Mark and Mary
by Gil S. Ferrer, Jr.
For your Guide
In each story page, you will see three helpers; Pedro, Hali, and Monty. You may select Pedro to read the text for you. Hali will describe to you a reading strategy that you will use, and Monty will give you suggestions how to use the reading strategy.
Throughout the story, you will see a "heart" icon (♥). This icon signals you to stop and think. Click on this and it will open you to the stop and think pages. In these pages, there are tasks to do. In each task, guide questions and prompts are provided. Select any helpers; Pedro, Hali or Monty, and they will help and lead you to answer the questions in the assignments.
While reading the story, practice the reading strategies so that you will understand the story better.
At The Library
Do you believe in love at first sight?
The story began at Trancoville High School, in Pines City. It was 1973, a few days before the start of the school year, and Mark was assisting in the library when he noticed a new girl walk by.
Mark could not keep his eyes away from her. He followed her to the principal’s office with a pile of books in his hands, pretending to deliver them.
"Was she just visiting or a new student here?" he thought.
He secretly wished it would be the latter. He lingered around pretending to be busy, trying to listen and thought of ways to find out her name, but was not successful. He was ecstatic to know that she was a new student, and they would be in the same class. Mark could not wait for the first day of school. He could not get her out of his mind.
The First Day of School
The day Mark had been waiting for finally came – the first day of school. He made sure he dressed up nice and neat, and left early for school, while he thought of ways to introduce himself to her.
While he was in school, he thought of a million ways to say hello, but was so nervous that it seemed he did not know what to do. He managed to calm down and waited for her to walk into the classroom, but froze the moment she stepped in. Suddenly, he could not think of a single word to say. He just watched her pass him by, stupefied.
The Junior Class was gathered in the auditorium to be separated into two classes. He wished that both of them would be in the same class. He learned her name, “Mary”, when the teacher made a roll call. Mary was in another section and Mark was quite disappointed.
Mark Meets Mary
Mark daydreamed of introducing himself to her for about a month until one day, while he was alone, Mary walked by. His knees buckled and his throat was dry. He couldn’t speak. It was as if he had swallowed his own voice.
He managed to blurt out a soft “Hi”, but with his excitement, he did not notice whether Mary responded or not.
Then, Mary was gone before he could compose himself. He tried to follow her but she was met by a classmate. Mark did not want to be teased so he just backed off. All the weeks of practicing his introduction was just blown away by the wind, but he was happy.
A lot of times, Mark wanted to ask his classmates to set them up but, they discouraged him and said that she was not approachable and that she was a snob. This went on for months until one day he observed that the boys from the senior class who were crowding around her, like a swarm of bees, were one by one turning away from her. They were being intimidated by her. And for this reason, he lost the courage to approach her.
Since Mark could not find an opportunity to speak with her in private, he let time pass by hoping that one day he would gain confidence and courage to approach her.
Months flew by, and the school year was over before he had a chance to speak to her. During the summer break, Mark had a summer job delivering newspapers. Every day, he passes by Mary’s house hoping he would see her or Mary would see him but he was not fortunate enough to see her.
Mark's Strategies
The following school year, now in their senior year, school clubs were being organized. It was school policy that every student be a member of a group. The day came for the different clubs to elect their officers. Mark, being an active member of the class, was really popular among peers. So it was no surprise that he was elected president of the club. To his amazement, Mary joined the organization and was elected as secretary. The president and secretary must work together!
Mark soon became good friends with Mary, and he had all the opportunities to spend time with her. He called for emergency meetings for planning or any other thing he could think of to spend time with her. They would sit and talk and visit people’s homes as part of their community service.
He found that they got along so well, and it seemed they shared a lot in common. All the hearsays that he heard from the other guys were not true. They were just sour graping to ruin her.
Mark's Secret
Though Mark always had special feelings towards Mary, he thought it best not to say anything until he had something more to offer her. One day, he promised himself, he would propose to her – after he got his degree and started to earn a living.
Mark dreaded graduation day, when they would all have to go their separate ways to pursue dreams.
On graduation day, Mark took many pictures with friends -- but mostly with Mary. He asked to have a special picture be taken of him and Mary, in fear this may be the last time he would ever see her. After graduation, a lot of their batch attended the Pines Hill University. Mark was pleased that Mary was also attending the same university.
Mary Disappears
In the university, Mark’s schedule conflicted with Mary’s, so they barely saw each other. He came to visit Mary at home once, but was intimidated by her mother.
A couple of months went by and he learned that Mary had moved out of town without a word about where she was going. He wondered where she went. He hoped she would return back very soon, so he focused his time studying.
Two more years went by and Mark got his degree and soon, got a job. He did not see any shadow of Mary. He started pursuing other women, but he still could not forget Mary. He still had strong feelings for her, and he missed her.
He tried asking her whereabouts, but nobody knew where she was. He felt so empty. He was depressed, and began to drown his sorrows with alcohol after work. He would pass by Mary’s house, wishing to see her and be with her again, but, it seemed that fate had closed its door on him.
Mark Finds Mary
One ordinary day, as Mark boarded the bus, he noticed a very pretty lady like an angel sitting by the window of the bus. He thought she looked very familiar. He could not help but stare at her.
She looked back at him and smiled. He smiled back and he walked towards her to start a conversation. Just then that he realized, it was Mary, the Mary of his dreams; the same Mary he promised himself to marry someday!
Mark’s heart started to pound fast, his face flushed pink, and his mind was racing with a million thoughts. He felt like he was floating on cloud nine. He did not know what to say. It was almost like a déjà vu of that day in high school the first time he met her.
The only words he could utter were, “Hi, Mary, remember me?”
“Why of course, I remember you, Mark. How are you doing?” Mary replied.
Mark wanted to ask her a million questions, but he was just happy to see her once again. He thought he had lost her forever.
Mark said, “I am well”.
He then asked if they could catch up on the weekend, hoping she would say yes. But instead she declined. She was busy and would have to take a rain check. That was all too well for Mark because he would be able to compose himself. He started to plan for that day. He planned every detail of that meeting. He planned to cautiously ask her a lot of questions he needed to clarify.
Mark's Happiest Moments
A week passed and Mark finally called Mary to set a date. Mary agreed to meet with him. He came to pick her up one Saturday afternoon. They went for a walk. It felt like old times. They talked a lot. They spent all afternoon just talking and laughing together. They still enjoyed each other’s company.
He did not want the day to end but it was getting late, so he asked if he could come visit her again. Mary thought it would be lovely to have him visit.
So every after work, Mark would come by Mary’s house for a short visit. They got to know more each other even better.
In one of their conversations, Mark was so relieved to find out that she was not married. Mark once promised himself he would never ever make the mistake of keeping his feelings for her a secret again. He was not going to let her go unless she decided not to accept his love.
After years of keeping it all to himself, Mark finally mustered up the guts to tell her that he loved her. Mary said she was honored, and accepted his love.
Mark proposed to marry her and about a year later, they exchanged vows. Years later, they had four children and are still very much in love!
♥ Stop and Think.♥
What questions can you ask from the topic "Mary Disappears"?
Collect clues of important words and phrases. Write questions using a word processor. You may sketch, draw or use clip art to illustrate your questions.
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♥ Stop and Think.♥
Making Personal Connection
Have you had any experience similar to that of Mark or Mary?
Do you know of someone, who had similar experience with that of Mark or Mary?
Collect clues of phrases that are familiar then, write a paragraph using a word processor to discuss similarities you or your friend had encountered. You may sketch, draw or use clip art to illustrate.
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♥ Stop and Think.♥
What kind of story is Mark and Mary?
What kind of ending would the story have?
a. Mark and Mary will go on their separate ways.
b. Mark and Mary will get married then get separated.
c. Mark and Mary will get married and live happily together.
Choose one from the above choices. Write a prediction using a word processor. You may sketch, draw or use clip art to illustrate your prediction. Imagine the kind of future event, setting or additional character you want to predict.
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♥ Stop and Think.♥
In the topic Mark's Strategies, what kind of setting do you want to create?
Be creative and mix up you own setting for the story.
Write your assignment using a word processor. You may sketch, draw, or use clip art for your illustrations. You can also make comic strips.
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♥ Stop and Think.♥
Create your own summary. Choose a topic below, then write a summary in your own words, or sketch any events that happened in the story.
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