Short Story by Alyssa Maurer, Grade 9
Mrs. Engall was supposed to be the strict, overbearing headmistress of her medieval-style boarding school. She was supposed to reflect the cold, stone walls of her domain, and see to it that her students were delivered boring but beneficial lessons and unpleasant punishments. She was supposed to realize their fears. But Mrs. Engall did none of those things. Her cat, Champagne--who was nowhere near the color of champagne--did all those things for her. Mrs. Engall was not quite old, yet her middle-aged skin was etched with the wrinkles of stress. The stress, however, was useless, but Mrs. Engall insisted on being needlessly afraid, worthlessly antisocial, and unnecessarily libel to snap at any moment. She hardly ever left her office, therefore when a student was being mischievous, Champagne would simply pierce his or her skin with her unusually sharp claws. When Evelyn Cluffersnap arrived at Mrs. Engall's boarding school, promptly named the Upside of Downside Educational Instruction and Living Quarters, she found the whole situation rather odd. You see, even if her mother had been a fairly strange individual (she had been imprisoned for disorderly conduct at a taxidermy supply company protesting dead animal rights) and her father had been a relatively out of the ordinary person (he had accidentally plunged his car into an ocean and drowned while driving blindfolded), they had at least left the confines of their home. Mrs. Engall rarely left her office, let alone the top floor of the castle-like boarding school that she occupied. After a week of school without seeing the headmistress once, Evelyn decided to go see her, and she brought a lovely basket of fruit to give her as well. But when she arrived at her closed office door, knocked, and, when there was no answer, tried to turn the doorknob, she found that it was undeniably locked. "Mrs. Engall?" she asked tentatively, in her squeaky, high-pitched voice. "Are you in there?" Evelyn gasped when a wide eye appeared at the keyhole of the knob.
"What do you want?" said Mrs. Engall in a quick, nervous voice. "I've brought you some fruit," replied Evelyn. "Well, slide whatever you've got under the door. I don't have time for visitors." "I don't think this basket will fit under the door, Mrs. Engall." There was a moment of silence in which the smile that had been gracing Evelyn's face turned to a slight frown. Suddenly... "I SAID I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR VISITORS!" roared Mrs. Engall, and Evelyn's little form hopped with each earsplitting syllable. She dropped the fruit basket in front of the door, which spilled and sent two apples and a pineapple rolling down the hallway, and ran back to the elevator in which she had come up. She did not relax or slow down until she reached her dormitory, which she shared with a grouchy piece of work named Yvonne, who always wore black and spoke in only a deep, bitter tone. Evelyn found her quite disturbing, for Evelyn was a cheerful soul who believed that the color of clothing one wore could alter one's mood. Yvonne chuckled sinisterly as Evelyn ran inside the dormitory and slammed the door closed. "So, did Mrs. Engall like her fruit basket?" she asked, smiling slightly but not looking up from the composition notebook lying open in her lap. Evelyn burst into squeaky tears as she spoke, and jumped onto her bed, where she proceeded to bang her tiny fists on her pillow repeatedly, squeaking louder with every pounding. Yvonne winced at the sound, but said no more. When Evelyn was done, she resumed her usual cheerful smile and straightened up her hair. "I'm sorry, Yvonne, what did you say?" she asked calmly. Yvonne gave her a look that explained her impression of Evelyn, and it basically said, "You are a remarkably bizarre character." Evelyn blinked and left the room, and Yvonne could soon hear the cheery laughter erupt from the hallway, which was undoubtedly created by Evelyn and her cheery friends. "She's finally lost it," muttered Yvonne under her breath, and she began again to write depressing poetry and sketch disturbing images in her black and white composition notebook.
Even as Evelyn was laughing and joking with her friends, she was formulating a plan. Mrs. Engall just couldn't stay cooped up in her office all day, and since Evelyn was the do-gooder type, she figured it was her job to see that she came out. But the plan she was formulating just wasn't a very good one. If Evelyn Cluffersnap had any common sense at all, she would have known that the fruit basket idea was a complete flop. If it hadn't worked the first time, it obviously wouldn't work another time, or, for that matter, another twenty-seven. Every day for the next twenty-six days, Evelyn brought Mrs. Engall another fruit basket, and, of course, Mrs. Engall told her not to come back. Evelyn began to lose hope (to Yvonne's delight), but then she gave herself an inner pep talk and thought of a new plan, which involved a certain black cat with unusually sharp claws. She enlisted the help of her black-clad acquaintance, Yvonne, who she figured had a much better relationship with Champagne than herself. Yvonne saw no harm in helping out, as long as she might get a few laughs out of the deal, and she had no doubt in her mind that she would. Yvonne happened to be the only person that Champagne didn't mind cuddling up to, and although Yvonne wasn't a big fan of cat hair, Champagne's loose fur blended in quite well with Yvonne's black wardrobe. So when Evelyn asked Yvonne to tie the cat to a chair, hide it in the closet, and hold a gun to its head so it wouldn't run away, Yvonne obediently complied. Evelyn, in the meantime, wrote a very nice note indeed to Mrs. Engall, and then she slipped the note under the headmistress's door. A worried shriek soon erupted from inside the office, but by the time Mrs. Engall had conquered her fear and swung open the door (the hinges screeched as years of stiffness was forced out of them), Evelyn had already retreated. Mrs. Engall turned her eyes to the note, and read again the procedures in which she was to take. Then she followed Step 1, which read: Go to Room 217, which belongs to Yvonne Pimperknackle and Evelyn Cluffersnap, and retrieve your cat, Champagne, who has been tied to a chair by Yvonne and is currently residing in Evelyn's closet. Ironically, that was the only step and only thing that Evelyn had written. Mrs. Engall ran quickly to Room 217, and was soon screeching at the disturbing sight that was her cat tied to a chair with a gun pointed at its head. Evelyn and Yvonne were delighted to see Mrs. Engall, and promptly untied the cat. "Why-" Mrs. Engall stuttered, "Why would you do something like this?" Evelyn grinned.
"Don't you see the good in this?" she asked cheerfully. Yvonne began to laugh at the bewildered look on Mrs. Engall's wrinkled face, and continued to laugh as she looked over her wardrobe, which was layered with so many layers that Mrs. Engall's skin glowed red with her own body heat. Evelyn went on when Mrs. Engall didn't respond. "Mrs. Engall!" she said, simply not believing that the headmistress did not see the good in this situation at all. "You've finally left your office!" Mrs. Engall's response was a snatching of Champagne out of Evelyn's arms and a long, wrinkled finger pointing out the door. "Get out!" she screeched. Before they knew it, Evelyn and Yvonne were outside, suitcases in their arms and dust on their shoes. "I can't believe it," Evelyn kept muttering under her breath. "I simply can't believe it." Yvonne had a huge smile on her face, and was in no way taken aback by the fact that she was now without food and shelter. Both of her parents were dead, unfortunately, so she had no place to go. Evelyn's father was still dead, and her mother was still in prison, so she had no place to take her. "Yvonne?" Evelyn asked, her eyes displaying the hopelessness that she felt. "What are we going to do?" Yvonne began to laugh. "Oh, come on, Evelyn, cheer up," she said. "Did you see the look on that old fart's face?" Evelyn made a very hearty attempt at a smile. "Maybe when my mom gets out of prison I can send her another fruit basket. You know, as an apology." Yvonne put a hand on Evelyn's shoulder. "That's the spirit." And they continued to walk down the dusty road and into the sunset.