A LITTLE SPICE FROM GINGER : Adventures in Faytown
Posted on Wednesday, October 8, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/hl/Religion/25772/
What do No. 2
pencils, delicious
chicken, and Jane Eyre have in common ? If you guessed, “ They are all beloved by Ginger Macfarlan, ” you would be right, but only partially. The real answer is, all contributed to a day in Fayetteville last Saturday. Initially, a day in Fayetteville was no cause for rejoicing. I hope the city does not take this as a personal affront. My trepidation was due to the fact that the better part of the day would be spent in a crowded classroom in a public high school, hand cramping from overuse, sweating as I hunted answers in my brain. The SAT test. Though I have taken standardized tests several times before — the ACT in seventh grade, the PSAT as a sophomore, and both the ACT and SAT as a junior — there is a new kind of urgency when one is a senior, and not just in standardized testing. When visiting colleges as a junior, everyone is impressed with one’s advance planning. When taking a standardized test, one thinks, “ this doesn’t matter so much — I still have my senior year. ” But as the school year begins and the mailbox is flooded daily with nationwide colleges, attempting to woo one with various siren songs, there is no excuse left. The senior year is when things have boiled down to the wire. Every decision is theoretically life changing. In my mother’s West Virginia vernacular, it’s “ time to fish or cut bait. ” The SAT is just one more reminder.
Besides, who really wants to wake up at 5: 30 a. m. on a Saturday ?
In the midst of my gloominess, I was happy to discover that I would have a companion in the gloom by way of my friend Emily. Misery is easier when there’s someone else miserable with you. Yes, we would have to wake up at an unrighteous hour, drive to Fayetteville in the dark (and the rain, as it turned out ) and take a standardized test. But at least we could do it together ! Better than that, we decided to redeem the day by fitting in a lot of good things after the test was over: namely, lunch and shopping in Fay-town. (“ Fay-town ” is our cool name for Fayetteville. We think it makes us sound like locals. But for fear of sounding like tourists, we never use it around the real locals. )
So Saturday became something I was both dreading and looking forward to, with the latter outweighing the former. After all, the SAT isn’t so bad. In keeping to the stereotype of “ math and science people do better on the ACT, reading and English people do better on the SAT, ” I found the SAT much easier. Filling in all the little bubbles was, for me, the worst part. My hand was cramping by the time I had filled in my name. (“ Virginia E. Macfarlan” is no picnic to “ bubble. ” )
The morning passed in a colorless blur. The sky was dreary and cloudy and colorless, the classroom seemed colorless, and the manufacturers of the test books weren’t about to waste money on color printing. The tedious testing periods were punctuated about every hour with five-minute breaks. I couldn’t decide afterward whether the morning had seemed to last forever or had sped by quickly. Regardless, the fun part of the day could now begin. After calling our mothers to let them know we were out of the test and that the mental exertion had not left us catatonic, we headed for Chik-Fil-A.
I love Chik-Fil-A. No chicken in the world can compare. Emily agrees. We both relished our lunches and mapped out a game plan. First to Cheap Thrills, a vintage and resale shop, and then to Barnes and Noble.
The journey to Cheap Thrills was more adventuresome than the shop itself. We were armed with printed directions, and I read the directions while Emily drove. There were many cries of “ Wait, which street ? ” and “ Aaah ! That was our turn !” and “ You mean we have to drive up that hill ? ” But when we pulled into a parking spot, we felt very satisfied in our navigating abilities. We were only in Cheap Thrills long enough for me to look for a dress for a role-playing 1950 s party, and then it was back out of the store to head for Barnes and Noble.
I love Barnes and Noble. I love bookstores in general. I could spend all day in one. Emily could, too. Pushing through the heavy glass and wood doors, we were assaulted by the smell of cinnamon and coffee. We wandered aimlessly up and down aisles, admiring beautiful hardback and leather bound editions. We stared at the lacking quality available in the teen section before heading over to the kids’ section — where everyone knows the good stuff is. We, it must be confessed, went a bit crazy in the magazine section (there was a camera involved ). I agonized over the dozens of attractive and affordable books before settling on Jane Eyre, a classic which I didn’t own. We reluctantly pushed back through the doors into the sun, and our day in Fay-town was over.
At the end of our trip, I barely remembered that we had endured the SAT test that morning. The sun was shining, we were singing to the radio, and I had a “ new ” book to read.
After I go re-sharpen all my newly dulled No. 2 pencils, maybe I’ll have a chance to read it.