April 2024 Writer’s Workshop - A time a character could not stop laughing even though it was inappropriate.

April 2024 - A time a character could not stop laughing even though it was inappropriate.

The month of April starts with a day designed to elicit laughter. Many people let this day pass by without a thought, but the idea still permeates throughout the month, reminding us that laughter and fun are not only ok, but encouraged as we seek happiness.

Writer’s Workshops are best in three parts: the mini-lesson, the discussion or work time, and the sharing.

The mini-lesson for this theme will be to speak about beginnings. Spring is a time of beginning again, of renewal. For this discussion, the idea will be to discuss some ‘memorable book beginnings’ in order to think about how to start on our own pages. Memorable changes from person to person, but there are some which tend to be universally remembered.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

“Call me Ishmael”

― Herman Mellville, Moby Dick

“The story so far: in the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.”

― Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

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Example:

There was one kid in this high school who was bullied more than Liam, and that was Annie. Annie and Liam would nod to each other in the hallways, noting their shared misery, but they never stayed close to each other long, never ate together or sat together at all, for fear the targets that were on each of them individually would extend and multiply in size if they were ever in too close a proximity.

Liam hated that he could never reach out to Annie in times when he saw her being bullied, but he didn’t have the courage. He knew that if he tried to help her pick up her spilled books, or helped her up when she was tripped ‘accidentally’ in the hallway, or even told her he wished she wasn’t going through this, that he would be mocked harder. Instead, there was only silent solidarity, and the hope that the torture would end soon.

Annie was smart in the ways that Liam felt dumb. Liam’s strengths were with words. He wrote, read, and researched well. Annie was the other side of things, she was good with numbers. They could help each other in more ways than just a kind word if either of them was brave enough to open themselves up. As far as Liam had noticed, Annie, like himself, had no one around the school to engage with. She seemed to avoid any situation in which there were people around as much as he did. He knew she’d be a rock star at the academic decathlon, and he knew she, like him, had been asked to join the team by the teacher in charge of it, but she also felt no interest in staying after school for an extra minute with students who liked to bully as their after school activity.

All this went through Liam’s mind as he watched Annie scrubbing the nasty messages off the front of her locker. He did so from the corner of his eye, walking down the hallway at a pace that was quick, but not so quick that he would be drawing the attention of the other students. He also knew, really knew, that he should stop and help her. But, he also really knew that he didn’t have the bravery necessary to stop walking towards his locker quickly to make it to his first class.

Switching books to and from his bag with quick, precise movements, Liam tried to ignore the burning feeling of guilt he had about once again living with his own pain instead of trying to help Annie’s. He started thinking about the English Lit test he had next period. He knew the stuff, but also wanted to make sure his score was perfect. The higher he was able to get his GPA the more likely he was going to be able to move into the college classes that were during school hours, moving him out of the line of sight for the students who only felt better when they were making others feel worse.

Liam had just started moving down the hallway towards his English class when the announcement came over the school intercom, reminding the students that prior to first period there was an assembly. Grumbling, Liam switched directions. He wanted to be in the auditorium early, sit in the back, and bring as little attention to himself as possible. This meant walking past Annie’s locker again. This time she wasn’t wiping the words off her locker; she had abandoned that and was putting her books quickly into her bag. Liam grimaced to himself knowing that she was trying to get into the auditorium early too, to avoid walking in front of all the rest of the school. She and he had the same tendency in this way. If only they could get over their fears and sit together, maybe it would be easier. But probably it would he harder, and being afraid was better than being more of a target.

He sat down and watched Annie sit on the other side of the auditorium. The rest of the school filed in and he looked down at his screen to make it seem like he was busy while paying attention to all he heard happening around him in case he would have to react. Luckily, this was a time that he was left alone, and Liam was able to release the tightness he was feeling in his whole body, at least for the length of the assembly. There were teachers in the back, near where he was sitting, so his position was as safe as possible for the duration the talking heads would be sharing whatever was happening this morning.

Liam wasn’t really listening. There was a certificate being waved around and the most bullying bullies were looking really attentive, so likely one of them was being noted as having won all the basketballs or kicking all the points. The only reason for Liam to care was because of this certificate, maybe they would her happy for a few days and wouldn’t need the satisfaction of making him miserable. Then, through his thoughts he heard the word ‘considerate.’ He started paying attention then. The principal was telling the whole school what kindness looks like is Brick Johnson. Liam was hearing the principal tell the whole school about the hall’s biggest bully having organized a donation drive. Then, the whole school turned to look at the back of the auditorium, but not to the side Liam was sitting. Rather, everyone was looking at Annie, who was laughing as if she couldn’t stop, as if there had never been something so funny to be heard before in her life.

Most of the auditorium was confused, but there were a few, like Liam, who understood the mirth. Brick Johnson getting an award for being considerate and kind? Liam started laughing. He couldn’t stop. he and Annie made eye contact and that only redoubled their laughter. A few other voices joined in the chuckling. There were now laughs coming from a few places in the auditorium, even from students whose names didn’t even know. The confusion on the faces of the principal and the teachers only made it all funnier.