Chapter One

Chapter One

"So! John Dowland, Angelot, Archilute, chordophone, Cittern, enlute, Guitar, Hurdy-Gurdy, Lutanist, Mandolin, Mandoline, Mandore, Orpharion, Pandore, Theorbo, and Zither...." He listed knowledgeably

"… What do they have in common?"…. the young skillful music teacher asked; or at least that was how half the number of the class pictured him to be.

A hand shot up….of course it was the "know-it-all" Stan… everybody expected it. He had a reputation of knowing the unusual things- from the things about science to pop culture; in a desperate attempt to make cool friends.

"Yeeess, Stan.." the teacher responded dizzyingly, getting really bored by the shear energetic enthusiasm manifested by Stan every day and his constant ability to express his knowledge above all his classmates; he never failed to put them all in their place, as he always postulated.

"They are all related to the Lute, of historical importance…" Stan explained

" John Dowland was a renowned Lute Player… and the rest listed, are types of musical instruments related to the Lute of some sort and the title given to a skilled Lute player is also inclusive in the narrative…" he further uttered out, quite proud of himself.

"Wow! Okay, that's all true…did you get all that class?" the teacher responded plainly, trying to hide his amazement of how Stan was able to put all these clues together to arrive at a calculative answer…. Secretly, he admired the much younger student, Stan… who proved now and again to be a worthy "knowledge-box", hence, a rising scholar, in any field he chose to specialize in.

A quarter of the class muttered a reluctant "Yes!" and an ensuing "…we got it Sir…" trying to hide the growing jealous vibe often created from Stan's knowledge and confidence as against the class' constant ignorance of most "stuff" lodged in the head of the most acclaimed person in their class; even if they did not want to accept that fact.

The other half of the class gave Stan a "crooked witch's eye" with a silent message…."when will you stop making us look like idiots…" and a threat "… you are on my list after school".

And the quarter, left of the lot, either gave Stan an approving nod or just smiled knowingly of his brisk attempt in class; likening it to a shining knight always proving his skill at arms and loyalty to his King and defending his Honor .

Stan either shrugged his shoulders as an updated feature to his once shy form of slouching his shoulders anytime the "haters" gave him the disapproving nod or winked at the seductive disposition posed by the lot of the girlfriends who wanted a gist of his evergreen nourished brain- like a drug, putting sapio sexuality and its addictions aside. Get it together Girls…. He is not Zeus or Hercules, he's just Stan from the end of the block. /other side of town.

Stan was reveling in his recent feat; a daydream he created for himself after proving himself, time and time again, throughout his school days. Then the bell rang, sending a wakeup call into his dream, shifting his attention back to reality where everything just punches you in the face, bitter, like a sucker punch. He never got used to this routine. It was the bell for end of class…

His day had just begun.....