we looked, we leapt...we're locked in
Duo Hao and I had an extra tutorial session. I always look forward to these times, because he's so much fun. We splutter a lot, as we try and twirl our Chinese tongues around the English eth-tee, ah-loe and ah-ung sounds. And we laugh so hard, so often. He's a great guh-guh. I respect him so much. And I respect him more after tonight.
We were merrily reading Genesis two, about the Man and the animals, and trying to pronounce "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" when I decided to look at my watch. It had seemed a bit longer than my mental half hour. Library closing was at 10pm, and we started at 9:30. So I looked at my watch. I leapt and attempted a laugh. 10:20???!!?? I looked at Duo-Hao. Our jaws dropped into the "aw" sound position. It couldn't be. The librarian was supposed to knock on our door at closing time.
We opened the door. Darkness. Silent darkness. Pin-dropping, church-mouse silent darkness. Not even a green bleep from computers. We felt our way around the stairway. If only we had black eye masks and zebra-striped shirts! Just as we suspected--the big black iron gate slitted the moonlight into silver black columns barring our front door exit. We were really, truly and totally locked in in the LTS library.
I laughed. Fortunately, Duo Hao was a bit more practical, and started flipping through his phone book, leaning against the window to catch the silver beams. We called Chui-Pok--no answer; we called B--no answer; we called Duo-Hao's own phone--no answer, um, naturally. I was still laughing. Finally, I thought I should help a little, so I felt my way over to the computer and turned that on. Should I email, "Help!" or should I write a story? A lightbulb flashed above D-H's head--there was an emergency chain of keys..somewhere. So he went on all fours and scoured every inch, and sniffed up every wall, until I heard jingles, crisp and clear from a corner of darkness. What a detective my partner was!
We jingled open the front door. We squeezed my hand through the little opening and jingled open the gate. I squeezed my arm further out and felt the padlock. D-H became my eyes, and told me where the keyhole was. Jingled blindly into the key hole, and voila! unlocked! We've succeeded! We pushed the door, but it wouldn't open. Oh. The other door was in the way. We quickly unlocked the other door. Voila! Freedom! Pushed--stuck. The gate wasn't opened wide enough. Easy. Push the gate open a bit more. Not so easy, the doorknob was stuck between the bars. In fact, impossible. So close, yet so far away.
Back to the drawing board. Computer and phone. "Wan-An, Soon Lau Shee..." Good old Duo Hao--he got hold of Teacher Sun. Soon, Teacher Sun sauntered up the 121 stones steps, pushed open the gate and helped us complete our escape from the moonlit bookcellar. How appropriate!
We were merrily reading Genesis two, about the Man and the animals, and trying to pronounce "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" when I decided to look at my watch. It had seemed a bit longer than my mental half hour. Library closing was at 10pm, and we started at 9:30. So I looked at my watch. I leapt and attempted a laugh. 10:20???!!?? I looked at Duo-Hao. Our jaws dropped into the "aw" sound position. It couldn't be. The librarian was supposed to knock on our door at closing time.
We opened the door. Darkness. Silent darkness. Pin-dropping, church-mouse silent darkness. Not even a green bleep from computers. We felt our way around the stairway. If only we had black eye masks and zebra-striped shirts! Just as we suspected--the big black iron gate slitted the moonlight into silver black columns barring our front door exit. We were really, truly and totally locked in in the LTS library.
I laughed. Fortunately, Duo Hao was a bit more practical, and started flipping through his phone book, leaning against the window to catch the silver beams. We called Chui-Pok--no answer; we called B--no answer; we called Duo-Hao's own phone--no answer, um, naturally. I was still laughing. Finally, I thought I should help a little, so I felt my way over to the computer and turned that on. Should I email, "Help!" or should I write a story? A lightbulb flashed above D-H's head--there was an emergency chain of keys..somewhere. So he went on all fours and scoured every inch, and sniffed up every wall, until I heard jingles, crisp and clear from a corner of darkness. What a detective my partner was!
We jingled open the front door. We squeezed my hand through the little opening and jingled open the gate. I squeezed my arm further out and felt the padlock. D-H became my eyes, and told me where the keyhole was. Jingled blindly into the key hole, and voila! unlocked! We've succeeded! We pushed the door, but it wouldn't open. Oh. The other door was in the way. We quickly unlocked the other door. Voila! Freedom! Pushed--stuck. The gate wasn't opened wide enough. Easy. Push the gate open a bit more. Not so easy, the doorknob was stuck between the bars. In fact, impossible. So close, yet so far away.
Back to the drawing board. Computer and phone. "Wan-An, Soon Lau Shee..." Good old Duo Hao--he got hold of Teacher Sun. Soon, Teacher Sun sauntered up the 121 stones steps, pushed open the gate and helped us complete our escape from the moonlit bookcellar. How appropriate!
posted by thmooj at 9:59 AM
1 Comments:
IT's really amazing.
Good to hear that you have a great student and big brother in Christ.
Post a Comment
<< Home