Erimentha Parker's to do list
Chapter 4
Overview: Chapter 4 is a brief one so I thought I'd recap it today as I have nothing productive to do. It's generally an interesting insight into Erimentha's relationship with adults - her overfamiliarity with staff at the school and how she expects them to be dazzled by her brilliance despite the fact they have a heavy workload and are responsible for several other young people.
She's on her way to the library and mentions she wrote a pamphlet for a teacher and can also give it to Mr Aldridge as there is a historical element. Mr Aldridge needs to attend a support group, this burden is way beyond his remit. By the end of this chapter, I expect Erimentha is That Child discussed over breaded garlic mushrooms at the Slug and Lettuce on a Friday night staff outing.
Erimentha visits the library with a list of texts. Being a lower school girl, she's only allowed to take two books out at a time. Outrageous! Don't they know who she is? The librarian very reasonably asks if the books she has chosen are the right level for her.
Erimentha puts this witch right in her place, it's the Pretty Woman, "Big mistake, huge!" moment. She tells the librarian she has read A Brief History of Time, making a mental note that she'll be among the first against the wall when the time comes.
It's class time and she decides to do some reading to ignore some of the things her classmates are saying about her in earshot. Mr Aldridge then has the audacity to enter the classroom and make a start. She's delighted at having a desk close to Mr Aldridge so she can converse with him about his Cambodia trip. Will you leave the poor sod alone, this is his private life!
He tells them they need to go to assembly and Erimentha 'stands abruptly' and asks if he's going to register the class?
Excuse me, lady, who put you in charge? If you don't set her right now, Mr Aldridge, this little madam will be responsible for your gastric ulcer. He tells her he has already counted, wishing he had thrown his passport into the Mekong river when he had the chance.
Erimentha briefly talks about how he'd get into trouble with administration for not doing so, but there would be no way of accounting for their bodies should they burn to death in a fire, apparently the most painful way to go. Not gonna lie, Erimentha is beginning to make me nervous, she seems to have thought about this a little too much...
Izzy and Kimberly make some jibes that Erimentha has no friends (this is not fake news) and ask what she's doing for the weekend. She wastes no time haughtily telling them she and a friend are going to be making a working model volcano and will have a much more enjoyable and productive time than them.
Again, I check who is bullying who here. Erimentha believes she's superior to her peers and is entitled to Erimenthsplain to her teachers how to do their jobs. Instead of any introspection into her behaviour over the weekend and maybe working on being a bit more humble, she decides to look up the definition of bullying to give the other's behaviour a label.
----------
Disclaimer: when I was in Year 7, weekends would be spent buying those little bath pearls from the Body Shop, it was the height of cool. I'm not going to yuck anyone else's yum, whatever floats your boat, or erupts your volcano, this isn't meant to be a mean interpretation of the book.
Please keep it up, I'm living for it at the moment.
