By Piyumi Yashodha
As the dusk started to grow the crowd in the halls began to shrink. Along the hallway to the right, there was a red gleam on the floor shadowed by strange figures in a gloomy big room. Through the dark atmosphere, I could see a pair of red horns floating in the air. As they moved little closer to the red light, a huge figure clad in black with a scary pale face was visible, wavering the arms that had long red pointy nails glaring in red. I could feel my heart pound and my hands tremble as I walked across the room.
Amongst evil faces in red and scary clown faces in white, I was relieved to see the face of Frodo Baggins from the Shire. But to my dismay, I recognized Professor Severus Snape sitting on a chair in a dark corner of the room. I sensed something so creepy. Right when I turned back, I got startled by a bang on a wooden table in the front. With my eyes wide open I pushed my glasses back up my nose to get a clear picture. A girl at the front, holding a Gavel in her hand voiced out “Welcome to the 344th Gavel meeting!”. Piyumi Bandaranayake, the President of the Gavel Club, formally commenced the Halloween Gavel meeting. Much calm and relieved, I sat to witness the proceedings of the spooky meeting.
A person with a scary clown face with a red streak across the cheek walked to the front. It was Pennywise, the Toastmaster for the day. The President invited Haritha to continue with the proceedings of the meeting.
“The number one fear for the average person is public speaking. The second fear is death. This means that most people would rather die than give a speech in front of a crowd.”
Thus, Pennywise welcomed everyone in the room to the scariest Halloween meeting ever. He initiated the Round Robin session that was to introduce each of the strangers in the room. All the monsters and heroes, as well as the creepy ones, were all revealed.
A pretty princess walked across the room on to the stage carrying a beautiful flower bouquet. Pennywise introduced the Table Topic Master of the day, Navodini. After introducing the topics of the session, the princess offered to give candy to those who overcome their fears and speak on the stage. Many brave individuals took up the challenge and brightened the dark room with shining words of wisdom and experience. Even Mr. Frodo shared the lessons learned in his adventures. They were all given candy as promised by the princess.
At the end of the Table Topic session, Chathumi delivered the Timer’s report. The Table Topic evaluators of the day were Piyumi Bandaranayake, Rochelle Silva, and Malindi Wijethunga. Following a profound evaluation by Piyumi, a figure in white sari stood up. In a dusked room gleaming in red, seeing a woman in white sari would definitely hit the panic button. Fortunately, it was Rochelle who stood up to deliver her evaluation of the Table Topic session. A while later Severus Snape walked into the front. To my surprise, it was the Harry Potter girl, Malindi. She also gave a descriptive evaluation on the speeches of the Table Topic session.
Among all the ghostly and creepy faces there was one mysterious person concealing his face. The Boy Wonder, Robin! He revealed himself as Harindu the Ah Counter of the day. After his report, it was time for the prepared speech of the day. The Toastmaster, Pennywise, invited Shenali Welikala, the Prepared Speech Evaluator, to continue with the proceedings. At the end of the evaluation on the prepared speech delivered by Chamode, the room echoed with a loud crackle. The Devil with the pair of red horns and sharp blazing nails got everyone’s eyes directed to him. Kasun stood up and delivered the Grammarian’s report of the day. Followed by the General Evaluator’s report by Sachini, it was time to select the best Halloween Costume of the day. For the efforts and creativity put into the costume, The Devil and Frodo Baggins, Kasun and Kasun won the award.
This way the cold and gloomy room became warmer and brighter with the smiles and laughter. The President of the Gavel club tapped the Gavel on the table and marked the end of the Halloween evening at the 344th Spooky Gavel meeting.
Role players
Project chairs – Navodini Wijethilake, Haritha Jayasinghe
Toastmaster – Haritha Jayasinghe
Table Topicsmaster – Navodini Wijethilake
Timer – Chathumi Thumbovila
Ah counter – Harindu Jayarathne
Grammarian – Kasun Ranasinghe
Table Topics evaluators – Piyumi Bandaranayake, Rochelle Silva, Malindi Jayathunga
Prepared Speech Evaluator – Shenali Welikala
General Evaluator – Sachini Perera
