“But I passed all of my classes.” Sherry, who was in sixth grade, couldn’t understand why her father was so angry.
“C’s are not acceptable. You’re very bright. You should be getting A’s. From now on you are to come straight home after school and do your homework and study. I will oversee your work.”
Sherry pouted. “Okay.”
Over the course of the second quarter, Sherry’s father pressed Sherry to do her school work. He also found a guru, Deanne, of supernatural practices. The guru gave the father and daughter in depth astrology readings. Deanne taught them handwriting analysis and how to change personality traits by changing writing patterns. Sherry met with Deanne privately once a week.
Deanne would ask, “How are things going?”
Sherry would answer, “Terrible. I’m not allowed to see my friends after school or on weekends and I hate doing my school work.”
Deanne would then give Sherry a tarot card reading.
“You are destined to do great things. What you are going through now is to prepare you to be superlative. You will be thankful later.”
Deanne gave Sherry a book on ancient Greek mythology “to understand how the world works.” Sherry read it with great interest, but didn’t understand what it had to do with her or her school work. Sherry wrote a book report about it for school, though, and got an A, so reading it wasn’t a waste of time.
It was 1976, in Springdale, Ohio. Sherry’s family lived in a three bedroom brick house on a block that was one of many blocks of identical three bedroom brick houses. Her father was a freelance writer with a PhD in journalism from Harvard University. He did most of his writing at home. Sherry’s mother, who had a PhD from Cornell University, was an administrator at a nursing home and worked long hours.
Sherry’s room had light blue walls and French provincial style furniture from a discount furniture store. She felt she had almost outgrown the furniture even though her parents only bought it only a year or two ago. She felt guilty for not wanting that furniture when she would go into junior high school.
Sherry was an only child. The third bedroom of her house was her father’s office. He had shelves of books and periodicals and a desk with an IBM typewriter on it. Sometimes he traveled to research articles, but not often. He was published in various periodicals and had written several “mid-list” nonfiction books about politics and economics. He brought in a steady income. Sherry’s mother earned a good income as well. Sherry’s parents saved and invested their money with the goals of paying college tuition for Sherry and a comfortable retirement for themselves. Thus, they didn’t flaunt wealth.
***
Sherry signed up to take care of one of the sixth grade nature center animals over the winter break. She had hoped to get the chinchillas, but instead she got a small white bird. It was only a parakeet, really; all the other animals in the nature center were more exotic.
When she took the bird to her room, Sherry noticed how cold and drafty her room was. The teacher had given her a heavy blanket to cover the cage at night, but she covered it during the day, too.
Sherry pleaded to her father. “Can’t we stop turning the heat down at night? I’m afraid the blanket won’t be enough for the bird.”
“You should have thought of that before volunteering to take it home. You know we don’t have tropical temperatures at home. You have to take responsibility. We don’t want to waste energy. Speaking of responsibility, you are not to get together with your friends until you finish the book report.”
Sherry wanted to say, “But this is supposed to be a vacation,” but she bit her lip. She knew not to argue with her father. She was afraid of him and his temper. She didn’t think he was being fair to her, though.
Winter vacation was two weeks long. Sherry read a biography of Mozart, the book she had chosen for her next book report. The book mesmerized her, as his life was unlike any she had ever been aware of. He was so talented, it was almost as unbelievable as the ancient Greek gods. Sherry wrote a book report, which her father approved.
Then it was Christmas. Sherry got a set of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, wool sweaters, and a Schwinn bicycle. She was happy with her gifts. She had gotten a silk scarf for her mother and a tie for her father. They seemed pleased with their gifts as well.
The following week, Sherry’s friends were out of town, and Sherry thought some more about the book about Mozart and revised her book report.
Her father looked it over. “That’s even better. You could become a professional writer with that attitude. Revising is the important thing.”
The rest of the week went by quickly as Sherry was engrossed in Lord of the Rings.
For a few days before Sherry was to go back to school, the parakeet wasn’t looking so good. He stayed on the bottom of his cage, his feathers ruffled and he didn’t eat or drink anything. Sherry called a pet shop, but was told there was nothing that could be done, except to keep the bird warm.
The night before going back to school, Sherry couldn’t sleep. She rolled back and forth on her bed. She cried about the bird. When her bedside clock read one o’clock, she saw a gauzy white figure of a man with curly hair and beard, wearing a toga. Sherry blinked her eyes a few times, but she still saw him. He was at the bird cage. Then she heard some low growling and saw that with the man was a three headed dog, also gauzy white, and she understood.
Sherry sat straight up. “Hades!”
The man turned to Sherry. “You know who I am?”
Sherry sucked in a sharp breath, eyes wide. “Please don’t take the bird’s life.”
Hades frowned. “And why shouldn’t I take the bird’s life?”
Sherry cried out, “I’ll lose face at school!”
Hades laughed loudly in a deep voice.
Sherry put her feet on the ground and stood up. “I mean it. You can take my life instead.”
Hades still chuckled. “Isn’t your life worth more than a small bird’s life?”
Sherry shook her head. “My life isn’t worth much. Mozart was composing music by age five or six. I can hardly keep up with my school work and I haven’t accomplished anything else.”
Hades stopped laughing and frowned. “If you don’t take your own life, I won’t take it from you yet. You will probably find meaning and value in life through love by the time I do go after you. Humans usually do.”
Sherry sucked in her lips in and licked them. “What about the bird?”
Hades sighed. “You can keep the bird. You’ve kept his cage well covered, so I won’t lose face for letting him live.”
Hades and his three headed dog disappeared. Sherry covered all of the bird’s cage again and went back to bed.
In the morning, the bird ate some food and went up on a high perch of his cage. Sherry was delighted. She went back to school with the living bird and her book report.
LZ Short Stories 