A Disappointing Day

My parents had agreed to let me carry on my education tentatively after elementary school,
but my friend Kara’s parents saw no point in high school and, in any case, it did not fall
within their monetary possibilities. Just before the end of elementary school, Kara pushed
me to do something I would never have had the courage to do by myself. Kara and I decided
to skip school and cross the limitations of the neighbourhood. Kara planned everything. She
fancied up the story to tell our families that after school we were all going to the friend’s
house for a party and, although this had never happened before. The occasion would seem
so exceptional that nobody would doubt it. Things went just as she had said. At my house
everybody believed the story, not only my mother and my sister and brothers but, to my
surprise, even my father.
Kara said that out to the west was the sea. We were intrigued by the imperceptible. On the
day planned for our jaunt, Kara and I walked towards the tunnel which led out of town. We
took off our school jackets, and hid them and our schoolbags in some shrubberies. The
tunnel was so long that the incandescent circle of the exit seemed far away. Apprehensively,
enchanted by the reverberation created by our steps, we kept going. This prompted Kara to
let out a shout; we laughed at the resulting violent explosion of sound.
When as an adult I think of the pleasures of childhood, I think of the melodious start of that
day. As usual, it was as if Kara were ten steps ahead and knew exactly what to do and where
to go: the stride, the calculation of time available, and the route to the sea. Like all girls, I
was so happy to have a close friend. I felt as if she had everything planned so that the world
around us would never be chaotic.
Then sporadically I caught Kara looking at me as if she had done something mean to me and
was sorry. She was confused and kept turning round; her hand on mine began to sweat. The
tunnel, had been out of sight for a long time. People we passed appeared indifferent to our
escapade. Large heavy clouds appeared, and in the distance thunder was heard.
‘Let’s go back,’ said Kara. There was something she wanted to tell me, but couldn’t make up
her mind to tell me, that suddenly compelled her to take me home. I had never seen her so
tense, whether we went back or continued, we’d get wet just the same.
Kara gave me a tug. I found myself running, reluctantly, back towards our neighbourhood.
The drops fell more thickly, and we ran blinded by rain, our clothes soaked and our bare feet
in damaged sandals that had no purchase on the now muddy ground. We went back
through the tunnel and, having found our schoolbags, we put our jackets and set out
towards home. Tense, her eyes lowered, Kara let go of my hand.
We both finally came to know that things had not happened as we expected. When we
reached school my mother was already there with my father. For almost two hours they had
been looking for me. When they saw me, they wanted to beat me to death. They had
discovered that I wasn’t in school, that there was no party. Kara knew her own parents were
less attentive, but took off anyway.

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 I was not allowed to go to school even for a week. Next week, I explained my punishment
to Kara. ‘Is that all?’ she said, grudgingly. ‘Are your parents still sending you to high school?’
I looked at her in puzzlement as the force of her betrayal sank in. Was that why she had
taken me with her? Is that what she was planning?

1- Kara and the writer ‘decided to skip school’. Whose idea was it?

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2- What was the ‘exceptional’ event the girls used to deceive their parents?

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3- According to the paragraph, who is the person least likely to be taken in by the girls’
deception?

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4- The girls were ‘intrigued by the imperceptible’. Explain in your own words what this tells
us about the girls.

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5- What exactly do you think Kara was planning?

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6- As an adult, the writer thinks of ‘the pleasures of childhood’. What two particular
‘pleasures of childhood’ did she experience that day?

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7- The day had a ‘melodious’ start. Give the one word used in the paragraph which conveys
the opposite idea.

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8- ‘People we passed seemed indifferent to our escapade.’ Explain in your own words what
the writer thought about the people they passed.

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9- Why was the writer surprised that Kara wanted to turn back?

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10- Things ‘had not happened as we expected.’

a) What unexpected thing happened?

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b) What expected thing happened?

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11- Explain what Kara did to betray the writer. Why did she do this? If you were Kara, would
you do the same? Why?

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12- How does it feel to be betrayed by someone you loved?

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13- Have you ever did bunking in your school and get caught?

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14- What conclusion can you draw from the ending of the story?

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15- Infer the meaning of the given words:

I. tentatively _______________________________________
II. imperceptible _______________________________________
III. chaotic _______________________________________
IV. compelled _______________________________________
V. escapade _______________________________________
VI. grudgingly _______________________________________
VII. puzzlement _______________________________________