep in the early dawn when her fathers’ male chickens crow repeatedly but the sunrise doesn’t emerge yet making her feel unconsciously restless from the long hour of waiting as she lay flat beside her mother and youngest brother on the wooden floor covered with a mat made of woven dried buri leaves created by her hardworking mother.

As she was in that situation, she has already those wishes and fantasies as her mind lingers saying that,

“When I grow bigger, older, and taller, I like to prove to my parents who always thought of me as weak, freak, and incapable of doing what my elder sisters and brothers can do. They always refuse my initiation to help and treated me as knowing nothing. That’s why my mother doesn’t allow me to work the way my sisters did because I’m so young, tiny, and incompetent in everything. That is completely ridiculous.”

Ericka recalls adding,

“You just wait, Mother! When I grow up and become a lady, I will travel to a far place, having my journey, and adventures far away. When I return, I will be a big girl, responsible and competent to do all I want. I like to manage and lead people to become productive, knowledgeable, and excel in their skills and abilities and we all prosper in this farmland." Ericka further dreams,

“I will bring many delectable foods we never tasted to eat here such as sausages, grilled meats of chicken, pork, and beef. That is very nice to eat, delicious and nutritious. I will also buy and bring here milk, and dairy products which I often heard from radio advertisements. “

 Ericka’s’ mind turns joyful making her face looks lively, sparkling, and enthusiastic as she is gazing at her physical features in front of the horizontal mirror when suddenly,

” Hey little girl, quicker and grab your pair of rubber slippers and new school bag! Your Ate Joan and kuya Randy are already downstairs!” Father shouted at her as she hurriedly turns back and pull the curtains that cover their mirror to run downstairs.

 Ericka has those childish dreams before sunrise oftentimes. Now, she is in front of the mirror and looking at her physical features again with that small piece of blue cloth that wrap her lower part, and with her upper part is the well-fitted white blouse sewn by her loving mother. But her daydreaming never ends in front of the long mirror that has been attached to their family’s closets. As she is in a hurry to catch up with her elder sister's big, faster footsteps, her face is still unconsciously absent because she still has empty information inside her brain. She only accumulated adult information about her world of fantasy from listening to the family’s portable radio.

     Suddenly,” Hey, Ericka, stop daydreaming again and focus on the grassy path walk where many fingerlings’ snakes have been crawling around. We are your sisters and brother and are willing to go with you for your first day in school.!”

  Ate Joan shouted as they all taunted and laugh at her because she already trying to act like a grown-up individual with her blue skirt and white blouse school uniform. She never retaliated to all her elder siblings’ ridiculous reactions to her dainty attitudes but remain quiet she made her mind busy with her idiosyncrasies as she twisted her upper lips and mumbled saying inaudibly,

 “It’s okay! I can manage to be always treated as a nobody. “

  As she continues to pretend that whatever they say against her doesn’t affect nor hurt her emotions because she is already learned to understand that enduring ridicule and humiliation is what God wants for all He loves. Ericka believes that the child Jesus loves her and protected her although she has no one around to play with and no one dares to speak nicely when they approach her because she is considered a freak. As she listens attentively to their remarks, she speaks silently through her mind

 ” You just wait, Ericka. Once you grow up, you should handle all the household chores here because after we graduated from secondary education, we will be traveling to the city to get a job and you stay here with our parents to help them.!” Ericka’s ate Joan stated as she slowly stepped down the river’s edge crossing the fresh, clear running water that reaches to her small thighs she has to pull her blue skirt up to her between her legs not to get it wet as to proceed to go to school that early Monday morning of June.

     Ericka quickly grabs her empty small, plastic school bag which she ate Joan used to bring while crossing the running, fresh water on the huge river, and runs faster because she will be left behind by her late Joan and kuya Randy who walk faster than her.

 For fear to be left behind alone, she took off her pair of slippers, “It would be better to hold it with my hands because it might be torn down easily if I used it for running. If I had shoes then it would be better to use for running because it surely not flies away.”

 thoughts crept as she slower her step forward saying,

 “But I can’t cross the running water in the river if I have shoes on my feet because they will get wet and takes time to remove them before I cross the river. I will be left behind often because of those shoes. “

 Her eyes turn big as she realizes the disadvantages of wearing shoes instead of rubber slippers.

 ” Ah never mind, I should be contented of my rubber slipper now. My mother has not had enough money yet to provide me with such a pair of shoes. I can manage pair of rubber slippers in the meantime.”

Ericka whispered as she runs barefoot on the green, grassy path walk until they must cross the big river with a raging water current.

 ” Hey Ericka! I need to hold your hands because the current of running waters might carry you to the deepest part and surely you will get drowned.”

Ate Joan stated as her brother Randy chuckles because she looks so cute with her tiny, little creatures’ physical features saying,

 ” You resemble that dwarf, the elf which our father mentioned in his story! Come on now! The elves might be following us!”

 As all of them run fast after crossing the huge river and taking the long, rocky road on foot. Ericka's small feet hurt because the sharp stones made her toes twisted using the Achilles hill and half part of her feet stepped on the ground made her elder siblings enjoy watching her new behavior against new situations as she continues to daydream afterward because although the long rocky road is very far to take a walk, something is exciting at the end.

 That she is welcomed into society as someone with a unique, admirable personality who is strong-willed and determined to overcome all types of obstacles in life. That is only in her mind accumulated through radio listening.

 Ericka has that thought as an adult that time of her childhood made others enjoy teasing her. There were moments when she was emotionally disturbed and feels agitated, and unpleasant to face people because she likely most enjoys being alone when people tease her.

 Ericka learned to be strong to cultivate abilities to break free from her original environment and start a new, better life and kick the bullies that arise, that is from weak to strong, dependent to independent, negative to positive, and a simple naive, ignorant girl to a stunning, brilliant educator of all who seek wisdom and love 'expectations. That is what she has in mind.

She reaches the school zone for the first time in her innocent, uncivilized life.

It was a large classroom for first-graders, but she has conflicting emotions about not yet knowing her assigned room, seat number, or teacher because she doesn't know what would happen next in her meaningless, empty mind that early sunny morning on the school campus.

 Her elder sister left her alone telling her to listen to the teacher in charge announcing when her name was mentioned and quickly going to present herself as the owner of that name mentions.

“Don’t be afraid! I can sense you shivering already my little sister. The teacher will protect you while I am in my classroom. I need to study also and be with my teacher and classmate. I will fetch you after class hours, Okey?”

As Ericka nodded and get her hands off, free from her sisters’ firm grip. She waited for the speaker to mention her name and wait for her instructions.

She was not exposed to such a place where many small and big children are competing to be seen and pay attention by the main assistants, so they can quickly get inside the room and rest, free from increasing sweltering heat and dust around the place due to crowded children and parents.

 Luckily, Ericka’s’ name is heard by everybody repeatedly. She excitedly run fast trying to get into the crowded places asking to give her ways to find where she belong in that school.

” Very tiny, little girl, cute and behave, Ericka Kuz Mendel. That is you. Welcome to our world of learners. Give me your envelope with credentials so that we can register you, little brave girl!” The teacher in charge smiles as she mentions the positive statement because she can sense that little Ericka has fear of the crowd and strange people her eyes almost get wet with tears and her face turns gloomy with her whole body quivering uncontrollably. The teacher has to rest assured of complete protection to make Ericka feel at home with them as the teacher cuddled her warmly.

 After half an hour, Ericka is already given to a section ‘A’ learners classroom with many small, tiny, mixed-gender classmates. She is given the front seat plan and she loves it because she can hear and see her teacher adviser.

Her taller male classmates are smiling, but the females seated next to her are condescending and seem unconcerned.

 She takes her time as she begins to learn how to handle large, black pencils by holding them correctly in front of her right index finger and selecting the areas of the paper on which she will begin to draw lines, curves, and other shapes.

 ” Her, Ericka, come closer over here!”

 Her teacher adviser instructed her and let her stand firmly in front of the class. Ericka’s’ emotions turn unpleasant because she is not accustomed to facing others in front of many unknown persons to her. She became timid and bashful because she again experienced fears and restlessness made her stomach like regurgitating inside as she quivered  trying to overcome her unconscious frictions when the teacher took her paper although look tampered with erasures, her teacher find it completely correct and nicely draw with her big, black pencil saying,

” Class, look at the works of Ericka who learned fast making all the different strokes I had instructed you to practice frequently. Now she can start to write her complete names through the model I gave to her like those models I gave to each one of you. You better started trying your ways to catch up to our lessons and avoid chatting and playing around. I am instructing each one to focus on our lesson! Do you understand me?” The learners reply,

 “Yes, Teacher! We can understand your instructions!”

   Ericka has slow comprehension and is weak in listening as she doesn’t understand what the model means, but she imitates it by practicing the strokes after writing on top of it what the teacher described as her whole name. She seems to love it. She just knows to obey instructions although not thoroughly understand what it means.

 While she is trying to acclimatize and adapt to school life, many sunny days, rainy days, typhoons, and floods come and go. Eventually, she learned to be left alone at school and interact with her fellow small classmates.

  Before the school year ended, her teacher allocated her set plan near the edge of the classroom, far from the front where she could hardly hear and understand what the lesson was all about, and a group of huge male classmates made fun of her weak, petite, slow personality together with his seatmates assuming she is a slow learner. When it's her turn to go to the whiteboard to practice reading those three to four letters-words with consonant-vowels sounds, one of her male classmates setting in the front row of the class shouted,

  “Teacher!”

One learner sitting in the front row screamed. The teacher who is busy writing at her table quickly, speechlessly tilts her head up to stretch her two eyes wide open to the restless learners sitting in the front row. “Ericka made a big mistake to read such a word, ‘COW’! She said,” LIZARD!” The huge male classmates taunted her and smiles approaching the teacher who quickly reacted by saying,

” Ericka, how do you read such words? Can you repeat it ?”

  The teacher asks Ericka who is speechless as she turns her back to look over the angry teacher adding,

   ” Read it again!” Teacher instructed.

 Ericka turns her head to the whiteboard because she already struggling over the unpleasant emotion that made her tremble recalling past experiences when her teacher spank her bottom with a stick when she roamed around the classroom to search for her classmate who stole her black pencil.

” COW!” Ericka turns to the whiteboard holding the stick and pointed to each letter of the word written saying slowly,

”C-O-W, COW!”

“Okey, continue reading! How do you read those words next to it?” The teacher asks again to Ericka.

 Ericka is beginning to shiver as she loudly read those words saying,

 “COB, COT, COP, CORN.”

  “Right! Good.” The teacher said after instructing, “Take your seat, Ericka!”

   The teacher further instructed,

  ” boys who are sitting in the front row, can you remain after the class dismiss?”

  A huge number of male learners stay and assigned to clean the classroom as disciplinary action for bullying their classmates.

” Ericka, you can go home now. Continue your good work!” The teacher said as all the learners left.

 She was been bullied by them by telling her the incorrect information but she learned to be more careful. As they considered her a slow, weak, and dumb learner.

Before the commencement exercises, all the teachers were busy doing their curriculum reports. To labor in the garden, pull weeds, and collect small, medium, and large pebbles, and rocks from the river banks for the school's landscaping project, small learners were required to stay outside of the classroom on specific days. Ericka finds it very hard to comply on the first day because of the scorching heat. But after a week, she began enjoying the hardship because all of them took the activities as part of the games and competed which has a lot to bring with many points and additional good remarks from the teacher.

Although most of them turn filthy and get rushed and bruised, no one dares including little Ericka who is very enthusiastic, alert, and playful her teacher rewarded her as the most active and energetic small learner in section “A” class of primary grade level in that public school.

 She gains strength as she gathers the ions necessary for a healthy body.