Renaissance Man - Part 1

Scene 24 _ School Library

Scene 24 Rev A

Scene 24 “School Library”

Torey Campbell – Protagonist
Viviana “Vivi” Tessaro – Torey’s girlfriend
Shakenya Porter – Butler Cowan Middle School librarian
Addo Okoro – Torey’s best friend.

         As they left the science classroom, Torey calmed down, and Addo returned to his usual cheery self. “Let's go to lunch. I'm hungry,” he said.
         Torey hesitated. He was hungry but saw no other time or opportunity to meet Johnathan’s challenge to learn about Renaissance Men. “I think I'll go to the library instead of lunch.”
         Addo and Vivi looked at him quizzically. “Why?” asked Addo.
         “There's something I want to look up,” Torey snapped, not wanting to explain further.
         Library instead of lunch was unusual, in fact, rare. Middle school students didn’t give up lunch in favor of an hour in the library. Addo shrugged, but Viviana gave Torey a long look.
         “Can I come with you?” she asked, stroking Torey’s arm with her finger.
         Teenage student behavior is loosely held in check by regulations but tightly by peer pressure. The idea of breaking a rule then having a tale to tell Brigit Fogerty and Ishma Jacob excited her.
         “Sure, if you like,” Torey replied, pleasantly surprised and curious.
         “Okay. I'll see you later,” Addo said, turning toward the stairs down to the cafeteria.
         “Why the library?” asked Vivi.
         Torey did not want to elaborate. “Like I said, I want to look up some information.”
         “Maybe you can find some information about the Periodic Table,” Vivi said, rubbing his arm again, her voice hopeful, and her manner flirty.
         “Maybe you can find some information about the Periodic Table,” Torey replied, emphasizing ‘you.’
         “Yeah. That's what I meant,” Viviana backed down.
         The two moved briskly down to the first floor then the library, lost amidst the welcome anonymity of a tide of students lingering between classes. The bell sounded signaling the start of the next period. Their clock was running.
         “Can I help you?” the librarian asked, surprised to see students at this time of day.
         Shakenya Porter sat in the middle school equivalent of a reference section, her desk filled with thick directories, encyclopedias, and atlases.
         Shakenya Porter had stories to tell if anyone wanted to hear them, which they did not. A full head of snow-white hair crowned her ebony face in a conservative style befitting her many years and her position of librarian. Her bright colored, swirl patterned, almost a Mumu dress hung graciously over her large frame like fruit syrup over chocolate ice cream. A broad smile was all the makeup she needed, and its glory broke forth at the slightest provocation.
         A librarian at a middle school is a lonesome job. Teenagers do not flock to bury themselves in the world's great literature. The loneliness is made manifest by the fact she had not received a pay increase in more years than Torey Campbell has been alive. Her name appears in print but once a year — on the shortlist of jobs to be eliminated in the always present threat of a budget cut.
         Why she was still sitting at her desk was a mystery, but she was glad of it. Today two young folks, early in their life's journey, stood before her seeking the services she was happy to provide. Maybe today she would plant a seed that, in some distant future, would bear fruit that would give meaning to her years of service.
          “Yes. Do you have any books on Renaissance Men?” Torey asked, offering a questioning gaze.
         Porter’s eyes widened, as she replied, voicing wonder. “My goodness, that's a subject no one ever asks about. I'll have to look.”
         Vivi shot a stern look at Torey as they dropped their belongings at the room’s only table and sat down while Porter went to the far end of the library in search of an answer to Torey’s query. The familiar musty library smell was comforting to Torey.
         “Renaissance Men … what's that got to do with our science papers?” Viviana asked, now seriously curious and becoming suspicious.
         Torey became defensive. “The science paper isn't due until next spring.”
         “Then why did we come here?” Displeased, Vivi retrieved a stick of gum from her purse, then cast the crumpled wrapper on the table.
         Torey’s voice was emphatic. “Because I want to find out about Renaissance Men.”
         “Why?”
         “Just because I want too.”
         “I thought you invited me to help me with my science paper,” Viviana objected, tapping the table with her pencil.
         “You invited yourself, and yes, I will help you with your science paper … later.”
         Glancing at the clock, impatient with waiting, Torey approached the oversized dictionary resting on a stand near Porter’s desk. There he turned the pages until he reached the one that held the key.
         “I didn't know people like this existed,” he exclaimed.
         Vivi was again tapping. “Like what?”
         Torey read from the dictionary, “ ‘Renaissance Man’ is defined as a man who is knowledgeable or proficient in a variety of fields. He is an intelligent man who excels in many areas.”
         Porter returned, through the sturdy bookshelves, marching across the floor in rows, smiling, and holding the book in her hand up like a prize. “I found this one book that might give you what you want. It's titled Our World Moves Forward: Renaissance Men Who Made History by Gersham Yoelsen. I didn’t know we had it,” she said, giving Torey a ‘thumbs up.’
         “Do you have anything explaining the Periodic Table of the Elements?” Torey asked, returning to the table and momentarily ignoring the gift Porter presented to him.
         “I think so,” she answered. “Dr. Henderson visits me at the beginning of each semester to be sure we have what his students will need. I'll go look.”
         “Thank you,” Torey, not Vivi, replied.
         Viviana was confused. “You said we didn't have to work on this until next spring.”
         “Yes, but we're here now, so you can see what it's all about,” replied Torey.
         “Yeah. I guess so,” Viviana said, lowering her head and snapping her gum.
         Porter returned, soon this time, with a chemistry book and handed it to Torey, who gave it to Vivi.
         “That was easy,” she said. “Dr. Henderson assured me that someone would want this book, but I didn't expect it to be so soon.”
         “She wants to get a head start on her paper before all the books disappear,” Torey said, nodding at Viviana.
         “That’s good,” said Porter, “things are easier when you start early.”
         Torey flipped through his book, pausing at random to read passages. Vivi likewise turned the pages of the chemistry book while not taking her eyes off Torey. Then she leaned over the table, feigning interest in what he was reading, purposely revealing cleavage that he could not miss. The sweet smell of her gum mixed with the aroma of her perfume did it. Hormone courage won out.
         Torey, his feet jittering against the floor, leaned over the table and surprised Viviana by changing the subject. “Vivi, I'm going to play my first soccer game this Saturday. Would you like to come?”
         Viviana gave Torey a long look — a look that mixed disdain over her lack of progress on her agenda with satisfaction about the invitation. Did he just ask me for a date?
         “I don't know anything about soccer. Why would I come? Where is it?” Vivi asked, her questioning hesitant and her tone uncertain.
         “Runestone Park. You know where that is?”
         His stomach growled in protest, reminding his brain that it was displeased with his recent decision on where to spend the lunch hour. Not now, Torey thought.
         “Yes,” Vivi replied.
         Torey held his breath. “I thought you might like to come and watch.”
         Viviana pushed back her chair and stood, emitting an inaudible scoff as she did. She gathered her belongings, ignoring the chemistry book.
         Vivi threw Torey a wavering smile. “I don't know … maybe … I have to go now,” she said, pinching her lower lip.
         Not like the polite ring of a doorbell, the loud, shrill, rude clang of the class bell overrode every audible activity with its prison-like directions: ‘It is time to change classes.’ Torey watched Viviana leave. Did I make her mad? Her raven hair, her voluptuous, well-shaped figure, and the lingering scent of her perfume aroused strange new feelings. Embarrassed, he reached down to adjust his jeans.
         Porter interrupted his thoughts. “Young man, you better get on your way, or you'll be late for your next class.” The ticking clock looking down from the wall affirmed the message just delivered by the clanging class bell.
         “Oh yeah. Can I sign out this book?”
         “Sure. Give me your library card.”
         “I don't have one.”
         “Here's the paper you must fill out to get a library card,” Porter said, sounding like a bureaucrat.
         Torey sighed. “I don't have time now.”
         “Take it with you, fill it out, and bring it back later.”
         “Thank you,” Torey said, relieved.
         Porter touched her fingers together. “No problem. I'll hold your book for you. Though I don't expect anyone will be looking for it. It hasn't been checked out in years. What about this chemistry book?”
         Torey looked at the book, started to say something, then reconsidered. “She knows it's here. She can come get it when she wants too.” He wondered if Vivi had left the book as a rebuke to him for asking her out. She did go in sort of a huff, he thought.
         Porter smiled. “Very well. My name is Mrs. Porter. I'm here for one hour after the last bell. What's your name?”
         “Torey Campbell.”
         Teachers and staff of big city schools observe students for signs that reveal the truth about those in the endless stream of youth that passes through their halls. Today, Shakenya Porter recognized a fire in Torey Campbell's eyes that she seldom got to witness. It buoyed her heart in this thankless job that had consumed so much of her life.
         “Pleased to meet you, Torey. I'll put your name on this book and hold it here at my desk.”
         “Okay. Thanks again. I'll come back as soon as I fill out this form.”
         Torey gathered his belongings and stuffed Vivi’s gum wrapper in his pocket.
         Scurrying to his next class, the halls almost empty, Torey reflected on the woman he had just met. Nice lady. Big woman with a big heart.

***

         During his afternoon classes, Torey completed the form for a school library card, oblivious to material presented by his teachers, but not the rumbling in his stomach, protesting the missing mid-day nourishment. When the last class bell of the day released him, he hurried back to the library, completed form in hand.
         “Hi, Mrs. Porter, I'm back.”
         Shakenya Porter looked up from the book she was reading, her eyes widening. “Well, so you are, Torey. I didn't expect to see you back so fast.”
         Torey handed her the application form. “I'd like to sign out that book,” he said, blowing out a long breath and smiling.
         Librarian Shakenya Porter scrutinized the form, then entered the information using the terminal on her desk.
         “That's good. Let me ask, do you have a library card for the Allerford City library?”
         “No. Is that a problem?” Torey asked, fearing another obstacle.
         “No problem,” she said. “That form you filled out is the city library’s. We use the same one, and I am authorized to issue you a city library card if you would like one.”
         “Sure.”
         Torey opened the book and surveyed the Table of Contents while Porter processed the two library cards. Some names he recognized, most he did not.
         “Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, who's this guy?” Torey whispered to himself, as his finger moved down the page, “Leonardo da Vinci, ooh, that's what a Renaissance Man is; Girolamo Cardano, never heard of him; Galileo, remember him from somewhere; Robert Hooke, don't know him; Benjamin Franklin, never thought of him as a Renaissance Man.” At that moment, he resolved to learn about all of them.
         “Here you go, Torey. One for this school library and the other for the Allerford City Library. Every book the city of Allerford has to offer is now available to you,” she said cheerily, holding out two new library cards across her desk.
         The sounds of a zipper punctuated the library silence as Torey stuffed the book and two library cards into his backpack.
         “How long can I keep this book?”
         “Two weeks, but then I can renew it for another two weeks.”
         “Thanks. I have to go now. I'm late for soccer practice.”
         “Oh, an athlete too.”
         Torey blushed. “Sort of. I'm just starting, and I'm not very good yet.”
         Torey rushed from the library, flinging his backpack into position as he ran. Shakenya Porter watched him disappear as he turned just outside the doorway. “You will be, boy, you will be. I have a feeling about you. Who won that fight?” she said to herself, with a smile borne of years observing middle school students come and go — confident that this one had something special.

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Word Count: 2,157
Readability Consensus (based on 8 readability formulas):
         Grade Level: 5
         Reading Level: fairly easy to read.
         Reader's Age: 8-9 years old (Fourth and Fifth graders)