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Koinonia
Hannah Thorley
United Kingdom

Words: 1011
Access: Public
Comments: 11

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Diary

A woman digging in her garden discovers something unexpected; as she turns the digging claw in the crumbly soil it comes up with strips of shocking pink plastic trailing from the prongs. She grabs one of the thickest strips and pulls it until a section of earth moves and a torn up plastic bag emerges from the bottom of the hole. She tugs it away and finds a shoebox inside, decorated with butterflies and flowers made from what look like magazines cut into shapes and across the top is scrawled 'My Dairy'. Faint memories stir at the back of her mind but she is confused, why on earth should a dairy be buried in the garden and how would you even fit one in a shoebox. She lifts a corner of the lid and it comes away in her hand, damp and soft, revealing something shiny inside the box. She peels the rest of the top away and lifts out a thin book, unevenly covered in holographic pink wrapping paper with 'daiary' written diagonally across the front with a thick blue pen. A memory is dancing around at the back of her mind now but she can't quite bring it to the front so that she can look at it properly, so she opens the book.

'Hello. My name is Robyn Leallyra and this is my dia dai diary for the future'

That was it! The memory comes rushing forward; she had read a book about a girl who had written about her life and buried it for people to find in the future. Robyn had been so taken with the idea that she had written her own diary and buried it in the garden in the hopes that a mysterious stranger would find it and read about her life in the future. She laughs as she rereads the struggle to spell 'diary' correctly. It had always been her least favourite word, along with 'dairy' as she was forever mixing the two up! Robyn continues reading, the first entry is entitled 'Sunday', there is no date or even year and she can't remember at all how old she had been so she continues, hoping for some clue.

'My favourite film is The man who Shot Liberty Valance, my favourite food is marshmallows, my favourite colour is green, my favourite song is brown eyed girl and my favourite book is Lord of the Rings'

The Italic writing almost works apart from the fact that it runs slightly downwards as though the book had been turned on its side to make the letters slope. Interesting how she had not noticed that at the time, it had looked so clever and grown up to her. She thinks how odd it is that perceptions can change so much over time.

'My favourite subject is English and I hate German'

That meant that she must have been at high school, the only language she learned at primary school was the kind that had earned her a smack on the wrist at home. Her memories are skipping about randomly now; she recalls being stood in front of her German class in a line with other pupils as the teacher explained about Sie and Er. He had gone down the line pointing at them saying Sie to every girl and Er to every boy. He had pointed to Robyn and hesitated for a fraction of a second before saying 'Sie'¯ and moving on. But that was enough; she heard the whispers rustling through the rest of the class 'took him a while'¦he had to think about that one'¦look at her man-face'¦'¯, and after doing a practice test he had made them all stand up and counted up to see how many marks people had got. Robyn was one of the last few left standing and they had all stared at her with hard, cold, blank expressions and she wished that she had failed so that she could sit down and be just another staring face. Yes, she had hated German with every single part of her but somehow she had picked it up at the very end of year eleven and got an A for it. Robyn flicks forward a couple of pages, past the introduction to a page entitled 'Tuesday'.

'I just so can't believe what Heather's doing to Danny! She's so totally two-timing him and he doesn't even know, she can't even tell him, she must be so stupid or dumb or thick or somethin'

Aside from the appalling grammar and unimaginative insults, that didn't sound right. Heather was her best friend and had been since the very first days of primary school.

'Danny should so be with me and she knows it!'

Ah that explained it, and also roughly dated it. The very first year of high school Heather had suddenly gone all grown up on her when she got a boyfriend. It just so happened to be the boy that Robyn had liked for months. She had refused to speak to Heather, although she had been too busy to notice, and they were not reconciled for several months. And all over a boy! Danny Black...His deep expressive eyes flash in her mind, they were the most astonishing green colour and she had longed to gaze into them from the moment that she had seen him. He had a beautiful, full mouth that looked so soft and incredibly kissable. He always seemed to be surrounded by people who were laughing with him, not at him as they laughed at Robyn. When he had first spoken to her she almost hadn't been able to reply as fireworks went off in her stomach. If only she had known'¦
'Heya honey! I'm home!'¯ Robyn smiles, he always greets her that way and it still makes her tingle inside at the thought of seeing him again. He steps out of the back door and smiles at her
'Hey Danny, come and see what I've found!'¯

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Comments  
Koinonia Comment by: Koinonia - 2007-08-31 12:13
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That's okay, I always forget that people don't know stuff about my stories that I do! I probably should be a bit clearer. I'll work on it
Qwilla Comment by: Qwilla - 2007-08-31 05:21
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OH!

Guess I really put my foot in my mouth on that one, huh? Sorry about that. But I really did like the ending of the person finding her own diary.
Koinonia Comment by: Koinonia - 2007-08-31 02:41
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Actually the book covering is based on the first high school work book I ever covered. I'm not exactly the most practical person in the world and it did look a bit like an 8 year old had done it. Thanks for the comment!
Qwilla Comment by: Qwilla - 2007-08-30 10:38
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Good story--I like the idea of the "future" being herself. (A happening that the young Robyn likely never anticipated.)

And, LOL, if I was Robyn, I'd be sure to read the whole thing before I called Danny over: what if she'd written something embarassing??

The only quibble I have with this story is the age of the diary-writting Robyn. High school would put her in what, her late teens? The description of her writing and the decorating seem consistent with a much younger girl--around 8-9 or so. Now, if she *started* the diary at that age. . .and kept up with it until her teens, then that would account for it. And yet--that raises another question: If she had been writing that diary for *years* how could she have forgotten about it so completely?

I don't mean to tear your story apart, I like it very much actually.
Koinonia Comment by: Koinonia - 2007-05-14 02:58
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There isn't an old or new English. Just English, which spells it favourite.
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