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was standing in front of the fireplace, supervising the initial burn of a
fireplace log.
 You re good at that, I said.
She flinched and twirled to look at me as if she was afraid I was gonna
hit her. Odd. Maybe she doesn t like to have someone come up behind
her.
 It s not as easy as it looks, she said, her voice sounding a little
strained.  You ve gotta bend all the way over to hold that match to the
paper. Good thing I got the campfire badge in Girl Scouts.
She handed me a cup of coffee, and I took a sip, pleased that she d
remembered I took a little sugar.  Delicious, I said. After another sip, I
added,  Really delicious. You make it better than I do.
Her face began to relax, and she looked much more like herself.
 Things always taste better when someone else does it, she said. She sat
on the sofa and patted the cushion next to her. I joined her, and we sat
quietly for a few minutes, drinking our coffee and watching the log burn.
 There s something very calming about a fire, isn t there? Especially one
that makes real crackling sounds. She gave me a gentle jab with her
shoulder.  How much did that fancy log with the sound effects cost?
 Too much. I have a fireplace at my apartment, but I refuse to pay for
the compressed logs. I don t do it often, but when I build a real fire, I ve
got my night s entertainment.
Gina put her arm around me and asked,  What do you do when you re
at home? Tell me about your life.
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Susan X Meagher
  Kay. It s not exciting, but I ll tell you anyway. I slid out of her grip
and put my head on the arm of the sofa and my feet in her lap.  My feet
are cold. Will you hold them?
 Glad to.
She wrapped her warm hands around my feet, and I said,  I spend a lot
of time at school. I teach either two or three classes a term, and that takes
a lot of time.
 Really? Why?
I blinked at her, but then realized she wasn t familiar with university
schedules.  My classes meet two or three times a week, so that takes up a
lot of time. Then I have office hours.
 Office hours?
 Yeah. Times when I m in my office so that students can come speak to
me.
 Do they?
 What? Speak to me? She nodded.  Sure. All the time.
 About what?
I laughed, thinking of the most common reason.  Usually, they re
trying to get me to let them turn something in late or take a quiz over or
something like that. Most of them just care about getting a good grade.
 What about the other ones? Are there other ones?
 Uh-huh. Not many, though, I had to admit.  I usually have a small
group of kids who want to major in Classics or History. They take up a
lot of my time. They want to establish a relationship with me so I ll write
them a letter of recommendation for grad school.
Gina smirked at me.  Sounds like a lot of ass-kissing.
I wanted to disagree, but I couldn t think of a reasonable argument.  I
guess there s a lot of that in academia, but some of the kids really get into
the subjects. It s fun to talk to them.
 What classes do you teach?
 I have six I m prepared to teach. They vary from term to term. This
term, I taught Elementary Latin, The Greek World from Alexander to
Augustus, and The History of the Roman Empire.
 Latin? The language?
 Yeah. You have to know Greek and Latin to teach the Classics.
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Cherry Grove
 That s so cool! Say something in Latin.
 Uhm& tempus fugit.
She brought one of my feet to her mouth and licked the instep, making
me giggle like a child.
 Everybody knows that. I want to see if I can use my Italian to
understand Latin.
 You speak Italian?
 Yep.
 Cool. Will you whisper to me in Italian when we make love? Did I
just say that?
She noticed I d said love. I could tell she noticed, but she didn t let on.
 Sure. But you have to talk back in Latin.
 It s a dead language, I said.  It s a little thin for sex talk. She wiped
my foot dry with the hem of the T-shirt.  But I ll try, I added.  Did you
learn Italian at home?
 Nah. I had a little in grade school, and I liked it. So, I took it in high
school. After four years, I still wasn t anywhere near fluent. High school
courses are so lame.
 That s why people go to college, I said, wiggling my toes at her.
 I decided to go to a language school, she said, ignoring my comment.
 No grades. I took classes for two years. I m damned good now. My
accent isn t even bad.
 That s very impressive, I said.  Most people don t have that kind of
patience.
 I ve got enough patience for the neighborhood if I m interested in
something.
 Tell me about your interest in history.
 That started late for me, she said.  I went to Italy about a year or two
after I got out of high school. We had some distant cousins I looked up,
and they insisted I stay with them. She smiled broadly.  That was cool.
One group lived in Florence, and I stayed with them for two weeks. They
didn t take me many places, but they made lots of recommendations. And
at night, I d have dinner with them, and we d talk about the things I d
seen. My Italian was pretty good then, and it got much better in just two
weeks.
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Susan X Meagher
 That s fascinating. You re so lucky to have relatives to stay with.
 Yep. I ve been back every year. I met some cousins in Bologna and a
great-aunt in Palermo. So, now I have to visit all of them or they re hurt. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]