"Ed Howdershelt - Anne" - читать интересную книгу автора (Howdershelt Ed)

 "Who wants what?" asked Judy, pencil in hand.
When the orders were all in, Mrs. Barnell produced money. Judy took it and
she and Jim headed for the door.
"Wait!" called Mrs. Barnell. She made a distasteful face and said, "I'm
not your teacher anymore. My name is Anne, and I'm ONLY twenty-six years old.
'Mrs. B.', 'Mrs. Barnell', or 'Ma'am' makes me feel old."
Jim waved acknowledgment and Judy said, "Got it!" as they left.
There were empty boxes near the piles of books. We had two of them filled
and taped shut before Anne broke the silence.
"Ed...", she said as I shoved the boxes to the door and stood up. She
sounded tentative.
"Present," I said, as if answering roll call.
Anne sat with her shoes off and feet tucked under her on the couch. She
had a wry expression on her face.
"I'm... Sorry, I suppose..." her gaze shifted to her cup.
"Define, please," I said. It was a parody of her own classroom technique.
When a student used a word in a questionable fashion, she would repeat the
word as if it tasted strange and say 'Define, please'.
That tickled her and she managed to inhale some of her coffee, choking and
laughing at the same time. I waited for her to settle.
"Well...um...You remember...um...How we looked at each other this
morning?" She put her cup down as she hunted for words.
I waved a hand to interrupt her. "I remember," I said, taking a seat
across from her with my own coffee. "May I tell you what I think happened, at
least to me? If I'm right, fine. If I'm not, it's better that you correct me
right now."
Anne nodded and sat very still while I took my own turn at finding the
right words.
"I think something about each of us interests the other. When you looked
at me, I felt it, and your eyes are magical to me. I was so lost in there that
nothing else mattered," I leaned over and touched her hand, "It was very nice
in there."
Her mouth fell open a bit and her eyes widened in surprise as I continued.
"I've thought about it some and decided it couldn't hurt a thing to let
you know how I feel about you. You're leaving, after all. Hell, your detention
class is half the reason I stayed in school. You've been in many of my dreams
for a long time, Anne. It beats the hell out of dreaming about the girls my
own age... Some of them are cute, but they're trite and mindless for the most
part. Pretty, maybe, but boring as hell."
I paused a moment. "I have a feeling that YOU are what I'll always be
looking for in women. Beautiful, intelligent, and caring."
I let go of her hand reluctantly, but I felt it was time to do so. It was
my turn to stare into my coffee cup. For some moments Anne sat without
speaking, then swung her feet off the couch, got up, and quickly went into the
kitchen.
Her trembling was audible when she set her cup and saucer on the counter
and I hoped that my little speech hadn't scared her. I went back to work,
unflattening and taping boxes we would need for later. Kelly came to
supervise. I made him a paper ball and tossed it into one of the boxes.
He dived in after it, peering back at me over the edge, so I picked up the