Competition Twenty-Seven Shortlisted: Letter Soup by Kerri McCourt
The young woman sitting in front read aloud, speaking eloquently, her voice a melody.
The professor, arms crossed like an aircraft marshaller, signalled for her to stop.
My turn.
After having twins and taking a long break from post-secondary education, I worked to regain my footing in college. Now that the boys were in school, I had time; however, my confidence as a student and in public speaking had diminished. I felt a migraine approaching.
I cleared my throat and began.
“Rev it up louder,” the instructor said.
I paused on a word that hovered like a hummingbird on the page, resisting recognition. I broke it into syllables as if I were in Grade One, like my twins: “n o / s e d / i v e.” The guy beside me stifled a chuckle. My face burned. In a downward plunge, I pressed on.
As my turn mercifully ended, my eyes remained fixed on the word. I silently mouthed its components. Then, like a seatbelt’s tongue sliding into the buckle, it clicked. Nosedive! Plain as day.
I imagined my fellow students with invisible measuring tapes sizing me up, knowing I fell short, appeared foolish.
The lovely-voiced woman in front of me smiled. “Ah, lunch hour! Would you like to grab a coffee or eat together?”
In a café across the street, we sipped coffee from delicate porcelain cups. Our only shared class was English; Olivia studied music, which suited her well. Her hands moved expressively during our conversation as if conducting a symphony.
At first, I thought Olivia was still talking to me about music— mentioning a maestro when the waiter arrived. But instead, she ordered the minestrone, rhyming it with ‘fine bone,’ like the coffee cups we were drinking from, and I knew we would be friends.
Kerri McCourt is a writer from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Her latest published pieces include the September 2024 bronze medal winning story in Blank Spaces Literary Arts Magazine, and a piece for CBC First Person in April 2024.
Read “Serenity” by Kerri McCourt — The September 2024 Bronze Medal Winner at Blank Spaces
Read the CBC First Person column piece by Kerri McCourt
Illustration by Jill McLaughlin.
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I could relate to this experience. Well written