Yesterday, Sinead and I spent the day together, hoping to give Quentin some study time, because he is writing his first exam on Tuesday. We took a long walk to Norwood, using the need to aquire some chocolate as an excuse to get out of the house. On our walk, we discussed a variety of topics, from the African custom of paying Lobola to the current situation she finds herself in with her friends at school.
Sinead has a very big heart, and often will take the sides of the underdogs at school. One such underdog has been a friend of hers for a couple of years, and has caused her to lose many other friends. Said girl, let's call her Jane, has a very short temper and a rather unpleasant personality, when she feels threatened. Jane has not had a great life, and, as such, Sinead has made it her cause to defend Jane on an almost daily basis over the past couple of years - the other children in the school are not overly fond of Jane, and they tease her and treat her quite badly. At the beginning of this school year, however, Jane was placed into the other grade 5 class, and befriended another outcast - let's call her Fran. Fran has had an even worse life than Jane, and it has made her jaded and bitter, and she delivers bile on all those within receiving distance. The new friendship has driven a wedge between Sinead and Jane, which all came to a head just over a week ago.
From what I can gather, Fran has been urging Jane to end her friendship with Sinead. This is obviously something that is not easy for Jane to do, even if just for the history. On the fateful day, Fran called some of Sinead's other friends 'spoilt brats' and she called Sinead a bitch for standing up for her friends. There was a little altercation, and every one stormed off in a huff. In the last period that day, the class was allowed to spend time outside, and Sinead sat one side, crying. Her heart was broken.
The other girls in the class, on finding out what caused the tears, called a court case, with Sinead as the defendant and Fran and Jane as the accused. I don't think the case was ever resolved, but it did show Sinead that she still had other friends - particularly because so many girls begged her to be her council.
Since then, she has been a little wary of making any connections, which is understandable. She is also less reluctant to leave the country, because there are no friendship ties binding her any more.
I cannot help but wonder if a small part of Jane's new friendship has to do with the fact that she knew the day would come where she would have to say goodbye to her friend.
Last night, we went out for supper at Shahi Khana (in Norwood) with some friends.
A couple of weeks ago, I decided it was time for a little test run with Sinead and seafood, so I made a marinara pasta for Sinead and myself. She ate it all (shrimps, mussels and all), and was fine. So, last night, we had test run number two. We shared a prawn korma.
I dished her a large amount of basmati rice, and smallish amount of Korma, with only two prawns. She staked the first prawn with her fork, and stared at it for a couple of seconds, as if making a life-altering decision. When she finally bit into it, her face lit up. It was as if her tastebuds exploded. She ate most of the prawns in the korma, and felt sorry for Quentin who would never experience the wonder of prawns.
She even planned a trip for us to Jimmy's Killer Prawns as our next outing with my mother.
Everything went well, until she suddenly woke up at 3am this morning, and her body decided it no longer required the contents of her stomach.
Stubbornly, neither of us are willing to accept that it is the prawns, and have come up with a variety of excuses for the sudden effusion of the food.
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