Valkyrie Misadventures: An Unlikely Friendship, Part One & Two

Its been way too long since I've worked on any of my main writing projects. I kinda missed them. But today I randomly started working on a small piece that I initially started writing three years ago and haven't touched in eight months.

Valkyrie Misadventures is a collection of short stories about a young introverted "PK" (aka preacher's kid) named Valerie Clarke, as she learns to make friends and they navigate life together, having adventures, getting into mischief, learning valuable life lessons, and getting to know their Heavenly Abba better.

And this is one of the first stories, where Valerie, in first grade, makes her first friend.

Some helpful things to note: The church is non-denominational, but Valerie's parents come from a Quaker lineage, and so when her dad first took the pulpit, he encouraged the use of numbers for the days of the week instead of the names of Roman deities. As such, Sunday is "First Day", Sunday School is "Church School", and Easter is "Resurrection Day".

***

Valerie wasn’t sure what it was, but there was something off about the ark picture in Mrs Reagan’s story book. Granted, most books for first and second graders had annoyingly comical illustrations. But this was Church School, and ‘Noah and the Ark’ was supposed to be a true story. If the ark really looked even remotely that round and bubbly, with animals sticking their heads out the windows, there was no way Noah could’ve gotten elephants, dragons, or even a T-rex on board.

 

"Mrs Reagan?" She raised her hand high above her head.

 

"Yes, Valerie?"

 

"If that's what Noah's boat looked like, I don't think it can hold two of every animal. Shouldn't it be bigger?"

 

"You know, that is an excellent observation, Valerie.  And you're absolutely right, it was much bigger than this picture. The Bible actually tells us how big it was, and--actually, why don't we take some time to explore that right now?"

 

After Church School, Valerie paused by the drinking fountain on her way to the sanctuary. She finished drinking and swiped the back of her hand across her mouth.

 

"Hello!" An overtly-jubilant voice greeted her from behind.

 

Turning, Valerie saw another girl from her Church School class, one that everyone called Roo. From her bright pink Mary Jane shoes, to the aqua blue ribbons securing her golden hair in double french braids, she looked like anything but a kindred spirit. Especially judging by her knitted sweater, which took both of those colors and, of all things, added lime green. But not wanting to appear completely rude, Valerie gave her an acknowledging nod.

 

"Good morning," she said, with the enthusiasm of a slab of concrete, and a face to match it. The other girl appeared to miss the hint.

 

"I love your black hair. It looks so good with your blue eyes."

 

Valerie stared at the floor. "Thanks," she mumbled.

 

"You really should wear more colorful dresses though. Your skin is so light that your hair makes it look almost white. So when you wear grey, you almost look like a ghost."

 

"Maybe that's the point," Valerie sassed.

 

Who is this girl and what does she want?

 

"You know, you're pretty cool, the way you always come up with such smart questions every week," Priscilla commented. "Where do you get so many good ideas?"

 

"Pigeon mail," Valerie quipped. The other girl giggled.

 

"You're so funny when you act all serious like that!"

 

"Uh, thanks? I guess? Um… Sorry, I'm really bad at remembering names."

 

"Priscilla Jones. But my friends call me Roo. And I know you are Valerie Clarke. Do you have any nicknames?"

 

Valerie shrugged. "My mom calls me Vee sometimes."

 

"That's cool. It's nice to meet  you, Vee!"

 

"Yeah, uh...me too."

 

The other girl giggled again. “Well, see you later!”

 

As Priscilla bounced down the hallway toward the sanctuary, Valerie mentally kicked herself in the teeth and ran her hand through her jet black hair.

 

"Me too? Its nice to meet myself? That doesn't even make sense! Good job, Vee. This is why you don't have any friends."

 

*** 

Valerie dismissed the meeting from her mind for the rest of the week. But the next First Day, as she walked to Church School, Priscilla came skipping up beside her, this time sporting a sky blue dress and white hair ribbons.

 

"Good morning, Valerie!"

 

"Oh, hi, Priscilla."

 

"Didn't I tell you that my friends call me Roo?"

 

"You did. Am I supposed to call you that?"

 

"Well, we are friends now," Priscilla giggled.

 

We are? Valerie wondered. When did that happen?

 

"You wore that grey dress last week."

 

"I did. And I'm gonna wear it next week, too."

 

"Why? Next week is Resurrection Day! Don't you have anything more colorful?"

 

"I think you wear enough color for both of us, Roo. Besides, I like grey."

 

"But its so boring," Priscilla complained. "Imagine if everything in the world was the exact same color."

 

"It would make buying clothes a lot easier."

 

"You wouldn't be able to see anything, silly!"

 

Valerie opened her mouth to argue, but she realized Priscilla was right. If everything was the exact same color, you wouldn't even be able to see the knob on a door.

 

"If you only ever wear grey, do you only eat grey food too?" Priscilla asked.

 

That question stopped Valerie in her tracks and she stood there, tugging one of her pigtails, deep in thought. Were there even any grey foods?

 

As if she could read Valerie's mind, Priscilla offered a suggestion. "Do you like oatmeal? Its kinda grey."

 

"I hate oatmeal. Its so bland and boring."

 

"So why do you dress like a bowl of oatmeal?"

 

Ouch.

 

Valerie never would've guessed the bouncy, over-jubilant girl would be so quick--or so accurate--with such cutting remarks.

 

I kinda like her sass...

 

"I guess you have a point," Valerie admitted.

 

"See, I told you that you were smart. You even know when I'm right about stuff."

 

Valerie realized she had no idea how to answer that. So she suddenly became fascinated with the animals painted on the hallway wall outside the Church School rooms.

 

"You wanna come to my birthday party next week?" Priscilla blurted.

 

"Huh?"

 

"My birthday is the day after Resurrection Day. I'm gonna have a party after school, and you're invited."

 

"I don't like being with lots of people."

 

"There won't be lots. Just me, two of my friends from school, and you." Abruptly, Priscilla stopped walking and turned to Valerie. "Where do you go to school? We're in Church School together, why aren't we in regular school together?"

 

"Mom teaches me at home," Valerie answered.

 

"Oh. Well, anyway, you wanna come?"

 

"I...I don't know."

 

The girls reached their classroom and nothing more was said on the matter. And after class, Priscilla made no effort to join Valerie in walking to the sanctuary. Deep down inside, Valerie had a tiny nagging feeling that maybe she had somehow offended the other girl or annoyed her. But she shrugged it off as the service began and the organist, old Mrs. Enfield, played the intro for 'Amazing Grace', Valerie's favorite hymn.

 

***

 

After the service, Valerie followed her mom out to the main foyer and, as was her weekly custom, she asked for permission to slip off to the church library, to read till her parents were done greeting everyone.

 

But this week, before Mrs. Clarke could give her approval, Valerie heard a familiar voice call her name. And then Priscilla was standing by her side.

 

"Is this your mom? Hi, Valerie's mom. I'm Valerie's friend, Priscilla."

 

"Oh, hi, Priscilla! You're Mrs. Jones's daughter, right? Valerie didn't tell me she made a new friend."

 

Valerie couldn't see her cheeks, but the felt quite pink. "I didn't know I made a new friend till she said so."

 

"Can Valerie come to my birthday party next Second Day? The day after Resurrection Day? Please?" Priscilla begged.

 

Valerie didn't even have time to think about protesting.

 

"I think that sounds like it could be a fun thing to do," Mrs. Clarke answered. I'll just need to talk with your mom and find out a little more about it before I decide."

 

"Okay!" Priscilla grinned and darted off. "Mom! Hey, Mom!"

 

"Please don't make me go," Valerie whined. "I don't wanna be with a bunch of kids I don't know."

 

"Valerie, that's Church School every single First Day. Every kid in this church is going to be a kid you don't know if you don't give them a chance to get to know you."

 

"Yeah, but that's different! Church School is familiar. I'm used to it. Mrs. Reagan tells a story and asks questions about it and i can answer them sometimes. But birthday parties have games and playing and… talking. You know I hate talking to other people."

 

"Maybe you do, Vee. But that's just something you're going to have to learn. You can't spend your whole life never talking to other people."

 

"I don't wanna go."

 

Mrs. Clarke rested a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Sweetie, listen. I need to talk to Priscilla's mom first and find out all the details before I decide. Maybe something will come up where it just won't work out. But if everything does work out, I really think you should go and try to have fun. You can't make friends if you never try."

 

"Fine," Valerie grumbled. She silently pleaded please decide no, please decide no...

 

"I got her!" Priscilla crowed as she pulled her mom toward the Clarkes.

 

"Can I go to the library now?" Valerie asked.

 

Mrs. Clarke nodded. "Why don't you take Priscilla with you, if her mom doesn't mind. You can read together while we talk."

 

"I love reading!" Priscilla announced. "Valerie, have you read any of the Bernstein Bear books?"

 

Valerie nodded. "I like them."

 

"Me too!"

 

It had never occurred to Valerie that her new friend might chance to like the same books. Suddenly the frigid April day felt just a tiny bit brighter.

 

"Come on," Valerie took Priscilla's hand. "The library is this way."

 

***

 

It was decided and there was no getting out of it. But then Second Day rolled around, and as Valerie finished her breakfast, her mom added yet another task.

 

"It would be polite to take a present for her. That's normally what people do when their friends have birthdays."

 

"But Mom," Valerie complained, "we just met! I barely know anything about her or what she likes! Besides, she'll have other friends giving her gifts. And who knows how many she might get from her parents. The way her mom dresses in church, I bet they're rich. She's probably spoiled and gets to gave everything she wants. She doesn't need anything from me."

 

"Now Valerie, let's not judge books by their covers," Mrs. Clarke scolded sternly. She sat down at the table across from Valerie. "Yes, Priscilla's family is...reasonably well off. And yes, Mrs. Jones may have a tendency to overdress a little bit. But that doesn't mean Priscilla is a rich and spoiled brat, and it certainly doesn't mean that you can get out of taking her a present. So, what do you know about her?"

 

Valerie sighed and set her spoon in her empty cereal bowl. She closed her eyes and tried to remember her encounters.

 

"She really, really likes wearing lots of colors. Too many colors sometimes. But her favorite color is sky blue. Um… She likes to draw. Sometimes if she gets to Church School early, she draws animals on the chalkboard. And she likes to read. I think that's all I know."

 

"So how about books or art supplies? She might really like that."

 

"And if she doesn't?"

 

"Then you know, and maybe you'll find out what she does like. Sometimes you just have to try things without knowing what will happen. So go get dressed, might as well pick out whatever you're going to wear to the party, if you can keep it clean."

 

Valerie selected a tee-shirt that was a light blue very close to gray. She paired it with a red plaid button-up shirt that her mom had bought for Christmas, but Valerie had not yet worn. Completing the outfit with a knee-length denim skirt, black leggings, and her cowboy boots, she took two black elastics to her mom, who helped her secure her hair in her usual twin shoulder-length pigtails.

 

And with that, the two grabbed their coats and drove into town, Mrs. Clarke set a ten dollar spending budget, and Valerie tried doing something without knowing how it was going to go. She picked out the biggest box of crayons that was under the budget her mom gave her. Well… Almost under.

 

"Ten dollars and ten cents," the sales clerk announced.

 

"Well, a little over your spending limit, Valerie," Mrs. Clarke said. "By ten cents. However, that is my fault. I forgot to tell you about sales tax." She reached in her purse and pulled out a dime. "We'll go over the spending limit just this once."

 

"Well, for being a dime over your spending limit, ma'am, if you hadn't paid it, I would've," the clerk admitted. "Hardly even worth calling it over the limit."

 

"No, it's not," Valerie's mom conceded. "But its good to instill the principle in kids heads when they're young. A dime over the spending limit today might be a hundred dollars tomorrow. That's clearly one lesson nobody ever taught the American government."

 

The clerk chuckled. "True enough. Quite true enough."

 

On arriving home, the mother-daughter duo wrapped the present in brown paper and tied a sky blue ribbon around it. The only thing left to do was to get ready for the party. Which wouldn't be for several hours yet. So Valerie finally had some time to curl up on the couch with a stack of books.

 

She was a good reader for her age. Started at four, was reading at a first grade level at the start of the school year, and it wouldn't be much longer till she would be reading at a third grade level. Probably by summer break. So after a few Bernstein bear books, she got bored and turned to her collection of kid-level encyclopedias. Picking the 'B' edition, she intended to read about real bears, but she opened it up to baboons, and got distracted, reading every page. Just as she was finally about to get to the bears, her mom came into the living room and tapped her shoulder.

 

"Books down and boots on. It's time to go. Shouldn't need a coat now though. It’s a toasty seventy degrees now."

 

"I hate spring," Valerie muttered as she leaned on the mudroom wall to pull her boots on. "It's freezing in the morning, then warm in the afternoon. Why can't it make its mind up?"