Lost Spunk

Along the way, we would meet people who will inadvertently touch our lives, whether we like it or not. The same thing happened to Jenny Huang. She met Teacher Susan when her Grandpa was still alive. Patriarch Yiu and Teacher Susan both have a deep passion for history and the arts. And when Patriarch Yiu died, Teacher Susan stepped in as her mentor, nurturing Jenny's fascination with archeology and arts. Of course, Teacher Susan knew the Yiu Family Foundation too. As much as possible, she steered away from their family business while looking out for the sunny girl Jenny Huang who stood out among the rest of the pack with her own bright and blinding sparkly eyes which Teacher Susan thought resembled that of a rabbit's.

Teacher Susan stepped away from the podium and welcomed the sunny girl with both arms wide open ready for a warm hug. The old lady's small frame didn't hinder Jenny from plunging onto her mentor to give her the infamous koala hug. 

"Class dismissed," Teacher Susan announced after patting her pet's head and hurriedly left the room with Jenny in tow but didn't forget to stop by the door and poke the Giant with her legendary rod. "You and your brother definitely came from the same mold."

Outside by the hallway, Grant stood up and rotated his knees, catching up to the master and student. He hung his long arms on Jenny's shoulder as they walk, giving his friend a painful hip bump as payback. Jenny giggled at her friend's childishness, pulling her lower eyelid down with a finger with a matching tongue out to show her contempt over her friend. Grant whined like the brat that he is, stomping his feet, "Teacher, you have to take back what you said about my brother. He's a good and upright man and deserves respect," he protested. How could Teacher smear his brother's name, who had been a straight-A student his entire life?

"I don't remember Young Master Co being an upright student."

"Teacher!"

Teacher Susan was stumped when Grant and Jenny objected in unison. 

Their teacher pulled her students' ears at the blatant disrespect. "How dare you raise your voice on Teacher ah!" she let go of their ears before zeroing in at Jenny, tuning out the noise pollution from the whining Giant in the vicinity, "Now, could you show Teacher that burial jar you dug up last year." Grant left in an instant he heard the word "burial". He shook his head and tucked his tail between his legs running back inside their classroom. He never understood why his friend loved collecting things from the dead.

Meanwhile, inside the classroom, Cora felt a piercing stare behind her. She twisted her body to see where the source was coming from and discovered her friend Zoey's deathly glare at Jenny's silhouette. Cora knew Jenny and Zoey tried their best to get along, but the unspoken competition going on between the two would frequently draw a wedge between them. She softly held her friend's hand, her light sweet voice soothing the fuming Macaw. 

"Control your demons, Zoey."  

"Huh?" Zoey withdrew her hand and moved her gaze to the bright figure in front of her while shaking her head. How could she have forgotten Cora's high emotional intelligence? "You have demons too. Control your panty. I saw you two making out behind the bleachers yesterday," Zoey retaliated after she ran out of words to counter. Cora let out a sweet giggle, tickling Zoey's ear, making her laugh too. Cora hugged Zoey, kissed the latter's cheeks and said, "Here, a smooch for you too." Beside Cora was her twin Hugo who stealthily passed a paper to Zoey. "What's that?" Cora enquired — weirded out at the sudden secrecy between Hugo and Zoey.

*ZIIIIP*

Reid's loud zipping stole her attention, reminding her to pack up her belongings too. 

**************

"Ohhh thaaat..." Jenny started, dragging the last syllable to increase her teacher's anticipation, "I dug up an Manunggul Jar." Teacher Susan's monolid eyes widened albeit a bit, that's how big her eyes could go, unfortunately. However, the spark in her eyes was a telltale of her enthusiasm.  

The Manunggul Jar is a unique Neolithic secondary burial jar with an incised running scroll and impressed decorations. It was painted with hematite — a reddish-black mineral consisting of ferric oxide. On top of the cover is a boat with two human figures that represent souls on a journey to the afterlife. The human figure in the rear is holding a steering paddle with both hands; the blade of the paddle is missing. The heads of the human figures appear to be wearing a band tied over the crown and under the jaw. The forelimbs of the front figure are folded across the chest, a widespread practice in the Philippines when arranging the corpse. At the front of the boat is the image of the head with eyes, nose, and mouth. It is the only burial jar of its kind in the Philippines [1].

"Where is it now? Can Teacher get a glimpse?"

"Of course! That's the reason why I came here straight from thera… therapy," her mouth ran faster than her brain that Jenny realized she talked too much. She suddenly felt a heavy weight on her chest cavity, making her frown as they slowly walked back to the faculty room. Jenny felt a tiny warm hand on her back, and a tear rolled down straight to the floor. Instead of going to the faculty, the mentor ushered her silently crying student to the left where a pocket garden is located that had a pond filled with a school of ginormous-sized koi. 

Jenny sat on a bench and finally cried her heart out, her teacher sat beside her, not saying a word. She said with tears streaming on her cheeks, her eyes pinkish-red from the forceful crying, "Teacher, am I weak?"

Teacher Susan, who held her legendary rod in her right hand, tapped it twice to her left hand and cleared her throat. "Are you weak?" Jenny's lips quivered, she knew the answer, yet she still wanted to prove them wrong. Growing up, she heard tales about the Foundation and how she would officially become a member on her eighteen birthday. Her sisters did, and her cousins too, yet here she was almost nineteen, and the Foundation, still a nonexistent myth. Now, she had to go through therapy, thinning her chances of ever seeing the light of the Foundation.

But she didn't let it pull her down. Teacher Susan was right. She breathed in, her lost spunk replenished anew and said, "No. I am not weak." Teacher Susan wiped her tears and pinched her almost snotty nose. "Then, whatever you believe you are, is right." Jenny smiled at her mentor's words.

"Don't hurry to grow up, Jenny. Enjoy your last month in high school. Be serious a bit in college, but don't forget to get drunk from time to time. But not stupid drunk. You don't want those Fratmen taking advantage of you," Teacher Susan let out a melancholic sigh. Looking at the sunny girl beside her who chuckled,she continued, "And you don't have to join that Foundation to prove that you are brave or something to be feared. The Foundation wanted to be feared. But are they respected?" Jenny shook her head.

"Respect out of fear is never genuine; reverence out of respect is never false," Jenny said, her realization and enlightenment, clearing all the clouds of inferiority within her.

Edited by Swaning