My RA Ch. 02

Zoe was the first of her class to go into town and meet the kids, most disregarded Miss Dawn's advice. Zoe took Anne's advice that she could not have too many friends. She could not figure out how to introduce herself to the kids. Then a brain storm struck. She realized she made a mistake.

Zoe walked over to a small boy playing with his bear. She sat down Indian-style and talked to the boy who was wary of her. Mommy and Daddy always said not to talk to strangers.

Zoe said," What is your bear's name? He looks like a handsome bear.

Did Miss Joy make sure you got that bear?" The boy nodded. "Do you know Miss Joy made sure I got a bear also? His name is 'Brownie'. I should have brought him with me, but I forgot. Zoe was not below doing some 'Name dropping'. I will bring him next time I come down if you will have me."

When the boy heard she was a friend of Miss Joy he started telling all about his bear. Just about everything he did with his bear. Zoe just listened to the boy as he went on about his bear. Word spreads quickly on the grapevine. Soon all the children knew the stranger was Miss Joy's friend.

Miss Joy gave her a bear named 'Brownie.' Miss Joy only gives bears to special people. Soon there was a large group of children that encircled Zoe all holding their bear or dolly. Molly was playing hopscotch outside, she did not hear about Zoe.

Before Zoe left, she walked over to an adult working on his laptop. She whispered into his ear and showed him a web site. The adult was intrigued. "It would have to be an extra-extra-extra special occasion." Zoe agreed.

David spoke seriously to Joy," Joy you have been working too hard and you are not getting any fun. I think the kids are going to the stables soon. You are going with them. I am willing to give up a 'Date night' so you can catch up with your work. You know you love being with them and they love you.

So, where is this box you have been hiding on me? I have heard much about them, but have not seen them."

Joy was in a dilemma. She did not want to show David her plaques but he had a right to see them. Joy got them at a very hard time in her life, not long after the flood. When David saw Joy carrying the box to him he could see tears just spilling down her cheeks. He slowly opened the box and carefully read each one. Then he got to the bracelet and examined it closely.

"I assume this and the collar are a matched set?" David latched the bracelet onto Joy's wrist before she could respond. "Where do you want me to hang these? Something this precious should not be in a box collecting dust. They should be polished and be gleaming off our walls. Hiding them would not show honor to every person that signed those petitions."

Joy had never thought about it like that. She did not want to dishonor or disrespect all those people. She knew they cared for her.

"How about, in a row above the mantle but higher than 'Gran's' mantle clock and pewter candle sticks. " Joy dusted them and polished the brass and wood and gave them to David to hang.

They drew your eye to them as soon as you walked through the door. They glistened. They transformed the room. It was the first time Joy ever felt happy about having them. She walked over to David and gave him a hug and a kiss. She whispered "Thank you."

Joy decided she needed to have more of a social life, she started out by inviting her Mistresses over for dinner. She had to eat anyway so she would not lose much time. David was a good cook and Joy was studying in the library until the last second.

All three came together, they were immediately drawn to the mantle. Mistress turned to her and gave her a hug. "Thank you Joy for giving them a place of honor in your home."

David surprised everyone, he had a short day for classes so he went all out for Joy. They all started out with old fashioned Greek salads. David added some banana peppers to the other common things. Then side dishes of corn, snap peas, beets and carrots came out. The entrée was a perfectly cooked pot roast. The dinner rolls and your choice of butter or infused olive oil came out with freshly squeezed lemonade. David believed in the "Eat the rainbow" school of eating.

"Alkaia, this is a 'dry' household, but we have tea, coffee or cocoa we can offer you."

Everyone wanted a nice cup of tea, served in 'Gran's' teacups, saucers and teapot with teabag holders. Everyone was very relaxed. David could see some of the tension come out of Joy's face.

Mei said to Joy," We seem to be getting a bigger and bigger bear family. I think we should buy three more bears to have in stock then order the clothes from Orlando when we need new clothes. They would love working on new clothes. 'Brownie' hardly has anything. We can call and give names of the bear and all the info then just have it mail to the unsuspecting victim."

Joy said," David has told me he wants me to have more of a social life. We will find ways for me to study. He has ordered me to go on the hayride with the kids."

Mistress said," Well, we need to keep that a secret, Zoe will call you when she gets half way there, they will go nuts seeing you finally. They better all have good behavior, none will want to miss that. It only took Zoe 'dropping' your name once to make her a friend for life. Once they heard you gave her a bear that was it, she forgot to bring it though."

On the day all the roommates moved Miss Dawn had a serious talk with Zoe's roommate, April," April you are in an interesting position. Zoe is really hurting right now as she lost her parents. We are trying to help her out. You have a duel role. First, you are helping me to see Zoe gets well. Second, even though you are a sub, I want you to be her confidante.

Back her to the hilt, but use appropriate force when she makes a mistake. Always make a point to praise her. You will find this makes you a better person. I will not ask you to betray anything unless under very extreme circumstances. I encourage you to talk often to each other. Please let me know if you want to take on this responsibility for me or have any other problems."

Zoe and April talked all afternoon as she was changing rooms and getting all set up. Zoe was kind of laid back, maybe too laid back. It will be hard to help her as she is using it as a self-defense mechanism. April was determined to figure out Zoe. She took the direct route, she bared het soul in hopes Zoe would start talking. At first it did not work, Zoe just went to bed, but the seed was planted.

The next day Zoe avoided April. April did not know if she just needed space or if she pressed too hard, too soon. Later that night when they were getting ready for bed April asked the question," Zoe have I done something to offend you? I am sorry if I have. I was hoping I could get to know you and I did not know where to start."

"I am sorry April, this having friends thing sometimes is overwhelming. I never had any before and now everyone wants to be my friend, even bunnies for goodness sake. I slide back into my shell."

"Ok let's start your list. 1) Good grades, 2) No back sliding, 3) Talk and do things with Miss Anne 4) Talk to April. 5) Visit kids 6) Talk to Miss Dawn and Miss Joy.7) Take good care of 'Brownie' 8) Let us know if you have a problem so we can help you with it.

I am not claiming to be anything like Miss Joy and Miss Mei, but I would like to be your friend.

Zoe, Miss Dawn told me that you lost your parents, I am truly sorry you had to experience that. We want to be a new support group for you. Even the kids, they can't help but be totally honest with you.

So I hope we can divide it up into two ways. In what ways can I help you and it what ways can everyone else help you? You can divide them up by group if you want. Can you please think about that for me? I really want to be a good friend to you, but good friends talk to each other."

April ordered Chinese in, Zoe said," Chinese yummy. How did you know what to order?"

"Oh, I figured that you were one of those disgusting people who eat their vegetables so I got you Moo Goo Gai Pan. I got the deep fried General Tso chicken. As punishment for eating well you have to use chop sticks." April could not keep a straight face anymore. She did not see the incoming pillow until it was too late.

April heard all about what Miss Joy and Miss Mei did. She vowed not to do that, Zoe deserved them doing new and special things together. After thinking, April concluded Zoe needed something relaxing or just being silly or having fun.

"Hey Zoe, how is your eye-hand coordination? Do you think it is better than mine? Would you like to prove it?"

Zoe looked quizzically at April," That is an odd question April. Hey, wait a minute! Is that a challenge?!"

April grabbed her purse and keys and dashed out of the room with Zoe in hot pursuit.

"Where are we going April?" April just smiled. "I hate when you do that."

April said," Well, you need to do something silly, I saw this the other day going back to the dorm. Now they have two kinds and I want to do both."

Zoe said," Two kinds of what April?" No answer was needed. As they rounded the corner Zoe saw the sign."24 hour Day-Glo miniature golf."

April said," I want to do Day-Glo first then the normal one. It will be fun.

They sell you a shirt so you can put different colors of paint on it so we can see each other when we get in there."

Zoe could not believe she was about to play Day-Glo golf. She did not know what to put on her shirt so she just squeezed out a lime-green outline of bunny eating an orange carrot. April did not know what to make either so she just grabbed several colors and made a rainbow.

The girls were laughing too much to concentrate on the game. They agreed every shot after the first shot had to be a bank shot, even if you were a foot from the hole. They did not even keep score. It was a nice change of pace from schoolwork. April thought she just found a way to break through Zoe's shell.

Dawn was doing some long term brain storming.

"Alkaia, Dawn here, I have been thinking of the future. By the time my classes hit junior or senior year I will not be able to do all the classes. By junior year they should all be paired up so they can progress as a group. We should be able to identify three pairs by then from each school and they could all take one freshman class.

They will have to work as a team and keep a good communication line going just as a Master / sub pairing should. The plans will have to change due to the popularity of the classes.

I also think, at some point, you will need to set up some low grade teacher position. Many have such good grades, they have free rides already. Maybe you could ask some of the brighter ones who have free rides to speculate what would be of benefit for them if they taught one class."

Alkaia said," I see your point Dawn, you can't teach ten classes can you. Eventually you will become more of an advisor and maybe teach grad students and perhaps a senior class.

It is a long way down the road but maybe it will help us with our somewhat undefined curriculum. I am hoping that those two hard classes will separate pretenders and get some of the sixty into the class that need to be there. I think we should add the sixty by semesters end and compensate for the August lottery. By semesters end you probably can project out pairings.

Freshman and sophomore years should work on individual skills, upper classmen work on interpersonally skills. Freshman year should by far be the hardest, to weed out anyone who does not belong. Sophomores should be fine tuning their skills. Junior year you get paired, under a semester long contract. This is when the interpersonal skills will come to the fore. We should see breakups in junior year.

We will have to make clear there are no make-ups when you break up. This is not high school. By the second semester of junior year we should add something like a pre-marital course where they can find out where the other stands on all major issues and have them elect new issues important to them. It has to be homework intensive so it is fair to the other partner.

We can find out if going to a keg party with some friends is more important to them than working on their relationship. Senior year should be the easiest. They should have a two semester contract. They have gotten to know each other. We will have to take a position on things like adultery, abortion, and separation anxiety, but in the end, they have to figure it out."

Dawn said," We could add a few labs sophomore year and have sub pick out their lab mate one week and Master pick out their lab mate the next week. I could see some subs get very territorial. They will have no qualms letting the other subs know who is off the market, and if you try to steal him you will do so at your own peril. It would not be a threat, it would be a certainty!"

Then the big day came for the kids. The kids were all excited. They were going to go to a real farm and see real animals and maybe even pet some. They were even going on a wagon. They had to take three busses, Zoe was in the first, Anne in the second and Mei in the last. As they reached the half way point Zoe made a phone call. "The dove has flown" was all she said.

When they got there the kids were overwhelmed, there was so much to see and do. Anne and Zoe brought out two horses. They gave the kids a hose to wash them down. They was so big, but so gentle. They were shown that horses wore shoes, many giggled at that. They were so preoccupied they did not hear the car pull up.

Joy said," Oh, smell that fresh air." They all turned around and could not believe who they saw.

One little boy said "It stinks Miss Joy. "

Zoe held the bunnies for them to pet. Then all piled into the wagon, Joy was in the center of course. They had hay fights and they saw a real tractor that towed the wagon. No one ever had something like this before.

Before they left they were told they all had to thank Mr. Buck. Many said, we had 'Buddy' last night now this.

The following day, April talked to Miss Dawn to see what rules she gave Zoe. Zoe's birthday was coming up, April came up with a perfect gift but thought it best that someone else present it. She went into town to get some information, she had a serious talk with one of the children. He nodded his head.

When the big day came April grabbed Zoe's wrist. Zoe was getting used to being kidnapped by April. They drove down to the club. April had put 'Brownie' in the car earlier so they would not forget him. Molly was confused as to who the stranger was, and a little mad that no one told her about Zoe.

April, said to the kids "Today is Miss Zoe's birthday. Don't you think everyone needs a present on their birthday? Before we do that Miss Zoe wants to present 'Brownie' to you." This confirmed special status as Miss Joy is careful who gets bears.

The little boy who was Zoe's first contact took Zoe's hand and brought her to her present. April used white butcher block paper and let the kids write whatever they wanted to about Miss Zoe. Zoe was so touched that she could not tear it. It was going on her dorm room wall. Once the present was revealed Zoe started to cry.

The little boy said," That tiny picture of your Mommy and Daddy was not good enough, so we got you a life sized one. Mommies and Daddies are good to have."

The next day, Sarah met Anne and Zoe after church. The picnic was just some salad and some carrots and apples for the horses. The Bible Study was not intensive, it was just a get to know you study.

After the Study, Anne and Zoe thought they were heading to the stables. Sarah took Anne and Zoe all over the farm giving them orders as to how to ride a horse. They were going to learn the elegant freedom a horse can give you. It will be their first of many lessons. From now on they will only ride one horse each.

The business was really starting to take off, the web site was plastered all over campus. New events were in the works. Pumpkin hay rides were coming up. Every child in a costume got a small pumpkin. The leaves turned a spectacular color. Anne and Zoe had been learning fast, they enjoyed racing each other across a large meadow.

Buck had been in ill health, he started to be less and less involved in the business. This put the onus on Sarah. She knew nothing of the business side. Before Buck got worse Anne and Zoe got some friends from school to help out on the weekends doing the books. Buck took them through what he did for orders of supplies and other odds and ends that needed tending to.

Anne and Zoe saw Bucks health was affecting the Sarah so they took more of the small tasks so the Sarah could be with her dad more. Zoe called Noel," Noel could you comfort Sarah through this soon to be hard time?"

The farm needed tending to before she could talk to Noel. Soon Noel was handed a pitchfork and she was feeding the horses.

Zoe said," If Jacob could only see you now Noel, a pitchfork suits you." In no time, Zoe was feeding the bunnies, who had babies. Anne was feeding the chickens. The horses were washed and brushed and Anne and Zoe checked in on their horses one more time and made sure all the equipment was put away.

Noel confided in the girls," I sense she is holding back, something she needs to get out. I do not know her well enough to learn how to do that."

Anne said," That's easy, talk to her on horseback, she has been on horses forever, which is probably where she is most relaxed. Just bring some boots."

Noel bought both herself and Jacob some boots, jeans, gloves and some clothes they would not mind getting dirty in. As she set the clothes on his lap she said," Here are your clothes dear.

Sometimes your flock comes to you, and sometimes you have to go to the flock. Be prepared to do some farm work however it appears feeding the bunnies and chickens have their own favorite people. Mama bunny is not even worried about Zoe with her babies, she is so gentle with them. She wears gloves with them so mama does not abandon them.

Buck is not doing well at all and the Sarah is getting stressed out. A farm is a big thing to handle by yourself so we are going to help. Maybe we can ask the congregation if anyone would like to help or even better have farm experience."

The next Sunday when Jacob was mentioning prayer needs he said," We have a family near us that has a farm, Buck is ill and Sarah is getting stressed out as you can imagine. I am asking if anyone would like to help out with the farm, but even more importantly if there are any of you that might have farm experience that might want to help."

Four retired men with farm experience came forward, they had been rivals in the past, but now they had a common goal. Several students and seniors came forward. Each could use their own skill set to benefit the cause.

Sarah was amazed when a bus pulled up and a mass of humanity poured out. The retired farmers split up the work and soon everyone was working. Noel took Sarah inside to pray with Buck. Noel said," We have four ex-farmers out there just itching to get their hands dirty again. Everyone has been mobilized and all the jobs are being done. We have the students keeping an eye on your books. We will have everything double checked twice a month so we do not have irregularities."

It was time for Zoe's big meeting. They did it after church. April, Anne, Miss Dawn, Noel and Zoe were there.

Mistress said," Zoe, I asked all these people to this meeting because we will be the main people in your life along with Miss Joy and Jacob.

We have your schedule, a few student from each class will text you twenty minutes before class to tell you when next class is. If you will be late for my class I will blister your ass as well as three other students. Then you walk home naked, wearing leggings and a posture collar. You can only walk a few inches at a time and you cannot look down at the ground.