Blue Orchid

“Each time someone stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.”
- Robert F. Kennedy

A tiny ripple of hope is what spread throughout the school community, that day that Kelly Quindlen took circumstances beyond her control and controlled them to the best of her ability. It all started out with a simple orchid that she changed to promote justice; to change the wrong in her small world. It all started with that orchid, inside her dream.

Kelly dreamed of stark white rooms and repulsive uniforms; a single white orchid in a simple glass vase, sitting on a bedside table. A song wafted through the mysterious place and planted itself in her ear. She recognized it as one she had heard before she could comprehend. Her mother had sung it to her as she floated into sleep, rocking in her bassinet. “If only, if only, the woodpecker sighs…” Kelly sighed with the woodpecker, as she had learned to do at a very young age.

The room convulsed, and Kelly was instantly in a lilac room. But she was still quivering from her nightmare … She blinked, and saw her mother standing above her. She blinked again, for surely this could not be true. She blinked once more, and recognized her surroundings.

The closet was gaping widely with jeans and hoodies spilling out, and the Winnie the Pooh radio alarm clock was going off and blinking 12:00 AM. The flamboyant radio, which she preferred over the obnoxious beep-beeping of regular alarm clocks, pierced through her half-asleep self. Kelly groaned; judging by the solitary sun among the clouds, it was about 7:30 AM.

“Bloody Curds, I overslept,” she moaned, and slid out from under the striped maroon duvet.

Kelly grabbed her old pink sweatshirt with signatures all over it and her favorite pair of Levis. She raced to the bathroom, scooping up socks and underwear as she went.

Two minutes later, she emerged from the bathroom with her face done, hair soft and silky, and clothes looking perfect. The sun appeared higher than it normally was at that time, so she picked up her pace and slid down the banister to the kitchen, where the microwave read a blinking 12:03 AM. She snatched her messenger backpack and slipped her shoes on before grabbing money for lunch. She glanced at the clock, and suddenly a song ran through her head, mocking her inexistent relationship with her sisters, who were in foster care with a family who lived across the city. “I love you . . . You love me . . . We’re a happy family . . .” She froze, and then with salty tears winding down her cheeks, she yelled, “The power went out!” She had to take a deep breath to smoothen her voice before habitually shouting “Love you!” to her foster parents and running outside to catch the bus.

She boarded the big yellow bus and instinctively her cerulean eyes searched for an untenanted seat. She sat down in Seat 4 and settled in for the long ride.

Once at school, Kelly strolled to her vibrantly violet locker and spun the dial. She frowned. Why wasn’t it opening? She kicked it and it lazily squeaked ajar. She stared at its emptiness. Something crashed in the adjacent corridor, and she blinked hard, as if being snapped awake from a reverie. She glared down the hallway, but it was completely vacant, save her. Kelly sighed and returned to her locker. It was now amply supplied with the school books she needed. After grabbing her lilac notebook and five sheets of paper, she slammed the locker shut, twisting the dial. Leaning against it, feeling the dial digging into her back, her confusion whirled around inside her. In an attempt to regain regularity, she glanced at the clock. Its visage blinked 12:06. Another power outage had struck six minutes ago.

Kelly ambled down the hall, being careful not to slip on the pieces of newspaper scattered around. She was humming “Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” when she passed a hallway forebodingly darkened by the power outage. A black-gloved hand darted out and snatched a piece of newspaper, and a voice floated after her… “Kelly Marie Q…”

The ring of the bell emanated throughout Tasmot High School, and students poured into the halls. The newspapers were lost under millipedes of feet, and Kelly was instantly surrounded by people. The empty silence of seven minutes ago was lost in the welcome commotion of crowded hallways. She disconcertingly glanced back to the dark corridor, but the lights were back and it was empty. A wave of people pushed her forward, and she hurried to 1st period.

“Sunny Bob Harris!” a comfortingly familiar voice charged after her. Kelly spun around laughing, and pushed through the mob. An eighteen-year-old female greeted her with her biggest bear hug.

“Debbalina! Where have you been?” Kelly asked her friend of eight years.

“What do you mean, where have I been? Where have you been, Kelly? You missed the announcement of the Wonderful Potluck Winner! Cilla won, of course, with her awesome hot chocolate; you should have tried it, it was to DIE for…”

Kelly glanced at her watch, vaguely listening to her friend nattering. It read 8:09. Obliviously, she sang “Red Lollipop, Green Lollipop” under her breath.

“What are you singing?” Debbie asked, a bit irritated at the interruption.

“Nothing,” Kelly said quickly.

“Are you okay? You know, Kayla was right, you do look a little peaky.”

“I’m fine. Listen; let’s go find Andy and Sean before the last bell rings.”

“Good idea, I want to know why Josh didn’t call me…”

Kelly laughed as she trooped into their 1st period class after Deb. She watched her confront Josh for a few seconds, and then turned to their other friends, Sherrilyn and Kathleen. “Guys, is this, like, the tenth time I’ve seen this episode of ‘Deb and Josh’?” They laughed.

“Yeah,” Kathleen said, “but it’s so entertaining!”

“Kelly, they want you down at the office,” Miss Laura called across the din.