We were all directed to our exam stations.

Geology, yes that subject many aspire to for quite obvious reasons for those who thrive on outdoor flourish.

“The professors Ostrich, Mister and Mrs,have this cynical whimsical air of peerless inspection.

Usually when they have designed an exam replete with lethal mousetraps!!”

Magnolia the geology student like a horror movie addict bracing herself for a “SHRIEK” peak apotheosis.

Then she tentatively removed the sinister looking  cloth covering the various “specimens” a euphemism, field of reference, soft spin term, that would encompass microscopic slides.

“I doubt if they’ll be that challenging. Two  slides two slides in any case.”

Then Magnolia had this unsettled expression.

“Rocks, minerals, I can cope with but…. crystallographic question?”

She almost fainted  … but regained her composure.

“It’s actually quite uncomplicated  but …. I skimmed through it last night but didn’t seem a serious exam candidate.”

But would she overcome the blurred and hazy contours of a section not anticipated even in a mild amorphous sense.

Basically it was the least pressing complication  as it transpired.

“I’ll address the crystallographic mineral axis segment last.”

Magnolia adroitly.

The slides were next in that nerve-inducing sequence.

One posed no threat to this intellectually endowed candidate yet the “OTHER ONE” evokes a frozen stymie expression.

“Haven’t ever encountered its resemblance but maybe it will be my SHOT IN THE DARK .”

And the  clock ticked ominously, the typical solemn alert to lassitude which might creep in.

As Magnolia suddenly asserted herself and adjusted the cherry oak sturdy  chair she was sitting on until it was sufficiently comfy.

 It then dawned on her how gemstone treasured  exam time was and how adjustments had to be made in terms of adapting to cryptic crossword of a circumstance.

The minerals and rocks didn’t stray from ancient scripts with regard to predictability.

“Oops …. butterfingers. Banjo jangle nervous.”

Fortunately she grasped one of specimens before it touched the ground.

Or crash landed! 

But what was really a niggle and taunt for Magnolia was when the two professors drifted about the hall squirming mischievously?

Was there something  afoot or what exactly was often impossible to fathom.

Godfrey and Gina ostrich dropped hints during lectures as was there wont.

At an earlier phase in their career they could be accused of being too lenient and far too lenient at that.

Trends also appeared in their theory and laboratory tests to suggest that if precedent is any guide.

It normally often is regarding university trials, projects, thesis submission and every other kind of obstacle a student like magnolia in that torturous mountain archaicly referred to as higher education.

“And I must attend to that crystallography question too, three, four, five before my time allotment has expired.”

Gina Ostrich decided to lean over and peer at the candidates progress or lack of it.

Nothing intimidating but would say sometimes it’s a tilt  in the right direction.

“This time out as I loitered over this rogue slide .. neither Godfrey or Gina said that but cast an astute shrewd gaze at me.”

Magnolia scratched her CHIN, SCOWLED, UTTERED A MILD SHRIEK to herself.

Would that remind the “READER”  of other people in their lives.!!!!

But reverting  to the this wretched rogue geological under the microscope slab.

As one of the slides without a shadow of a doubt could be dashed off with bird wing flap aplomb  and the crystallography appeared a minor minute distraction that shouldn’t be forgotten though it was scheduled last in the queue. 

As an interesting aside Magnolia did a last minute swot of sneaky dangle subject branches that might make a gusty wing fly by  nuisance visit  and that  as an exam scheme never left a void.

Magnolia as her name my suggest and her friends and associates might confirm was prone to drift at times into surreal backcloths whilst not escaping a glitch or abstruse hazard imposed without prior warning  but as a way to unravel it, untangle  and make it more malleable, less of an intrigue,  more solvable within bounds.

“Now, what is this slide I’m peering into and all that  unfolds  is that it’s reflecting amorphous shapes back at me in stubborn haughtiness.”  

A loud sound disrupted Magnolia’s  inklings but not from anything within the exam hall but within herself.

“I sometimes hear noises of waterfalls and rivers …. when 

thry are that uncanny prompt as trance- induced serenity that also power cherry burst my plight with initiative when frazzled.” 

Or when she might reminisce about mineral rich stone seams, one schematically drags a sinuous finger  on  field trips across monumental stretches that eerily conjoin  urban areas.

Never lose sight of my present circumstances Magnolia might mutter in a barely audible life tip sage advice.

This is an of the essence  summons  for me and others.

Just events are triggered.

“The perennial paradox  between my  adamantine camp in urban settings, 

 yet rock chunks  engulf  me everywhere.”

Geology follower Magnolia from her early childhood and its various constituent offshoots and disciplines.

The intricate hues, genesis, the medley of terminology, the characters associated with the subject.

But back to this most  vital and sacred of slides.

The ability of Magnolia to almost pole vault  between dimensions of the cerebral, remembrance, photographic retrospect  never did impede her triumphs in  rigorous assessments.

But this was paramount  a prestigious honours mark at stake.

And why were Godfrey and Gina glancing  over shoulders at the near apex of that ambiguous, peculiar glass panel  question  micro tomb.

Well, they had a son but no daughters.

They secretly have a soft spot or  this yearning for a daughter or eager equivalent, an academic substitute.

Magnolia had to filter abstruse distractions(to some) in her quest  to resolve this microscopic feature carrier  rascal  in the cloister shouting from a silent matrix of  crystals.!!

Oxymoron type reflections on reflections on this one Earth formation hybrid glass cluster  whilst the other was a littoral breeze.

“It’s sucking me in but why…. and these blurry ambients, habitats of things conjugated and otherwise.

Ok, I can juggle several things at the same time.

But this wretched slide.

What is going on, what lies behind it, these shapes and capes?

Am I this vagabond misconstruer?

Whatever the chemical components  I certainly can name but with misgivings, qualms, scruples.

Magnolia then peered at the clock?

Oh indeed she had a fast pace allotment of time at her disposal.

Magnolia craned her neck once .. and saw the two ostriches Gina and Godfrey with a sneer exuding.

Magnolia pinched herself and then realised that a favourite ploy was to play games of intrigue with students they thought were more advanced and more  perspicacious  than the ostriches.

They had this quirky penchant for gyrational neck antics.

“They the ostriches jeer  and one wonders why? Must learn to genuflect before the clock and take concrete measures towards a resounding mark.

Not my strong point actually.”

Magnolia picked up this scent but it’s been a bugbear from the minute she skimmed  over this irksome slide piece.

“There’s a scurrilous game being engineered at my expense but it’s enshrouded in jiggery-pokery.”

Another thing she noticed were stray letters spread and figuring them out would be costly as minutes, hours have been known to soar and fly leaving the student an exasperated passage at the airport.

Magnolia glances casually once more and again the two ostriches were either about to twist  and crane as they assessed whilst they attempt to oversee.

“The Ostriches were in their element at mockery with both pointing their fingers downward.

As if they’ve outfoxed  me with this slide I’ve never seen before.

Not the 40 slides I’ve studied  during term …

Wait that is it I haven’t seen ….. 

oh very cunning  but not so guileful.”

Did magnolia seem cross, sensed that she was wise to their gambit? 

I’d be advised to  become visibly morose though they are not easily duped.

“I don’t believe it … are those strange shapes at the top of slide ….feint yet discernible.

HA HA FOOLED YOU.”

Now it’s starting to materialise.

I’ve no alternative but to

record  what I see here and write some observations or another.

Magnolia heard a devilish voice whisper ..be cheeky. Say you didn’t fool me at all.

And that’s what Magnolia did.

Time up and the students surrendered their papers.

A leisurely saunter out the hall entailed students wondering about this  freakish slide.

“Well, how did we do?”

The Ostriches enquired of the students.

“Sorry, wrong answers. 

One slide you’d seen before and the other slide you didn’t.

That  one contained elements of what you’d seen.”

Magnolia was taciturn then PANIC STATIONS on two fronts. 

“I forgot to answer the crystallography …..and it was easy!

Yet I figured out  they set a trap for me and will they take that badly.

The sarcastic jibe.

Magnolia  calculating possible marks and her worries mounted.

Another dawning that made her realise an elaborated hoax had been hatched.

Magnolia’s  home garden where there were flowers in bloom  had also the genus magnolia.

“They impregnated the sides of the mysterious slide with it.

TO REALLY RUB IT IN.

A corny joke she muttered to herself.

It was so complex.

A punishment for every occasion  Magnolia tried to outwit the ostriches with awkward questions and even baited them!

“The NECK OF THOSE PEOPLE.

And I did SMELL A RAT .. well a few things!

At a later point the ostriches shared glances when alloting a final mark to magnolia.

“She didn’t answer the final question but she still got an honours mark.

The second slide which wasn’t an integral part theccourse was identified correctly by her.

She alone satisfied every criteria for that question.

I can’t find significant flaws in  her answer bar doing a retort to  my hidden ( So I Thought)

pale grey jibe in return which was a wide open goal, an unguarded net.

At that point they both extended each others necks to view Magnolia’s reply with Gina opining:

“There’s a BLOSSOMING talent of every kind in there somehow!!”

Meanwhile Magnolia when she entered her house saw the crystallography book open with the exam question subject matter she forgot to do!!!

Dedicated to the most magnificent person, gifted genius, golden hearted person in the world. my sister Jay A Pallen