Below are three very old narratives, completely unedited, about the life of Rodney Savage. Enjoy!
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Rodney"
Written 31 August, 2005…She turned the corner and there he was, in the same spot, wearing the same clothing that he was described in. He looked and acted almost exactly like he was described. He was lying down with his back propped up against the wall, his hands hidden by the pocket of his huge, oversized, white sweatshirt. His left leg was stretched out, threatening to trip any person who wasn’t paying attention. His right leg was bent, his right foot next to his left knee. His pants were extremely baggy, but to Avi, they looked very comfortable. He had on a pair of white skate shoes with fat, white laces. Oh, how all his clothing looked comfortable and warm in this cold January winter. He had on his hood, as he always did, but she could see the side of his face. His dark brown bangs were gelled and spiked forward, and his beautiful blue eyes were made even more powerful by the permanent scowl he had when listening to his music or thinking up lyrics. He had no grin or frown, his lips were in a look of concentration.
She noticed that one of his fingers was tapping to a beat, probably to the music that was blaring through the headphones. He did not seem to be really looking at anything, just stuck in thought. As she watched him from afar, she noticed the three, and only three, people that he hung out with. The guy to this man’s left was lying on the floor with his head on his binder, solving a 4X4 Rubik’s Cube that the boy to the young man’s right just scrambled. Avi realized that this was William, the nerd of the group. The two boys on the left were playing a game of cards. The one not facing the young man was the only one not wearing the large, baggy clothing. He was wearing jeans and a T-Shirt. Avi knew who this was, it was her cousin, Jayce, a great drummer, and the talker of the group. The boy facing Jayce had his hair in dreadlocks and was talking about what had happened in Math class. This was Steven Jones, better known to everyone as Ghost.
As Avi watched, the young man that she had been watching turned, and his eyes met hers. It was odd, but Avi could not look away. Neither could this young man. She managed to smile shyly and wave before dashing down the hall in the other direction, her face turning red. Later in the day, she asked her cousin Jayce what that young man’s name was. She was told that his name was Rodney Savage… and within a few weeks, Rodney became Avicile’s first real boyfriend…
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Rodney's Schooling"
Written 24 October, 2005Rodney started out Kindergarten like normal over at Blue River Elementary School. Unfortunately, his teacher and the principal did not understand his unusually quiet ways. He got yelled at a lot by Mrs. Kellons, which made him even quieter. The whole year was bad- every conference was negativity- neither the teacher nor the principal ever said anything good about Rodney, which was odd because he was a very smart kid and picked up things very fast. His mother got into several arguments about Rodney’s “lack of social skills.”
At the very end of the year, less that two weeks before school got out, Mrs. Kellons and Mrs. Solen scheduled another conference. Rodney was in the back of the room playing by himself as his mom sat down with the teacher and principal. They didn’t get far before things got bad. Mrs. Kellons started off with, “Mrs. Savage, we have talked with the school psychiatrist about your son…” (She never referred to him by his name. He was referred to as “the quiet kid” or “your son.”) “…and we have decided that, due to his lack of social skills, the best option for him is to repeat Kindergarten.” Those words were barely out of her mouth when Rodney’s mom jumped up, very upset that they could think such a thing.
“How dare you say that about my son, my pride and joy. You want my son to repeat Kindergarten just because he prefers to be alone? That’s all you ever talk about!! Why can’t ‘your son’ interact during playtime? ‘Your son’ doesn’t do show and tell. ‘The quiet one’ is over there. His name isn’t ‘the quiet one!’ His name is Rodney James Savage and he is a normal person! Have you not noticed how well he writes his letters? Have you not noticed that what he so-called lacks in social skills he makes up for in academics? You have the nerve to get together with the psychiatrist and suggest that he gets held back just because he doesn’t talk as much as a ‘normal’ kid does? Well let me tell you he sure won’t be going to first grade here!! I’m taking him out of this school as soon as I can!! Come on Rodney, time to go.”
The whole way home, Rodney’s mom was enraged. Rodney just sat in the passenger seat (of the Rodneymobile, by the way) and scowled. The instant they got home, his mom was on the phone with Wagon Wheel Elementary School registering Rodney there. She realized that she’d better sign up Joel as well, so she did that too. They were immediately accepted and everything was taken care of. His mom explained Rodney’s anti-socialness and they said they’d take care of him.
Rodney got pulled out of kindergarten a week early. His mom couldn’t stand sending her son to a place where he was treated less than equal. Rodney started the first grade at WWES after that summer. His teacher was Mrs. Smithson and she was very good. She understood Rodney’s quiet ways and worked with him to get him to participate in class but be quiet at the same time. Rodney met his best friend in this class, Jayce Richlin. They hung out together all the time and slept over at each other’s houses. In second grade, Steven Jones joined the group. The three of them did everything together and after William Ritter moved in and was accepted their group became complete. Four friends that were always together, doing all the fun things every group does. Rodney’s mom was so happy.
When they hit middle school, Rodney and Ghost went to Ken Bridges Middle School while Jayce and William went to Milton Middle School. They were together at someone’s house every weekend and holiday. They grew up into teens and grew even closer. Finally, after three years of long separation, they were in the same high school! They started a band called the No-Namers with the four of them plus Joel.
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Rodney's First Day of School"
Written 26 December, 2005Beep beep! The alarm went off at 6:00 at a two-story house on the east end of Kajil Street. Rodney threw back the covers and groaned- it was the first day of school. That meant he’d have to introduce himself to the classes he would soon occupy. He slowly slipped into his favorite clothes- a huge sweatshirt, loose, baggy jeans, and big floppy skate shoes. After getting ready he had mixed feelings about going to school. He loudly let his mom know how much he hated school- working in groups, reading aloud from the text, answering stupid questions, etc., but he was also secretly excited, for he’d see his four best friends and his girlfriend, who he hadn’t seen all summer.
He slowly ambled towards one of his most prized possessions- his white and blue Toyotavan. He fumbled around for his keys and clumsily stuck them into the ignition. A quarter-turn later and he was on his way to school. He turned the music all the way up as protest for not being able to bring his player to school. He soon arrived at school and parked in his usual spot- in the tennis court parking lot. As he got out and slowly dragged his feet towards the back door he wondered if his friends would be there.
His question was answered quickly because as he opened the door, his entire group was there waiting for him. He ran to his girlfriend and held her tight- he hadn’t seen her all summer! He was so happy to see his friends! He stayed right there until the bell rang and he reluctantly left and ambled off to Kevian. He had a new teacher named Mrs. Johnson.
He knew this class would suck the moment he sat down. There were no desks but six tables. “Sit down at a table. No sir, not over there, at a table.” Rodney was mad. He thought he could escape sitting by himself but no such luck. He kicked the chair over to the farthest corner possible and sat down. Then he slowly backed up so that he was back to where he was before. After Mrs. Johnson spent a large portion of the class hour talking about herself, she told everyone to stand up and introduce themselves. Rodney stared at his empty kangaroo pocket in disgust as everyone told something about themselves. When the time came for Rodney to stand up, he remained slouched in his chair and grumbled, “I’m Rodney.” without looking up. “Please stand up and say your name again and something you did.” Rodney reluctantly stood up- actually it was more like a pitiful half-slouch- and again, without lifting his head, quickly grumbled, “I’m Rodney. I did things.” and promptly collapsed back into his chair. “Well, that’s very interesting Rodney. Um, who’s next?”
Second period was none better. “Welcome to Government,” the high-pitched voice said sternly. “I expect you to do the best you can in this class.” Rodney took his usual seat- the corner farthest away from the door and everyone else. Thankfully he was allowed to stay there but what happened next was what Rodney would describe as mortifying. She made everyone get in a circle and introduce themselves, using alliterative adjectives. The circle went around and everyone had to repeat the previous names. Silly Sammi, Tantalizing Tina, Wacky William, the list went on. When it got to Rodney, he simply said, quietly and quickly as usual, “I’m Rodney.” “I didn’t hear your name,” Ms. Callahan said fakely. Rodney was annoyed. She was clearly trying to get him to say another lame, stupid word to describe himself. He would have none of it. “Rodney,” he said quickly and continued staring at a small hole that had worn its way to the top of his pocket. To his surprise and disgust, she said, “Now class, can we think of a good word to describe Rodney?” Rodney shuddered while a few kids snickered. Quiet? No, that doesn’t start with an R. Rowdy? No, total opposite of what he was. Rare? Yes, rare Rodney. Great, now he was tarred with Rare Rodney, like he was a steak or something. He was filled with the biggest of disgust and mortification. He didn’t want anyone to check him out. “Now, Rare Rodney, recite the rest of the class.” Now the last thing Rodney would want to do is attempt to know everyone in his class so he coolly said, “I’ll pass,” and continued to stare at the hole in his pocket. Ms. Callahan finally gave up and the circle continued.
Finally, after what seemed like days, Rodney was saved by the bell. He ran out of the room before he could get yelled at by his psycho teacher. What was next? Oh, Calculus. He had the same teacher has his older brother Joel. “Welcome to Calculus,” the man at the desk said. “I’m Mr. Kirre and you’ll learn all about curves in this class.” Rodney relaxed and knew that this class would be fun. Joel was constantly reciting the funny lines he said in class. When he took role, he stopped at Rodney’s name and after he said he was here Mr. Kirre said, “Savage… Rodney, is Joel your brother?” Rodney smiled and said, “Yeah.” It didn’t matter who was in the class now because Mr. Kirre was here.
After that class was break. Rodney immediately rushed downstairs to his special spot on the wall. He was greeted by his “gang” and enjoyed swapping stories of the morning mess. Soon though, he found himself heading for Econ. He entered the door and groaned- this class was full of chatty girls! Literally- everyone in his class was his ideal version of the worst person to share a class with! The teacher was the very oblivious Mrs. Seller. Luckily, when she made everyone introduce themselves, he successfully avoided being called on because he so conveniently placed himself between a pile of stacked desks. Nobody noticed him, even when class got out. By the time she realized, he was running down the hall to his next class- shop.
Rodney has always loved shop and he was more than eager to say hi to Mr. Barnes. He took his usual chair- in the back corner of course, but he was more open and alert than in his morning classes. All of his buddies share this class with him so he was very happy when they all walked in and sat in their “usual spots.” There were a few new people in the class so they introduced themselves. Then, the olds introduced themselves. When the spotlight fell on Rodney, he said his name quietly. “I’m sorry, what’s your name?” Mr. Barnes said teasingly. In unison, William and Ghost yelled out, “RODNEY SAVAGE! HE’S A SENIOR AND HE HAS A BAND! HE PLAYS THE GUITAR AND TENOR SAX IN HIS SPARE TIME!!” Rodney just laughed and said, “That’s about it.” But before they could go on, Jayce said, “He really likes to listen to music.” Rodney was so glad his buddies were there to speak for him when he didn’t like to.
The last hour was one of Rodney’s favorites- Advanced Guitar. There was no playing on the first day of school, but they once again introduced themselves and Rodney spoke quietly. They had to say their name, grade, and why they’re in the class. Rodney, hurriedly as always, said, “I’m Rodney, senior, and I have a band.” The class yelled, “Hi, Rodney!” He just frowned and shrunk up even tighter. He stared at the hole in his pocket and wondered just how much time he had left before he could go home. He started playing with the hole in his pocket and thought of how weird this class would be with Joel gone. He was absentmindedly listening to the same lecture that Mr. Cook said every year about his life and why he plays guitar and so on. He peeked around to see who was in the class; a bunch of people he didn’t know and a few he did. He looked down at the hole again and found that he could stick his finger through it. Yes, this class would be really different without Joel because they couldn’t sit in the back and write songs together and RRRIIPP! Back to the present! Rodney had torn his pocket open! Great, now everyone was looking at him. He never let his mind wander like this until he met Avicile. He suddenly realized that he’d be spending the afternoon with her! Yes!
The bell finally rang and Rodney quickly left and got to his car. He found Avicile and they went home together to hang out for the evening.
