Braden's Graduation

The morning was rosy pink in the Eastern sky as Braden awoke from his slumber and proceeded to get dressed in his graduation gown. After five years of high-school (Canadian high-schools are Gr. 8-12 here or if they are split up into junior and senior, it would be 8-10 and 11 & 12) he was ready to go onto the responsibilities of young adulthood, which after continuing his reserve officer training program even prior to graduating, he was on track to success, because after he graduated from university he would be commissioned as an officer in the military.

It wasn't long before everyone was up; out of bed and out the door to revel in Braden's ascension to young adulthood, the day in which he would receive his high-school diploma and be able to be a responsible young adult, a day in which he would be judged worthy to his betters and a day of celebration in his freedom from mundane high-school schoolwork; a release from the prison of everyday questions from his teachers, "Did you do your homework?"

No more pencils,
No more books,
No more teachers’ dirty looks,
When the teacher rings the bell,
Drop your books and run like hell.

Yes, Braden was happy as could be.

Since there were so many family members going to Braden's graduation ceremony, even the late Fiona McIrish-Chikamori's old limo had to be dragooned into service to help ferry family members to arrive on time before the graduation ceremony started. In any case, they all did arrive, more or less.

The family members all entered the city hall where the reception hall served as the commencement ceremony location which give or take held about two hundred people which was usually par for the course for schools. It however did fill up that reception hall pretty well and there was over-flow which means parents having to line up around the walls.

The graduations were long and well, considering it was fall; still warm. Which meant two hours of listening to teachers and fellow students exulting over their freedom from having to teach or listen to lectures and verbal exhortations designed to give someone an emotional kick in the rear-end. Whether that would help or not remained to be seen. When the speeches were finished there was an uproarious cheer and not a few "Oh, Thank the Watcher, I'm famished..." comments coming from those who'd had to put posterior end in hard seat for the two hours that it took for everyone including the class valedictorian to finish jabbering on about existential matters such as "stepping forward to make a difference in the world" and all that good stuff, all of which would be crushed ruthlessly when they set foot inside their 9-5 cubicle. That's life. Welcome to young adulthood and maturity.

The family's next stop downtown was to the Bistro where they would end up sitting down taking up half the seats in the restaurant and causing the cooks to nearly have a conniption fit because of the sudden inflow of patrons at lunch time.

Evidently Zelda Mae was on vacation in Riverview from Sunset Valley and she quickly remembered the mousy young River McIrish from Sunset Valley.

27 years had gone by quickly since the Chikamori had moved from Sunset Valley to Riverview and evidently, they had changed a lot since then. The Chikamoris had been of moderate means when they were living in Sunset Valley and now it seemed as though they were one of if not the richest family in Riverview. Zelda Mae was in shock.

Of course she realized that she had left her purse at the hotel when a major league cramp hit her (evidently she hadn't eaten since she'd left the hotel that morning).