"My School Day Routine" By Kipo Lamron

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Aww, no more comments?

Wow, that was really good. It sounds very convincing, like a real person. Whoever wrote this is a good writer. It was somewhat long, but it was very easy to read because it was well-written and the writer has a good writing skills.

It reminds me of a novel I read a little while ago called The Neon Bible by John Kennedy Toole. He wrote it when he was 16 years old. It was a beautifully written book, written with very simple words. As a result, it could be read very easily, but without losing emotionality. You made it very easy to understand and empathize with your character. You could really feel for her. It makes me want to tell off her mother and tell her how not to raise her child.

A wonderful read. I'd like to hear more about this person and her friends Clarine and Karijn (already forgot the name!).

Thanks! Robijn is the other one, but Kipo only mentions her and Clarene because at the time she wasn't particularly close with Martyr or Jazza at the time. Kipo is innocent and just wants to do her own thing, and is also very quiet.

"Whoever wrote this is a good writer", haha, I wrote it entirely! I have some drawings of Kipo if you want to know what she looks like.

I would sincerely like a few more replies. If it's too much to read, I understand.

Aw, I didn't realise it was a story - it seems such a good description of a young aspie and their school day and time at home. I would like to have words with the mother and tell her she shouldn't yell so rudely at her child but it seems to be something that people do when they are busy and don't understand how it affects the child with sensory issues.

Wow, I'm THAT realistic?! That's a supreme compliment to me. Her dad is a lot nicer, he and Clarene help Kipo through the day. Later in the story Clarene and Kipo start living in a flat together.

I thought it was real. The one thing that gave it away, "Lamron". "Normal" backwards. And I thought the main character was a boy - sorry about that.
I think you will be well known one day, you're that good.

Aww, thanks renaeden!! Yeah, you spotted the pun, but it'll be okay since, of course, Kipo is from another planet. Should I do a version of Kipo's day in a real-time sense? Like, it's not a book report?

Yes, you are. It's such a good story. Maybe they could help the mum chill out by putting some valium in her coffee.

I agree with the others that your writing is extremely realistic. It's actually *too* realistic for me - but then I've never been very fond of realism, as such, so it's simply not my preferred style. But for the style and manner of writing you seem to have chosen, it's very good, I think.

Here is my two cents' worth:

Have you considered writing from third-person perspective? There's something about it that makes any writing more solid, objective and less dramatic (I mean dramatic in an undesirable way); also, one can say things from third-person POV which would have sounded inadequate or even comic from first-person POV. You can be every bit as introspective with third-person POV, you only have to find a slightly different way of phrasing things, and you get one extra advantage - you can describe your character both inside and out, all at once, and supply valuable details about her looks, facial expression, manner etc. which could tell a lot about her. This would be impossible to do with first-person.

Why do you have to set the action on another planet and make the characters some sort of odd creatures? It seems redundant, really, given that you don't want either to write classic sci-fi with a lot of technical detail, or to supply explicit descriptions of your alien land and its inhabitants. And there can't be anything redundant in fiction. Kipo sounds exactly like a regular person, and if I hadn't been warned beforehand that she isn't human, I'd have had no clue whatsoever. So I don't think it's necessary to make her non-human. You could choose another genre which'd give you total, or near-total freedom to write whatever you like - alternative history/universe (this is what I do with my own writing), science fiction set on earth but in the very distant future. I think these would be more adequate for your aims (I could be wrong, of course).

Your writing is very realistic, but it seems too generalized. I missed many concrete details. What do the magnets look like, for instance? What exact flavor is the toothpaste she likes? What manner of tree is the one where she hangs out (leaves, flowers, bark, etc.)? I'm not saying she should be "visual" (as far as I've understood, she isn't - or am I missing something?), but I thought that an ultra-punctual person who tends to get obsessed over detail might be more thorough in describing things. It would also make the writing much more colorful and gripping.

I didn't get a clear sense of what Kipo is like as a character, except for her being extremely punctual and rather reserved. These are not enough to form a vivid picture of someone's personality. I'm afraid I actually had the impression that she is quite "flat" (I hate to say it, but I want to be honest, and I don't want any of your characters to wind up like this). How about adding a few highly individualized traits, or just describing her feelings and fascinations in more detail, like specifying how her magnets make her feel, for instance (e.g. they are soothing, they draw her in, the light shining on the edges constitutes the entire world for her at that moment, etc)? This is one more point in favor of third person. With that, you could paint a very vivid picture of her in just a few words, both from the inside and from the outside observer's point of view.

I'm reading "Look homeward, angel" by Thomas Wolfe right now (by the way, I really recommend this book - yes, I know, I'm very old-fashioned when it comes to my literary tastes) and I love, love, love how he describes people. He instantly paints a very vivid portrait of each character by describing just a few prominent traits of theirs, which then recur throughout the novel - for Eugene, his often exuberant, pathos-filled manner, being sick when he's upset, dirty clothes, having a bounding stride, etc.; for Eliza, her preoccupation with money, bantering smile and manner, her belief that other people's problems are "just imagination"; and so forth. As a result, one can just see his people as if they were alive and right in front of one's eyes. I think reading this book is helping me a lot with my own writing, among other things, because it gives me an example of how to describe someone's character in few words but powerfully enough.

Of course, I'm saying all this from my own perspective, so, if you find none of it useful, feel free to send me to hell

Well the 'meat' part of my story, which takes place on Earth, is written in Third Person. I decided to go for a unique approach for the Inithial part of my story and have it in First Person, but it switches characters every chapter or even every few paragraphs (which will be shown by different fonts in the book), thus giving an all-round detail of the group (and helps reinforce that they are one in the first place. So, when a character is describing the habits and looks of another, it's Third Person but TOLD in First (if you get what I mean). With the fonts, I choose one which seems appropriate. For example, Martyr has Times New Roman because he's more traditional than the others, and Kipo has San Serif because she is very literal and direct, with no fancy twiddlings.



The regular person thing is kind of what I want to establish in the first place. I put in hints and whatnot (such as when Martyr is giving his opinion on their two moons, Typhin and Difyl), and it's really set when they go to different inhabitable planets in their solar system. The reason for this is basically how the story as a whole fits for me, and gives an ironic twist to the term Wrong Planet, when Kipo finds she can't fit in on Earth, either. The whole thing winds up being alternate history though, as they land on Earth during the 1930s or so, and the story also helps provide a backstory to the other section, which is different in its structure and theme. All in all, I don't confine my story to a particular genre, it's Sci-fi, Fantasy, Dystopian, Teenage Romance and Comedy all at the same time.



This is just the way in which Kipo writes. Just from that English report you can't tell that it's on a futuristic planet in another solar system. She isn't the type to go droning on about what texture the skin of a lizard is, mainly because she's not interested in doing so. It's all just an English report.



Once again, it's just an English report, and again I point to the switching first person thing. It will (or rather, should) show Kipo's style of expressing herself and how it's vastly different from everyone else's (note that she never uses abbreviations like can't and don't).


Nah, it's okay. I need all of this sort of stuff as I can get!

I enjoyed the story and the way it is told from Kipo's point of view and her day as seen through the eyes of an Aspie. Also I like the way she is so precise with the details, like

I like the character because she reminds me a little of myself as a child, her Aspieness, and I think that's important for the readers, so they care what happens to her.

I think it's well-written, and I'd like to read what happens next.

Thanks. For more, you can check out this thread. It's as old as the dinos, but you can still reply in it! It'll show the actual context of the story of what I want in the book.

http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... c&t=18028&

Oh, and here's a picture of Kipo for those interested. Big thanks goes to my mate Sean who did the colouring. As you can see, she's an albino.

It would be good if you could put all the Kipo-related writing together and post it so that it reads like a story with no comments to break it up. Maybe you could have a separate thread for comments. (not sure if this would be possible though )

I'll post the big chunk, although as mentioned, it'll be a BIG chunk!! Note that this is all Kipo-related, so stars means a break in the story.




It was at this moment Kipo walked along and sat down. She didn’t say hi or anything, she just sat down and minded her own business. About six months ago, we found out why. It wasn’t because she was trying to be rude; she acts kindly and always means well, and it wasn’t because she was an uptight snot who didn’t care about the world at all; that job belongs to Ishlya, Kipo is light-hearted, and has long hair and wears a simple set of clothes; usually in a light tone of white or some other colour. We found out it was because she has what’s called Efburgeson’s Syndrome.

Efburgeson’s Syndrome isn’t too much to be worried about, oh no, not at all. In fact it’s not even a syndrome, it’s more of a mental characteristic than anything else. What it is is that Kipo isn’t exactly the best socialiser. She doesn’t make eye contact when we’re talking to her (and because of our relatively big eyes this can be really obvious), and another part of having Efburgeson’s Syndrome is that she can’t pick up sarcasm, as well as having difficulty picking up and deciphering metaphors, because she takes things very literally. For example, one time at our tree, we were talking about how Clarene’s pet Dipil , Cypher, had died. I said, “I guess it decided to hang up, then.” Now, this would usually be a fancy way of saying that the dipil died, but Kipo couldn’t pick it up, and so she said, “But Cypher wasn’t on the phone”, and she was obviously a bit confused when she thought we were suddenly talking about Cypher on the phone. Another problem we have to overcome is that her full name is Kipohan, but because she’s been called Kipo for all her life, whenever we call her Kipohan she juts doesn’t pick it up at all and continues to ‘ignore’ us and get on with what she was doing. Another thing is that she also can’t really pick up physical social cues such as raising an eyebrow, or us looking away when we’re bored.

This isn’t to say that everything about her is limited, though. Kipo is actually quite a logical thinker, and she’s actually bumped up from the grade she’s supposed to be in. Before that, which was about a year or two ago, Kipo had been the subject of some bullying by the other, meaner kids in the school, such as Grodin, and spent most of her time by herself on the outskirts of social interaction. When she got bumped up, our group had heard about it, and so we let her into our group. She has been having a bit more of an enjoyable life, although somehow we all feel she hasn’t noticed it yet. Anyway, the area she particularly excels in is Maths. I mean really, she’s better than a scientific calculator (the latter has way too many features to figure out by yourself). A personal favourite Maths thing she knows is all multiples of every number from 1 (duh, obviously) to 476 up to 243 (so the first set would be 1x1 to 1x243, and the absolute last one would be 476x243). Why 476? Well, she said to us that that’s when she got tired of figuring out the multiples, and whenever we tried to get her to specifically figure out the multiples of any number of at least 477, she would simply refuse not to, and one time she even got really angry with us, threw her lunch at the tree, and wouldn’t talk to us for two weeks. She even avoided trying to be in our presence, and by word of other students we found out that she was doing everything to avoid us from hiding in bushes to bursting into classrooms uninvited to avoid us as we were walking through the hallways (the students who told us, of course, had no idea why she was doing that, fortunately).

Despite her oddities, we take good care of Kipo, defending her when she gets hassled by the bullies and all that.
“Hi Kipo.” Clarene said
“Hi.” Kipo said. We weren’t surprised that she didn’t turn her head towards us as she said hi. But we knew she meant well.
“How was your morning?” Clarene asked
“Nice.” Kipo said
“What did you do?” Clarene asked
“I got up, put my clothes on, brushed my hair, ate my breakfast, packed my bag, and made my way to school.” She said simply.
“Did you do anything else?” Clarene asked
“No, that is all I did.” Kipo said.
“How was brushing your hair?” I asked. We always ask Kipo these sort of simple questions to keep her interest. Not in a sad sort of way, but I guess we want Kipo to be familiar with socialising.
“There was a knot around the back end of my hair, and my hairbrush broke when I tried to brush it out.” Kipo said
“Did you get the knot out?” Clarene asked
“Yes, but I had to use my mother’s hairbrush.” Kipo said. She went back to whatever she was doing. Probably coming up with complicated Algebra formulas, which she likes to do (although multiple times the formulas have already been used in a Maths workbook, so she had to come up with another one). At this moment, Robijn walked to our tree.
“Hi Kipo.” She said.
“Hi.” Kipo replied, and she instantly went back to what she was doing again.
Robijn climbed up the tree and joined us. “Hey Mat, hey Clarene.” She said
“Hey.” We both replied.


***Skip to Home Class***


Then at that exact moment, the bell rang. It was too early even for us to be dismissed from Home Class, so I just had to wait a few seconds for it to be proven that it was a Fire Alarm. Nobody in the classroom started to panic or run around I circles as if they just lost their heads. This sort of thing happens all the time, and every, and I mean every time they are false alarms. Costs the school quite a bit, too. Nobody ever takes this sort of thing seriously either (except for Ms. Taapo, of course), and we all walked our way outside using the Fire Exits on the side of the building. As soon as we were outside, we made our way back to our tree. During any alarm, we go here as a kind of gathering place. When we got there, Jazza, Kipo and Clarene were at the tree, with Jazza up in the branches and Clarene looking after Kipo.
“Well, here we go again.” I said
“Yeah.” Clarene said.
“How’s Kipo?”
“She’s fine.” Clarene answered.
Robijn jumped up into the branches of our tree to join Jazza. It was at this moment, of course, that Grodin arrived with his two Smilaf and Molin friends and a new one behind him.
“Hey punks.” He said, in a rude tone of voice.
“Hey Godie.” I said, in a mockingly affectionate voice.
“Shut up.” He said. “Like my new pal?”
“Sort of, I guess.” Jazza said. We looked at his new ‘pal’, as he called him. He was nothing special, just a variant Renon in typical clothing, nothing unique about him except his sturdy build.
“We’re going to snag off school.” Said the Smilaf friend. Smilafs are small little creatures with no real body, just a head with arms and legs, really. Molins are similar, but they are more oval shaped, with a flat oval nose and a foot that has two toes. They also don’t have hands.
“Again?” Robijn said
“Yes, again.” Grodin said.
“Make sure to bring back a postcard for us then, it sounds exciting!” Clarene said.
“I can give you a souvenir right here, if you’d like!” Grodin said, cracking his knuckles.
“No thanks,” I said “We just ate. Besides, you’re probably very tired from setting off the Fire Alarm.”
“Again.” Robijn added.
“I did it all for Kipo.” Grodin said. “I’ll get you something nice at the adult shop.” And then he walked off.
“He’s such an ass-hole.” Clarene said.
“Don’t I know it.” I said. We all knew what Grodin meant by ‘I did it all for Kipo’. You see, another part of having Efburgeson’s is hypersensitivity. When Kipo is surrounded by a lot of people, she feels very uncomfortable, because they are in her own space. When there is a lot of noise around, Kipo will stop whatever she’s doing and try to block it out, and the same goes for bright light (this is why she likes being in dark places). She also gets a humungous fright from sudden loud, and often explosive noises. This is why we don’t take her with us to Fireworks Night, because there are a lot of people, it can get quite noisy and there are bright lights in the stands. The opposite is Kipo’s room: it’s very quiet, often dark or in the least, shady, and also small (due to a liking of small spaces). I might note that this was a picture-perfect day, so there was a lot of light going on.


Soon, a teacher came along wearing a bright shirt like construction workers and bus drivers wear.
“Okay Kipo,” Clarene said, who had been tending to her this whole time, “It looks like it’s nearly over Do you want to go back to class?”
“Okay.” Kipo mumbled.
“Okay,” Clarene said softly, “Lets go.” And so Clarene got Kipo up and led her back to class. And then the worst thing possible happened.
The teacher blew on the air-horn.
The noise was loud and ear numbing, even for me, but for Kipo, I can imagine that it felt ten times worse. As soon as the loud entered her ears, she screamed and crouched down on the ground, with her arms over the back of her neck, breathing loudly and having tears go down her face.
“Flitch!!” Clarene said in annoyance. Even she got a scare from the air horn. Then she went to caring for Kipo, who was still crouching on the ground. I quickly went over to supervise.
“Kipo?” Clarene said softly. “Kipo, are you okay?”
Kipo just mumbled something, and she sounded very scared.
“Kipo? Kipo, it’s going to be okay.” Clarene said. She then crouched down and started to rub Kipo’s feet. I know, this seems odd, but for Kipo, it’s soothing, and it helps to relax her in a moment like this. Almost as soon as Clarene had done so, Kipo started to relax. She was still scared, but her arms became less tense and they started to slide down her neck as Clarene rubbed her feet.
“Kipo, it’s alright, it’s going to be okay.” Clarene said reassuringly. After a short while longer, Kipo was now just crouching with her head down.
“Kipo, I’m going to take you out of the gardens for a while. Would you like that?”
“Yes.” Kipo said, her voice sounding sad and frightened.
“Okay. I’ll take you to the Electromagnetic generator. Would you like that, Kipo?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Let’s go.” And then Clarene lifted Kipo to her feet and led her back to class around the Maths block, on the other side of the gardens. I knew Clarene had to resist hugging Kipo, as she doesn’t like it when people do that to her. I know we all care about Kipo, but nobody cares for her as much as Clarene does.


***Change in perspective to Clarene***


Kipo and I sat at the Electromagnetic Generator. I don’t mind the old thing, the faint hum is actually kinda soothing. I was sitting a little bit away from Kipo, who was still recovering from the giant scare she had just gotten a short while earlier. Kipo sat near me, with her back on the giant canister of the generator, taking in the hum and the slight buzzy vibrations coming from it. I just sat there watching, and I had my hairbraid off and I was taking it off the generator, then letting it go, which caused it to be pulled back and stick to it. It was one of those things I do to pass the time.

I don’t know what goes through Kipo’s mind when she’s like this. Probably something about magnets, which she adores. I imagine that it’s a pre-meditative sort of state, a kind of down-time for mental recovery. The air-horn was one of the worst things to happen to get Kipo like this in a while, although I can remember a few situations that have been worse.

I’ve known Kipo for a long time, nearly 4 years now, although at first, Jazza, Mat, Robijn and I didn’t exactly know how Kipo ticked. It was actually during a research assignment when I decided to search obsessions in Sivvle when I got linked to a site about Efburgeson’s Syndrome. When I read over the description, I was amazed, and also a bit shocked, at how well it described Kipo. From obsessions to having low social ability and being hypersensitive, it was all there.


***Switch to MUCH later on, as the group is in camp. They're tramping and have been grouped with another kid, Hither***


We had been tramping for ages. And I mean ages. The only sense of hope was when we actually did cross the Uytel River, but that seemed ages ago, and we still weren’t there. It didn’t help at all that there were absolutely no clouds in the sky, so the sun beat down and I was pretty sure I was starting to go a shade of golden-brown.
“Ugh, it’s so hot!” Robijn complained from the back.
“You’ve said that ten times already!” I replied.
“She has said it twelve times, actually.” Kipo said. She was behind Robijn
I was feeling annoyed already, and Kipo’s correction didn’t help.
“We need something to pass the time.” Jazza said from in front of me, leading the way.
“Like what?” Clarene said, just behind me.
“I dunno.” Jazza said. “I was just thinking.”
“How about we come up with maths problems for Kipo to figure out?” Robijn suggested
“How would you know she’d be getting them right?” Hither said in last place, in an almost rude tone of voice.
“Dude, she always gets it right!” I said to him.
“He’s right you know.” Robijn said
“Alright, what’s 32 times 12?” Hither said. Kipo didn’t answer. “Dude, what’s 32 times 12?”
“You have to say her name first.” Clarene said.
“Fine.” Hither sighed. “What’s 32 times 12, Kipo?”
“What?” Kipo said.
“Dude, is she stupid or what?” Hither said.
“Hey, be fair on her.” Jazza said.
“How can I be nice if she’s stretching my brain this badly?” Hither said rudely
“Well, it’s not her fault.” Robijn said.
“I’ll do it.” I said. “Kipo, what’s 32 times 12?”
“384.” Kipo replied.
“What’s 11 times 45?” Hither answered. Again, Kipo didn’t answer. “Why is she ignoring me?” he complained. “What did I do to her?”
“Nothing.” Clarene said
“Look,” Robijn said, “you have to say her name first to get her attention. She probably can’t even hear what I’m saying right now. Right?” she said to Kipo. No answer. “See?”
Hither sighed in frustration. “Fine. Kipo, what’s 11 times 45?”
“495.” She replied.
“See?” Clarene said “Simple as that.”
“Easy for you to say…” Hither said.
“Kipo,” Jazza said “what’s 54 times 27?”
“1,458.” Kipo said.
“What-I mean, Kipo,” I said. I was a bit embarrassed that I forgot this simple rule “What’s 24 times 54?”
“1,296.”
“Kipo, what’s 18 times 67?” Clarene asked
“1206”
“Kipo, what’s 45 times 10?” Jazza asked
“It’s 450!” Hither interrupted as Kipo said 450. “It’s so easy, why’d you ask that?”
“It’s something to pass the time.” Robijn said.
“Yeah, well if she’s good at maths you may as well ask something hard.”
I knew Clarene would be wound up by Hither by now, so I was only a little bit surprised that she stopped suddenly and turned to face Hither.
“Look.” She said, quite firmly, “We’re all tramping here to this waterfall, and we all know it’s going to take bloody ages, and you’re constant complaining isn’t going to get us any closer to it.”
By now we had all stopped except for Kipo, but Jazza took care of that.
“I don’t care if you complain to me,” Clarene continued, “I can take that, but what I won’t take is if you keep on directing it at Kipo, because she’s done nothing wrong. Neither have I, but I just can’t take that sort of thing.” She had said this quite strongly, which she didn’t do that often, but I know her well enough to know that when she’s offended, she’ll let the person who offended her know. All of us knew that she was referring to Kipo’s Efburgeson’s. Well, everyone except Hither.
“Sheesh, what did I do?” Hither said
“You don’t have any idea, do you?” Clarene said, thoroughly annoyed.
“C’mon.” Robijn said after the second where Hither didn’t speak. “We’d better keep going.”
“You’re right.” Jazza said, “Standing here’s not gonna get us any closer to the falls.”
We kept on walking, and nobody talked for a while. I was wondering whether or not anyone would speak, and then Robijn said “Kipo, what’s 7 times 65?”
“455.” She said
“Kipo, what’s 9 times 54?” Clarene said
“486.” Kipo answered.
“Kipo, what’s 14 times 85?” Jazza asked
“1,190.” Kipo replied, in the same simple and flat tone of voice she had used for all the rest of her answers.
“Ooh, I got a hard one!” I said. I wanted to make a contribution, too, and I though a hard one would mix it up a bit. “Kipo, what’s 379 times 438?” I picked the digits specifically, trying to make them ‘irregular’. And by that I mean digits that are just plain hard to multiply, like 7 and 8. It wasn’t hard for Kipo though.
“166,002.” Kipo said after about three seconds of thinking.
“How about…” I thought for a few good seconds, trying to come up with a really good and juicy equation. Then I just said
“What’s to 9 to the power of 10 times 5 to the power of 13?” Clarene actually tripped over in amazement at the thought of even considering an attempt to figure out an equation like that without a calculator. Kipo remained silent for about twenty seconds. It was actually quite suspenseful waiting for her to return an answer to my equation.
“4.256328614501953125 times ten to the power of 19” Kipo said
“Wow.” Robijn said.
“What’s that in ordinary numbers?” I asked
“4,256,328,614,501,953,125” Kipo said simply. Nobody spoke. We were all stunned at what she just said, it was just so long. So long that numbers don’t do it justice. Here’s what she said in words:

Four trillion two hundred and fifty-six billiard three hundred and twenty-eight billion six hundred and fourteen milliard five hundred and one million nine hundred and fifty-three thousand one hundred and twenty-five

See what I mean? I’m not even sure if billiard and milliard are actually real terms or not!

Still we were all silent. Robijn had actually stopped in amazement and shock, but caught up again as she was getting left behind.
“Whoa…” Jazza eventually said after a long moment’s pause.
“Now, how do you know that that’s right?” Hither said
“Look, whenever we’ve doubted Kipo before, we just whipped out a calculator to figure out the answer.” I said.
“I say that you still can’t trust her…” Hither said doubtfully
“She’s still got a clean record.” Robijn said.
There was another short moment of silence, but then Hither spoke.
“Kipo, what’s 45 times 97?” Hither asked
“4,265.” Kipo said. All of us thought that Hither had changed his approach to Kipo
“Kipo,” Hither said again after a moment, “what’s 97 times 45?”
“4,265.” Kipo said.
“Oy.” Clarene said
“Kipo, what’s 45 times 97?” Hither asked again. ‘So much for that.’ I thought.
“You’d better stop that.” Clarene warned.
“4,265.” Kipo said
“Kipo, what’s 23 times 7?” Hither asked. There was a silence in the air, almost like a sigh of relief.
“315.” Kipo said
“Oh, sorry Kipo,” Hither said, “I wanted to know what the answer to 97 times 45.”
“I telling you, if you don’t stop that right now…”
“Kipo, what’s 45 times 97?”
“Alright, that’s it!” Clarene shouted “You’ve been pissing me off for long enough! I can’t take any of your behaviour! You’re just such an immature brat aren’t you!? I mean you can’t even go five minutes without putting someone down! Either I’m going back or he is!”
“Fine, I’ll go back!” Hither said, “It’s a shorter way back there anyway!”
“Good!!” Clarene yelled “The world’s better off without you!!”
“Great!!” Hither said as turned back the way he came “I’ll send my regards to Grodin!”
“Frankly, I don’t care whether you complain to the Headmaster!!” Clarene shouted “Make sure you hurt yourself on your way back!!”
And then Clarene continued walking down the path. We had all stopped to watch the argument, and were staring at Clarene as she walked past us. Everyone except Kipo, of course, who had been distracted by the argument, but just kept on walking afterwards. Clarene caught up with Kipo and walked on.
I was able to hear Kipo say to Clarene “I want to tell him what the answer to 45 times 97 was…”
“I know, Kipo, I know…” Clarene sighed.
“She sounded like my mother.” Robijn whispered to me.
“Yeah?” Clarene said “Well I don’t care right now.” and she stomped up over the hill. As I made my way up to the top of the hill, I turned around and could see the shrinking blip that was Hither. He turned around to look back for a moment, and I’m pretty sure I saw him pull a rude gesture, which I ignored. Hither then turned again and headed back down the path. Then I heard Kipo come dashing back to where I was. I turned and saw her running to grab something from besides where I was standing. It was her Dayol Cube.

A Dayol Cube is a little cube made up of various smaller cubes, and each side of the smaller cubes is magnetically charged. The point of it is to assemble the entire cube, but each cube has six sides of varying magnetism, one for each side, and so it’s actually quite hard to put back together. Kipo is very attached to this; depending on how she’s feeling, the time it takes for her to assemble it from scratch can vary from as long as fifteen minutes (quite a while for a dedicated player like her) to little under a minute! She also freaks out when she doesn’t know where it is; one time at school she realised she lost it in the middle of a science lesson, and she had a complete panic attack. She couldn’t concentrate at all during class, she was shaky and fidgeting, sweating quite a bit, and she was extremely nervous. The sad thing was the teacher wouldn’t let her leave the classroom, and that made her even more nervous. Clarene then left to go to the toilet, but had whispered to me earlier that she was actually going to search for her Dayol Cube. She went back to the art room, which was where our last lesson was, and it found it under the table Kipo was sitting in. She quickly dashed back to our current classroom and handed it back to Kipo under the desk, and Kipo looked the most happy I had seen her in a long time.

“Kipo?” I said when she started to walk back “You know how Hither said the same equation several times?”
“Yes, I know.” She said
“When he asked you them, did you start the calculation all over again, or did you just refer back to the same answer because you knew they were the same?” I had always wondered this, and only now was I reminded that I still hadn’t asked her about it.
“I re-did the entire calculation.” Kipo said.
“Do you know why?” I asked
Kipo was silent for a few seconds, and then said, “Because he had asked me a different calculation.”
“Okay.” I said. Kipo started to walk down the path towards the others, but she only went a short distance when I said
“Kipo?”
She stopped and turned around again.
“Are you excited about getting to the falls?” I asked.
“No.” she said, and she continued walking. I was a bit disappointed by this reply; I was expecting something a bit more in-depth. But then, Kipo has a way of just answering the base question, and not getting into any more detail than what you just asked her.
“Kipo?” I said again. “Why aren’t you excited about going to the falls?”
“Because I do not like water and I cannot swim.” She replied.
“Are you scared?” I said. Silly question, but I wanted to keep the conversation going.
“Yes, a little bit.” Kipo said.
“Why?” I asked. Kipo was silent. I knew I hadn’t been specific enough with my question. “Why are you afraid of water?”
“Because when I was six I was forced into the bath and I did not like it.” She said.
“Why didn’t you like it?” I said
“Because my mum was being mean and I wanted to solve my Dayol Cube.” She said.
“Okay.” I said. I thought this was a bit strange, hating water because of not wanting to go into the bath. Kipo then turned round, walked a short way down the hill and went straight into Jazza, who was walking back. Kipo yelled in fright and dropped her Dayol cube, which broke apart sending the cubes all over the ground. Almost immediately Kipo was gathering the cubes up and putting them in her pockets.
“Sorry Kipo.” Jazza said.
Kipo finished collecting her cubes and got up.
“Mat, come down here!” he said. I went down the hill to meet him. As I did he called Kipo back, who was continuing on. As I got to Jazza he said
“Listen, do you hear that?”
I listened intently to the noise of the bush, trying to pick out anything of interest from all the rustling plants and the occasional sound of wildlife.
“I don’t hear anything.” I said.
“Try again, then.”
I started listening again, trying to try harder than I had before, and then I picked up something. It was a kind of faint, low rumble, but not anything of a violent nature.
“I hear something.” I said, “What is it?”
“Probably the falls.” Jazza said. A sense of immediate relief fell over me as I realised we didn’t have to walk another thousand miles anymore. I noticed Kipo go a tiny bit nervous.
“Don’t worry.” I said to her. I turned to Jazza. “Should we tell him? Hither, I mean.”
Jazza considered this for a moment. “Nah,” He then said, “Clarene would kill me if I did. She and Robijn have already gone ahead to check it out.”
“Check out what?” Kipo asked. Jazza and me, although used to these kinds of questions from Kipo, looked at each other for a second.
“They’ve gone to check out the falls.” Jazza said.
“Okay.” Kipo said.
“We’d better go now if we want to catch up with them.” Jazza said
“Let’s go then!” I said, and we dashed off down the path. A split second later, I realised Kipo hadn’t gone with us.
“Kipo?!” I said, turning around. “Are you coming?”
“No, I do not want to.” Kipo said.
“C’mon, Kipo!” I said, starting to walk back. “You’ve made it this far! Why stop now?”
“I do not like water.” Kipo said
“But Kipo!” I said, almost with a touch of desperation, “We’ve walked tens of miles to get here! It’d be stupid to say no now!” By now I was nearly up to Kipo.
“But I do not want to go!” Kipo said.
“Well, why did you come in the first place?” I asked
“So I could be away from Grodin.” Kipo said.
I sighed. This was a good enough reason for Kipo to come along. “Look,” I said, putting my hand out, “It’ll be okay. We’ll stand a good distance from the waterfall. It won’t touch you.”
“But I could fall into the river.” Kipo said
“We’ll stand away from the river too, then.” I said. “Please, just come with us. It’ll be less fun without you.” Now I was starting to get desperate.
“Do you promise we’ll stay away from the waterfall and the river?” Kipo asked
“I promise.” I said.
Kipo was silent for a while.
“Okay,” she said at last. “We will go to the waterfalls.”
“Cool.” I said with relief, “Let’s go. Jazza is probably wondering where we are.” And so we dashed down the path after the others.
As we made our way after Jazza, we passed quite a few trees of varying kinds, in all their odd and extravagant varieties, and the path went forward for a short bit, and then started going back down the hill. It twisted and turned on a flat section of the hill, almost like a rally track (except without the safety barriers), and it was a bit steep. Kipo and I could almost slide down it on our feet, but that’s not particularly smart because our fur would tug on the dirt and rocks, which hurt, and dirt is the hardest thing to get out of your fur (next to juice spills, squashed bugs and chewing gum). We were actually stumbling quite a bit on our way down, especially in the corners, but as we made our way down I could hear the sound of the falls get louder, if it was ever so slowly. I saw Jazza a little way down.
“Jazza!?” I shouted, “You okay!?”
“Yeah, I’m fine!” he yelled back, “Where were you two!?”
“Just settling something!” I said as I took a corner. “Don’t worry, we’ll catch up with you!” I then looked down further below us, where the path then levelled out and took a straight path, making a ‘T’ with the side of the hill, and through the trees down the path I saw a glimpse of Clarene running to the falls, followed by Robijn. Further on I could see the top of the falls. I looked back to Kipo, and she seemed to be doing fine. I took the last corner, and the path went level and we made our way through the trees. After a short while, we emerged at a very large clearing, and I saw the waterfall.

The waterfall wasn’t a dull waterfall that’s only a small trickle of water that looks like someone’s taking a leak at the top. Nor was it one of those anti-climactic short ones you could jump over. It was quite tall, maybe about 50 metres or so, and I quite liked it, so I’ll describe it for you. The top was about fifteen metres across, and in the middle were two large rocks, placed like upside down fangs, and looked similar to them, too, and on the left fang there was a tree hanging on for dear life by it’s roots. After about thirty-five metres, the water hit various protruding rocks that were tough to erode, splitting the main stream into several smaller ones, before splashing at the bottom and making a nice cloud of water with a rainbow in it, which was quite neat. After that the water flowed down as a river and curved to our right.

When Kipo and me came to the clearing, Jazza was already with Clarene and Robijn at the banks of the river. The banks were that of the stony, pebbly kind, but the rocks weren’t sharp, which was good because the only protection we have against foot cuts is our fur. Kipo reluctantly followed me a bit closer to the riverbank, but still about five metres away.
“Wow.” I said as I stood next to Clarene. “It’s really cool isn’t it?”
“I know…” Clarene said
“Hey, do you mind looking after Kipo?” I said, “She seems to have a nervous disposition around water.”
“Didn’t you know that?” Clarene said. “Don’t worry, I’ll look after her.” And Clarene walked over to accompany Kipo.


***Switch to Kipo's Perspective***


I ran after Martyr and emerged at a clearing where the waterfall was which made a river that curved to my right. I do not like water. I tell everyone that it was because I was forced into a bath when I wanted to figure out my Dayol cube, but that is a lie because it is not why I do not like water. I do not like water because I nearly drowned at a beach 1.7 kilometres from my house. I do not usually lie, but I do not want people to know why I am afraid of water. Because I was afraid of water I stood five metres away from the river. I did not like the roaring noise the water made as it hit the ground so that is also why I stood seven metres from where the waterfall hit the ground and formed a river. Clarene then walked to me from closer to the river and stood next to me and she said
“So what do you think of the waterfall?”
And I said “I do not like it.”
And Clarene said “Are you looking forward to going back?”
I knew that Clarene did not want to know whether I was literally looking forward to the direction back or not. She meant that she wanted to know whether I wanted to go back or not. I had to be told by Martyr that it did not mean what it sounded like.
“Yes.” I said
And Clarene said “It’s the water, isn’t it?”
And I said “Yes, it is the water.” I do not like abbreviating words such as do not becoming don’t because I think it is lazy and I am not lazy.
Clarene said “Would you like it if Martyr, Jazza or Robijn fell in?”
I said “Yes” because I like it when people fall into water, because I do not like water.
And then Clarene said “I’ll see if I can try and get one of them in soon.” And then I wanted to know when she would push one of them in, but I knew she would not tell me so that made me excited about when she would push one of them in. It is mean but I do not like water, so I like it when someone falls into water. And then Jazza spoke:
“Hey guys? Wanna play a game of BeanBall?”
And Mat said “Okay! Where will we play?”
And Jazza replied “Well, me and Robijn will be on this side of the river, and you and Clarene will be on your side. The river will be the net!” Usually I would correct someone on this mistake, as it should be ‘Robijn and I’, but Jazza does not like being corrected so I did not correct him.
Clarene asked “What about Kipo?”
And Jazza answered “Uh, she can be ref!”
I know that I am not actually the referee, which is what ref means, and that I do not actually participate. This does not bother me because I do not want to participate, I would want to be by myself and play with my Dayol Cube. So I walked to the left and sat underneath a tree and played with my Dayol Cube.

It was a little while before something else happened. That was that Mat and Clarene won their game and decided that we should move on.
Clarene said “C’mon Kipo, we’re going to the cabin area now.”
And I said “Okay.”
And so I got up and walked with them down the path. It was different from the normal path because it was wider so we did not have to walk in single file. We had walked for about 7 minutes before we came to the cabin area. The cabin area has a wooden log fence surrounding it at the perimeter, and inside were wooden log cabins all with gravel paths leading up to them. Near the front entrance was a big building, which I assumed to be the main area where you go to get help or information. As we were told to wait outside the gate until everybody was there, we did so.

I took a while for the group that had the teachers with them to arrive. Clarene and Robijn were able to entertain themselves by playing on her mobile phone, which I do not see as very smart because we cannot contact others outside this region. Martyr and Jazza were able to entertain themselves by playing BeanBall again.