July Writing Challenge: Summer Loving

[Sean *]

It's writing challenge time again. To enter, just post a ficlet (300-4000 words suggested) in this thread. When the voting for this month's OTM winners comes around, a voting poll will go up for this as well.

The Challenge: In honor of summer, we are inviting everyone to write about what their character does on their summer vacation. Hammel students and employees have one month. Colleges and other schools have two to three. Jobs have what they allow. Does your character travel? Go to the beach? Sit in their living room for an entire month watching cartoons? Share with us!


The rules:

• Characters must be in Hammel canon, but the ficlets are not site canon unless so labeled (even though the challenge fits easily into canon).
  
• Entries must be more than 300 words.
  
• You can enter no more than three ficlets. Any ficlets posted after the original 3 will not be considered for voting. If you want to post more, however, have fun.
  
• Ficlets must be titled.

[Clement Evans]

Hints

In September of 2008, Mr. Mike Vorrel asked his students to write an essay titled 'How I Spent My Summer Vacation'. Clement Evans was 10 years old and on his second attempt at third grade. His first draft, which contained only, 'it is not any of your fucking bisness' was deemed unacceptable, and only after his teacher asked him if he wanted to spend the rest of his life in elementary school did he turn in the essay below (with translation further down):





~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

How I Spent My Summer Vacation
Clement Evans

Mr. Vorrel you do not care wat I did on my Summer Vacation and I do not want to tell you. I did not do any thing like go to disny land or go to anoter stat. I stayd rite here. I stayd at home. I went to Minhos. We wachd kpop on his computor. There is a new grup calld SHINee. They danse as good as DBSK. Maybe beter. There (maknae) the persin who is yongist is 15 in ameracan years. Minho is 11. He says it meens he can be a kpop idol soon. I thik he cold be famus. He can dance like SHINee and like DBSK. I sayd to him he had to be tallr bcase he is short and he got mad and at my egg. His mom mad us (naengymyeon) nameung I do not now how to spel it it is bukweet noodls in cold soop and coocumbers and egg on top. You put ice in it to make it xtra cold. The noodls are bron not wite like in spagetios. But Minho ate my egg part wen I sayd he was short and I was speeking formely to. Kpop idols are teesd if they are short and I did not want him to be teesd but I did not say that bcase he tok my egg. He sayd I can not talk bcase I am short to. Ajima cam in bcase he was talkng lowd and she saw he at my egg bcase I eet the egg part last and my noodls was not gon. She skolted him and she gav me anoter egg xept it was a hole egg not just haf. She sayd if he wantd to be tallr he neds to eet soybeen sprowts. I sayd scool sayd you get tallr if you have milk a lot. Minho dos not like sprowts or milk. A long tim ago he sayd it tast like snot. I sayd it dos not.

He sayd how do I now wat snot tast like. I sayd a docter sayd it was gong from my nose to my throt one time and I cold tast it a litle. It was not milk. I sayd how dos HE now wat snot tast like and he sayd a boy in korea told him it is wat milk reely is. I sayd that was dum and it cam ot of cows. Minho dos not car. He hats milk no mater wat. He sayd he will be a kpop idol famus for beeng short. Ajima sayd the heet was makng us stooped and sayd we had to go otside and swet. The heet wood com ot of us in the swet. We playd with Minhos socker ball otside a lot. Ajima had Kang-shi com over to wach Minho wen she was at work but she cam back at 1 to hav luch. Kang-shi is a (harabeoji) I do not now the word. He is old. He is ok but he trys to trik me sayng words I do not now. Xept Minho dos not now them too. We sayd som of the words to Ajima and she skolted Kang-shi so lowd peepl otsid cold here. Wen he left he got skolted by them to. I am tird of riting. I at nameung and playd otside and herd Ajima skolt a (harabeoji). That is wat I did on Summer Vacation.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As the first assignment of the year, the essays were not graded on technical skills but by content, and as such Clement not only passed, but Mr. Vorrel wrote 'Good Job!' on the top of his paper and affixed a shiny golden star sticker to the right corner. They were the first positive words Clement had ever seen on one of his own papers.

He still has the essay.

[Idalia Tsavaris]

Oikogeneia*

Idalia couldn’t help but smile as she pulled up the drive already full of cars and she could hear the shouting and laughing from the street. “C’mon, Ike let’s go!” She said in a high pitched voice as she grabbed her dog’s leash and jumped out of the car. Ike knew where he was going. She weaved between cars and opened the gate and as soon as she did she unclipped the leash and let the dog go. There was barking as the Great Dane raced after the Golden Retriever Eva. Mneme the Labrador puppy yipped after them as if telling the older dogs to wait.

“Idalia! Agapo mou**!” A young woman called running forward with her arms open.

“Naira!” Idalia cried in return and took up her younger sister in a tight hug. “Where is he? Where is he?”

“Papa has him.” Naira was glowing with pride. Her soft brown hair was a curly halo around her face. She waved Idalia after her. The woman wove her way past running children and animals.

“Becca!” Idalia called ducking momentarily to grab her older sister in a hug. “How are you?”

“Wonderful, absolutely wonderful. Oh Ida, I’m so proud of you,” Rebecca held Idalia at arm’s length and pointed at her chest. “You know I tell people all the time: ‘That’s my sister on the weather!’” Rebecca beamed a Rebecca smile that reached all the way across her face and pushed her cheeks up toward her eyes making her squint.

Idalia flushed with pride and patted her sister’s arm as Rebecca rushed off to catch her son Tommy who got pushed over by Eva. Idalia waved at the twins who still looked like mirror images of each other. Both had light brown hair that hung wavy and brown eyes that were just a little too big. Jenna was married and her husband stood near Tressa’s discussing something over a few beers. Lenna was swirling a beer and listening emphatically as Jenna painted out some story.

“Papa!” Idalia cried throwing her arms around her father. He gave her a one armed hug as he cradled the newest family member in the other. After ten daughters he was very good at juggling children. “Is is Xan? Hi, Xan, oh how beautiful you are.” She cooed wiggling her fingers at the perplexed looking baby.

She laughed as Naira retrieved the child from their father and cradled him. “Where is Mama?” Idalia asked her father who was blissfully flipping burgers and surveying his family.

“She’s getting another plate from the kitchen she’ll be out in a minute.”

Idalia smiled and nodded venturing off to say hello to her other sisters when she heard little voices calling after her. “Auntie Ida! Auntie Ida!”

She turned catching Alexi, six, and Stella, five, as they flew into her legs. “Oh here are my trouble makers! My how big you are now!” She cried waving a hand over their’ heads. They were growing so fast!

“Can you come to show and tell, I want, nobody, they say I lie, so I wanna have you be show and tell,” Alexi, the little blonde started rambling half nonsense and half intelligible explanation.

“Why do you want that?”

“I say auntie’s on TV and they tell me no.”

Idalia made a devastated face as if she knew exactly the sort of misery the six year old was under. “Oh of course, honey. I’ll come in, we’ll show them all!” As if appeased Alexi giggled and Idalia stooped to smother them both with kisses. The giggling girls started off and Idalia caught Stella, “Hey, where’s your Mama?”

Stella was the spitting image of her mother when she was little. She just pointed and ran off giggling. Tressa was standing next to Naira now and Vivian was walking over to join them. Tressa was heavy with her third and stood with a hand on her back with another holding onto her shy two year old, Christina’s hand. Vivian had long straight hair the color of cherries.

“A new hair dye?” Idalia asked coming up from behind and ruffling the hair she knew Vivian spent hours on. She was the baby of the family, they couldn’t help messing with her.

“Idalia! Quit!” She swatted at her older sister getting hearty laughter from Tressa and Vivian.

Idalia put her arm around Vivian’s shoulders and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “How’s school going?”

Tressa scoffed, “Well, she was telling us right before you rudely interrupted.” Tressa gave her a harsh look before dissolving into giggles.

Idalia joined her in laughter. “You’re lucky you’re pregnant,” she joked back.

“I can still take you!” Tressa laughed, “But Vivian, tell us, she met a boy!”

“A boy!?” Naira cried with sudden interest.

Vivian blushed furiously and fumbled out an excuse about it not being that interesting. One look from Naira to Idalia and they tickled their youngest sister’s sides until she yielded with gasping breaths. “Fine, fine, you all are terrible!” Vivian went into vague details about some boy she had met at college at the University of Vermont. She was successfully through her second year now and on her way to Veterinarian School in a few years.

They grilled poor Vivian until their father called that food was ready. It was then Idalia saw her mother standing next to their father. She smiled and after a few steps the giggling gaggle of girls pushed and fought their way to be first in line. They were all over twenty now, one would think that they would have matured a little bit. But when it came to Papa’s cooking. Settling for fourth in line Idalia snatched her mother in a hug.

“Mama, how are you?”

“Oh wonderful, honey. We’ve almost got all of the floors done, stress is gonna come down a lot.” Rhea Tsavaris was a weary but happy looking woman. Gray now dominated her hair and she was no less plump than she had always been but she was beautiful and warm. Homely some people might call her, and it was true. No one else in the world would be more happy to open her home to people than Rhea.

Idalia smiled and nodded her head. “I’ll keep Ike outside.”

“Oh thank goodness.” Her mother laughed before so subtly cutting her in line and ratting on and on about people that Idalia vaguely remembered and people whose identity completely escaped Idalia.

Finally Idalia had to interrupt. “Have you talked to Aliana recently?”

The older woman nodded. “Oh yes, she’s loving Hampton. She’s working very hard. It’s too bad she wasn’t able to get off enough time to come up.”

Idalia shrugged knowing the feeling when the job was more important than anything else. There was a reason her phone was always on her. “She’s just starting out, you can’t take off time when you just start.”

“I know, but I wish she’d get out and about. I already have one marriage to the job.”

“Mama, you know…”

“I know, you love it. But I really wish you’d get married…”

“Ma…”

She put her hands up in mock defense, “I’m just saying, I’m not getting any younger.”

Idalia snorted, she already had six grandchildren and one on the way! Why were Idalia’s babies so important. “Can we not talk about this right now? I just haven’t found the right guy.”

“Of course honey, I just want you to be happy.”

“So long as I give you grandbabies,” Idalia accused.

“So long as you give me grandbabies,” her mother agreed patting her arm. Idalia sighed and grabbed a plate for herself. She was never going to win that argument. Taking a seat with her sisters and their husbands at the farthest point away from her parents so she didn’t have to deal with the marriage discussion again. Her mother never failed to bring it up. Idalia knew she shouldn’t complain, her parents were very proud, but sometimes she wished they would leave her love life alone!

The kids were banished to a small table with the exception of little Peter and Xan who were no more than a year old. Ike, seeing she had food promptly rested his head on her lap. She patted his head and otherwise ignored him for the conversation. When his efforts proved fruitless Ike moved on to the kid’s table where it was at his height.

“Ike!” Idalia cried surging to her feet. Poor Christina started crying as her cookies were swallowed up by the living vacuum cleaner. Tressa rose quickly along with their mother to coddle the child and present her with a wide array of new deserts. Meanwhile Ike was being dragged by his collar away from the table.

Andrew, Christina’s father laughed from the table. “Too slow, Christa!” That elicited laughter from a few of the sisters and a shake of the head from the rest. Idalia was too mortified to do either.

Fixing his leash on Idalia tied him to a tree. Ike, unhappy barked and barked and barked.

“Oh poor puppy,” Naira said with a pout.

“Don’t be nice to him,” Idalia scolded turning back to Ike to give him a glare.

Naira laughed and Idalia glanced back at her dog who was looking so sad in isolation. Finally deciding his time out was enough Idalia relented and brought the dog back with her to the table. Holding onto the leash now she ate in peace marveling at how good Ike was laying by her chair.

Plates were shoved away and the conversation’s volume rose exponentially with laughter and everyone struggling to be heard. Idalia reflected on how good it was that there were never more than half of them at home at a time. What with half of them off at Hammel or off at college or jobs. Now their parents were officially empty nesters. Or they would be if the twins and Vivian moved out. Jenna was starting. Just married a few months ago her and her husband were still financially struggling. And thus were still living in the basement.

“Pictures! Pictures!” Their father declared waving his hands to call attention to his horde of children and grandchildren.

“Grandkids!” Their mother called and the kids were set up on the steps. “Look at Yiayia***!” Stella and Alexi carefully cradled Xan and Peter and they stood smiling like loons and giggling at the faces the adults were making to pull smiles out of them. Idalia smiled to herself, she could see the appeal. She liked kids, generally. Usually so long as she was able to give them back.

It was decreed that families were next and the Jones’s, Kelsive’s, Kitch’s and Ulreich’s, consisting of Rebecca, Naira, Tressa, and Jenna, respectively set up. Next were the sisters. There was a sad moment as they linked arms and noted the absence of three of them. Smiling nonetheless and loving the company they took several pictures.

“You know what I tell people when they ask me why I have ten daughters?” Papa asked. The girls giggled knowingly and he went on anyways. “I tell them so I have one…”

“For each finger to hit their boyfriends!” The sisters finished collapsing in laugher.

“Mama and Papa now!” Lenna declared stealing the camera from their mother and shooing them to the steps.

They smiled as they watched their parents wrap their arms around each other. Snapping a picture they knew the one they would love the most when it was snapped on a shared kiss from the old couple.

*Family
**my love
***grandma


In loving memory of Stella and Constantine Stambolis

[Devon Wentsworth]

Site Canon for Devon Wentsworth

Dig Your Own Hole

The Place: Glastonbury Festival, Worthy Farm, Somerset, England.
The Date: “The Year of the Mud”, 28th June 1997.
The Time: Somewhere around midnight, he thinks. The Chemical Brothers were still on stage anyway, so whatever time that was.

---

“No no no no no! Mum will KILL you! She will kill you and then kill me! Don't be so sodding stupid!” Cade had literally dragged his baby brother out of the tent and around the back of it, attempting to get out of earshot of the older teens inside. What he had instead managed to do was get the pair of them once more soaked; the campsite of the 800 acre festival grounds being ankle deep in water, resulting in almost knee-deep mud. Torrential rains over the past two weeks had turned the dairy farm into a swamp, and the trudging of 90,000 pairs of boot-clad feet had done nothing to help the situation. Devon petulantly kicked at the ground, sending a spray of filthy water at his older brother.

“You can't tell me what to do! If I want to do this I will. And I do, so there!” The fourteen year old was wired on sugar, loud music and nowhere near enough sleep. The shots of gin that the older kids had sneaked into his coke had only worsened the problem. If Cade ever found out who it was that thought it'd be a good idea to give alcohol to an already permanently hyper kid, he was going to beat the holy hell out of them. He'd promised their mum he'd bring his baby bro back in one intact piece. That was beginning to seem like wishful thinking.
Cade shook his head in frustration, a hand rubbing over his eyes as he tried to reason with the wide-eyed, gobby little brat. “D, please...”

Cade might as well have been talking to the tent for all the good it was doing him.
“NO! They said I had to and I want to! You can't stop me!” As Devon began to storm back to the entry to the tent Cade grabbed his arm, pulling him back. The sopping mud plus feet that were even more uncoordinated than usual resulted in Devon hitting the deck hard, drenching both boys and causing the younger Wentsworth to snap. “LEAVE ME ALONE! Just let me do what I want!”
Knowing he had run into a wall, Cade held his hands up. “You know what? Fine. Go. I'll be out here when you need me.”

Cade knew better than to keep pushing his younger brother. The more he pushed the more agitated and defiant Devon would get, to the point where there would be a risk of him having an involuntary shift. As much as he thought he was going to regret this decision, Cade did not want to risk that. The last time Devon had shifted like that he'd been in the hospital in agony for two days, and then the blokes from Kocher had arrived to pick him up. As bad as the belting from their mum would be, it wouldn't be as bad as having to see his bro in that amount of pain again.

Joining up with the older kids and going back to their tent with them had clearly been a really, really stupid idea. Especially when they had started playing dares. Cade should have known better. Devon never, ever refused a dare.
Watching Devon storm back into the tent with the older kids, Cade kicked at the mud and waited outside in the pouring rain. He knew that any second now his little shit of a brother would wimp out of the dare and come back out to him.

Any second...

Any second now...

Suddenly a sharp yelp of pain sounded from inside the tent and Cade was inside in moments, grabbing the whimpering Devon by the arm and bodily dragging him back out into the rain once more. This time Devon didn't put up any fight, letting his older brother steer him away from the tent full of laughing teens and silently walking back in the direction of their own tent.

Getting to the festival grounds late had been something of an unexpected blessing; as they got further away from the stage and up onto the other side of the fields the ground became less trampled and firmer, their tent feeling like it was actually on the ground and not on an improvised water bed. Once inside both brothers pulled off their wet clothes, drying off in silence before changing into dry clothing for sleeping in. Before Devon could head for his sleeping bag Cade grabbed his arm, making him sit down as he shone a torch at Devon's ear.

A little blood trickled down from the hole in his left lobe, the clearly old and well-used-before butterfly stud sitting at a wonky angle. With a frustrated sigh, Cade took the stud out and threw it outside the tent before pushing Devon towards his sleeping bag. The younger boy put up no fight, curling into the bag in silence as the torch was turned off and Cade clambered into his own bag.

For a long while neither boy spoke, but then Devon tried to break the awful silence. “C, I'm s-” He was instantly cut off. “I know. Shut up and go to sleep. It's Stereophonics first thing tomorrow, and I need to wash your ear before I can help you elbow to the front.” Draping an arm over Devon, Cade quickly fell asleep, with his baby brother following shortly after.

~~

Lorraine Wentsworth didn't kill her sons, but she did give both a firm scolding.
She, along with Cade, then spent the rest of the summer nursing Devon while he battled a particularly nasty staph infection.
The botched piercing in his lobe closed up, but he got it re-pierced at the Glastonbury festival the following year.
Professionally that time.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Cloudy

The sky is grey and white and cloudy,
Sometimes I think it’s hanging down on me.
And it’s hitchhike a hundred miles,
I’m a ragamuffin child.

Summer of 1970 – three years after the Summer of Love.


Nobody in the neighborhood had seen him in almost a year. He’d been home during breaks before summer, but only to visit family, never to spend time with friends.

Not that he had many friends left.

He couldn’t blame the other kids in the neighborhood, not exactly. He’d dropped off the face of the Earth last summer, even though he’d still been home in New York. He hadn’t really gone out. Then he’d been whisked away to Hammel and nobody had seen hide nor hair of him sense.

Though there’d been plenty of rumors.

“Why don’t you go the park?”

The young telepath looked up from his copy of The Machineries of Joy, gazing up at his mother.

“I have a hair appointment and then have to go to the market,” she explained. “Kathleen loves the park near the courthouse, but it’s a long walk and I don’t want her to go alone.”

That was a perfectly reasonable request. Sean didn’t want his little sister to have to walk alone where there were so many cars, either.

“Besides, you should get some sunlight too,” his mother added with a smile on her lips but that telltale look of concern in her eyes. “You haven’t left the house since coming home.”

That wasn’t entirely true.

Sean had gone for his annual physical exam with the family doctor. He’d also visited both sets of grandparents and taken a few trips to the library. All of those were indoor activities and none of them involved children his age.

The young telepath didn’t dare argue the specifics, since he knew what his mother’s underlying point was.

Besides, his partners had opted not to take the family beach vacation this year. It wasn’t really fair to his parents or his sister that they were missing out on the family vacation tradition, all because of his issues. He’d already managed to ruin winter break, and he’d forced the whole family to come up to Vermont for Easter.

The least he could do was help his mother out by making sure that his sister had some fun.

Sean didn’t say any of that. Instead, he gave a soft, “Okay” before going to find Kathleen.

*************************

Kathleen was old enough that she didn’t have to hold her brother’s hand for the entire walk, or even to cross the street. She skipped ahead of him a little bit, but Sean, already too tall and lanky, had a long stride and was easily able to catch up. He didn’t let her out of his sight, and that was most of what mattered.

By the time they reached the park, the sun had reached its acme in the sky. There were so few clouds that cover was essentially nil, and the rays and light beat down, heating them and the blacktop. Kathleen immediately ran for the water fountain to cool off, while Sean found a bench near the playground equipment. His mother had let him take his book with him, and he could keep an eye on his sister while reading.

He wasn’t doing much better than when he’d first arrived at Hammel; however, Robert Hopkins, Prince Among Men that he was, had taught him a thing or two about multitasking.

Kathleen had no problem finding girls her own age; she’d always been a social butterfly. The girls climbed the jungle gym and played on the monkey bars.

Sean opened his book to read.

He peered over at his sister every few minutes, but otherwise everything was fine. The park wasn’t too crowded, and if he focused intently on the text on the page, he could get a better handle on tuning out the noise. His mental shields were still rudimentary, but they were a great improvement on when he had been completely powerless against the over-present onslaught.

Sure, he still knew everyone’s secrets, but elementary school kids didn’t have many secrets. Not the ones that weighted his shoulders down and stained his soul. No, they worried about the little things: fibbing to their parents or doing snooping. Things that, while wrong, weren’t horrible and didn’t keep him up at night, unable to breathe because of the moral pressure. So everything was fine.

After about forty minutes of playing, Sean had made good headway with his book. The Mister Softee music cut through the rest of the noise, and Kathleen came running over to get his attention. The young telepath set down his book and went with her, standing behind the other children who had moved with celerity to form a line in front of the ice cream truck. Cones and frozen treats abounded, and the chatter of conflicting orders battered Sean’s mind.

When he and Kathleen reached the front of the line, he let her go first and then murmured that he wanted a plain vanilla cone. Just because it was the easiest thing that came to mind, and he didn’t have to worry about accidentally ordering something that someone else wanted. Vanilla was fine; Sean liked vanilla.

After paying for his and Kathleen’s ice cream, he went back to his bench, while his sister went off with her friends to eat and continue playing. He ate his cone and then resumed his reading for a bit.

He’s a freak.

Sean lifted his head, trying to gauge from where the thought originated. He didn’t have the best directional sense, although Robert promised that would come in time. Since he didn’t recognize the voice, he couldn’t match it to a specific individual, either. It sounded young and female, so it was probably one of the girls.

What if she’s a freak too? Maybe I shouldn’t be playing with her.

Definitely one of the girls. Sean frowned to himself and sought out where his sister was – conversing animatedly with the small group of girls. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, and he strained to listen with the telepathic sense that he couldn’t control.

Of course, when he actually wanted to listen, he had to drop his shields, which caused all of the thoughts from all of the people around to bombard his mind. Sean bit his lip to ward off the pain, trying to keep himself exposed for as long as possible, in hopes of catching more of what the girl was thinking and thus what she was saying.

He couldn’t keep it up; the throb began in his temples, and the young telepath scrambled to reconstruct the rudimentary shields before he had a meltdown.

The strain proved unnecessary.

Kathleen came up to him a few minutes later, tears streaking her cheeks. “Can we go home now?” She asked in a small voice, the one she used when she was too upset even to argue.

Sean glanced at the group of girls, who were watching him and Kathleen with far too much interest. He wanted to assure his sister that anyone who judged her for having him as a brother weren’t real friends. He wanted to promise her that this would never happen again, but he couldn’t. Instead, he said, “Sure we can” and closed his book. Although the telepath reached for his sister’s hand, she refused to take it. She only trudged ahead of him with her head lowered and her eyes downcast, walking with enough speed to get her out of the park as soon as possible. Gone was the enthusiasm from when they had first arrived.

Robert told him that the students who ostracized him were solely responsible for their actions. His parents told him the same thing. Still, he couldn’t help but feel at fault for this.

He couldn’t help who or how he was, but people had some valid reasons for being uncomfortable around him. That didn’t mean Kathleen should suffer for it. She wasn’t meta; she didn’t have scary mind powers. She was just a nine-year-old who wanted friends and didn’t get to go to the beach this summer.

It wasn’t enough that he didn’t have friends of his own. Now he had to ruin his sister’s chances too.

Suddenly, Sean couldn’t wait to go back to Hammel for the next semester. Not because he missed being there, but because he thought that Kathleen and his parents would be better off without him.