Emily Plays Dotty
A “How I Spent My Summer Vacation: I became a Girl!” Gaiden
by
Rebecca Coleman

-2-
The Manchester Commons

This is a sequel to “Leading Lady”.

I’m quite happy to be back in the safety of my room in the all-girl boarding school I attend.

I have to admit that all the glitz of an Oscar gala can be intoxicating. It’s not everyone that has a mother that gets nominated for an Oscar but now I really need to rest and wind down.

The last year and a half have been crazy, absolutely crazy.

A Successful Family

The possession of a small number of cows, pigs, sheep and goats in addition to ducks, hens and geese was to the older family members the currency by which they measured true wealth. That the hundreds of doves that lived in the centuries old dovecote and the fish in the lake were a readily available food source was a wonder to them. When they added a couple of hives of bees and a dozen rabbits to keep in a barn they couldn’t imagine a better life.

On the 13th of January, Dorothy Colleen posted “Orientation Day. ” It’s a short little tale (less than 500 words) regarding a speech by the headmistress of a special school, in which she corrects some misinformation about the school. I was impressed with the idea of such a school and could see a much larger story about that school. I contacted Dorothy and told her there was a story yet to be told and ask if she wasn’t going to write would she mind if I did. She graciously granted me permission.

What follows is that story. In it we get inside the head of one of the incoming students listening to that speech.

Blair, while he admits that he’s not and “average” boy, appears on the outside to be just that. He’s been a good student through elementary school. But in middle school his interactions with the other boys in school serve to highlight just how far he is from “average.” His inability to relate to their attitude and refusal to join in with the banter regard the girls in the school isolate him and open him up to verbal abuse. Being a gentle boy he finds that the old saying, “Sticks and Stone can break you bones, but words can never hurt you,” simply isn’t true. Words do hurt and the hurt Blair deeply; to the point that he dreads going to school. As a result, his grades suffer badly.

In an effort to solve this problem his parents seek alternatives to public education. Join Blair as he navigates the troubled waters of Secure Haven; A School for Gentle Boys.