Holey Day {FINISHED}

[Professor Jinn]

Robin lay the fabric over her lap and began to sew. It was Sunday and this was her holey day. For many people it was holy h-o-l-y day but she preferred to call it holey with the e-y day. Instead of going to some type or religious obligation on Sunday like many of her fellow faculty members, or taking a day off like the rest, she came to Shady Oaks and sewed the clothing of the seniors there.

Many of them were unable to mend their own clothes or they just simply didn't want to. A few did and they sat around her in their various types of chairs. She sat on the floor. There was a chair for her but she gave it up every week so another person could join them.

Right now she repairing and embroidering the clothes of Mr. and Mrs. Robinson. She had brought Robin their clothes this morning, tears in her eyes. She had tried to repair the clothes but her hands had been shaking too much. The poor lady. Robin had comforted her and taken the clothes. She sat here mending Mr. Robinson's shirt and resewing some buttons on. There was some minor mending on Mrs. Robinson's dress that had to be done but then that she planned on doing some embroidery on Mrs. Robinson's dress to cheer her up. She felt good doing this work, this holey work.

She heard the door to Shady Oaks open and saw a student from Yen Sid Academy walk in. There weren't tons of local teens who didn't attend the school and she recognized them. What could they be doing here?

[Ozzy White]

Ozzy entered the nursing home, his usual mess of black hair hiding a bit of his lack of a smile. He knew that most teens would rarely be caught dead in a nursing home, let alone on the weekends before noon. But Ozzy wasn't like most teens. He had always been an outcast and unnoticed back home and had come to enjoy the company of the elderly in the local nursing home. He had learned that many of them had been placed in the nursing home to dispose of a burden to their family and to be forgotten as they grew old and needy. Ozzy could relate to being forgotten and unnoticed and ignored, even to being considered a burden to the family. And so he had grown to feel comfortable and content spending free time on sundays (and occasionally other days) with the elderly in a local nursing home, helping them the best he could and keeping them company. If no one noticed a building full of elderly, would they really notice a sullen teen in the mix. And even if they did, they probably would assume he was forced to and would leave him be and that was fine by him.

Ozzy had decided to continue this practice in New Hampshire and was ecstatic to find a nursing home in the town his school was in and near enough that it wasn't a burden in any way for him. And so today was like every other sunday for years past. He entered the building and went to sit with some of the lonelier seniors. But as he was walking to a man in a wheelchair with a bit of a saddened look in his eyes, he couldn't help but notice a woman was staring at him.

Ozzy forced himself to believe he was imagining it until he looked at the woman once more and knew for sure that this woman was in fact looking at him. He instantly recognized the face now that he was focusing on it. It was Professor Jinn from Yen Sid.

Looking around to ensure that no one else he knew was here, he strolled over the the elderly man, Frank he said his name was, and ensured him he would come keep him company in a moment. He than walked over to the professor(not a woman but rather a man of the theatrical and feminine variety), sitting down next to her(him... it?) He looked at the clothes in his/her lap and the needle and thread in hand and realized she/he/it was sewing some clothes that seemed to belong to the seniors by the look of the designs and types of clothes.

Taken aback now, Ozzy wasn't sure what to say. He had never run into anyone he knew on his trips to nursing homes anywhere and had never expected to. He closed his eyes, took a breath, and opened his eyes once more to ensure he wasn't imagining all of this. He in fact was not.

And so he sat there in silence for a moment before speaking. "Hello Professor. What are you doing here?" Ozzy quickly corrected himself, "I mean, nice to see you off campus but I've never seen someone here before I know. It's a..." He fell into silence, not bothering to finish the sentence. Why would she want to hear him babble on and stumble over his words like an idiot. So instead he continued to sit there, silent, a bit upset and confused, and frown still clearly on his face(not that it left his face often). He wasn't sure what else to do.

He was in shock, to say the least. He also felt guilty for leaving Frank so long but had to deal with the problem at hand before he could go back to his elderly friend peacefully to enjoy his time here with the man. And so this was what he was attempting(and failing) to do.

[Professor Jinn]

Robin smiled at seeing that Ozzy was known around here. He was such a good kid. Kind of grumpy and woebegone but a good kid nonetheless. He had that tortured soul thing about him that drove many girls crazy. Nonetheless she was pleased to see a student getting involved in the community without a detention slip.

She knew he wasn't here due to detention for two reasons, the first was that she was not made aware (she was in charge of most service projects here) and the second was they generally didn't assign students Sundays if they were assigned, especially before noon.

As she looked over the stitches she had just made, Ozzy sat down next to her and began to speak to her. Looking up she shrugged. "I think it's more unusual to find a student here without a detention slip then a professor who wants to work in the community." She realized that didn't sound right either "Yeah, that doesn't sound common either. I guess we are both odd ducks then." She paused. "What do you think I'm here doing, use your eyes. I am mending clothes for these lovely people. As one reaches a more beautiful and wise age one cannot mend their own clothes sometimes. Thus I do it." She finished the last stitch and went on to the next thing. "Though I am delighted to see you what may I ask are you doing here. You seem to know many of the people so you must be as frequent as I am. What's your purpose?"

[Ozzy White]

Ozzy looked at the clothes in front of his teacher and than at the floor. He had never been questioned as to why he was here. He had also never expected to see anyone he knew. He wasn't sure how to respond. He thought long and hard, letting the silence linger, before deciding how to respond.

"Back in Australia, I had no real mates. I was a dag you see... a loser. I got tired of being lonely and decided to find other lonely people. that way we could be lonely together or rather by being together, we'd be less lonely. I found out that most of the lonely people are the elderly in a home. They have no one to whinge or chew the fat with. Since I had no one and a lot of them had no one I decided that whenever I could find a way down, I would visit the nursing home by my home. I made friends with some of them and they became my mates."

Ozzy looked up at the professor for a moment and than back at the floor before continuing. "When I moved here, I lost my elderly friends although i wrote them to make sure they were right. But I missed the company. I looked around here and found this place. I started coming and I befriended some of the shielas and mates here who have no one." Ozzy pointed to the elderly man he had been sitting with. "Frank is one of them. We play cards or checkers and we chew the fat. There are others here as well. I come every sunday and whenever else I can. they're my friends and my adopted family. I'm home here. I blend in with the gloom of the building."

Ozzy finished explaining and than fell silent once more. He had never told anyone and he had never planned to. Now he had and he had a feeling that the professor would make a big deal out of and tell others. Ozzy had wanted it to stay a secret. He had never wanted anyone to know. It would never be the same. Than he thought of something. "you won't tell anyone professor, right?" Ozzy looked more worried and saddened than he had in a long time. He wanted this to remain his secret and he held his breath as he waited for what his professor would say. All he could do was hope for the best and that is hard to do for a pessimist.

[Professor Jinn]

Robin listened quite intrigued by this boy. She had never heard him speak so much. He had been relatively silent in class if he had talked at all. She had always wondered about him, in a concerned motherly way. Such a sad boy. But she had never expected this from him. To be so in to this. But it was true. These were some of the loneliest people in the world. Forgotten by their families, left to die. They would be someone he would relate with. Forgotten. "May I just say I never expected to 1. Hear so many words from you and 2. Hear you say something so kind and caring. It is true, sad to say." She looked at the people to her right and left. She didn't pity them, she loved them and wished they would love themselves. Many of them did not, as she supposed Ozzy did.

"Frank is a wonderful man." She looked at Frank "Aren't yah Frank. Sweet as peaches and potato pie! I'm glad he has another friend." She tilted her head at his last comment "Though you make act like Mr. Doom and Gloom inside you are full of light, and bring light to others." She wrinkled her nose trying to think of the words "luminescent, whatever that word that means you give of light or something like that. I'm not good with science stuff." She looked at him dumbstruck when he asked if she would tell "No, never. It is your business and you should share it at your discretion." She finished the piece of clothing she was working on and handed it off. Next was a polka dot dress which needed mending. She took a scrap and held it up "Do you want me to make a belt out of this?" Mrs. Polk nodded enthusiastically and Robin got to work "As you wish."

[Ozzy White]

Ozzy looked at his teacher and opened his mouth long enough to say. "I only speak when I have something to say and someone to listen. Than he fell silent once more. He was a bit happy that the teacher seemed to understand and didn't question his further. Unlike most teachers who were nosy and played twenty questions every time they started talking, this one knew when the topic was done or at least thats how it appeared to Ozzy. Ozzy was like that too and he could tell that this conversation was over and Professor Jinn was back to being engrossed by the sewing.

Ozzy stood up and mumbled a quick Have a nice holey day... thanks before bounding off back to his companion Frank. He sat down to the checker board and looked at the red and black boxes on the board engrossed in his thoughts once more. For some reason talking to the professor had made him upset and he didn't want to ruin Frank's day. And so he stood up abruptly and turned to Frank. I'm sorry mate but something came up and I need to get back to school. I'll... I'll come back tomorrow after classes. Bye

With this said Ozzy bolted out of the nursing home and began to run back to campus until he was in the safety of his dorm and his bed to sit alone and think and sob in silence.