04. June 2013 · Comments Off on Prize Giving Day · Categories: L.. 13 to 15 years

The assembly hall is filled with families and graduates.  There is no one from my family.  Titi knows the date because I gave her the announcement.  She has never shown any interest, but it still hurts a little that no one is here.

The First Prize for Application is announced.  This one is for being First of the Class.    I am about to rise from my seat out of habit.   But it is not my name I hear.   It is Annie’s.   Amid the applause I look over and see her family cheering.   Women are hugging and crying tears of joy.

My name is announced, and I go up the stage for the Second of the Class Prize.  They also give me the prizes for French and Catechism.

The only prize that matters to me is the one for Application.  It’s as though I won the gold medal in all the competitions but they give me the bronze medal at the ceremony.

After most people have left, I go out to the empty grounds.  This is the place where I have spent so many happy years.   Why do I feel betrayed?   What do prizes matter?  No one in my family is here anyway.  Isn’t it better to see Annie’s family so happy?

My Second Prize is Rudyard Kipling’s book Kim.

It is the only book I own that I never open.

Kim

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