"James van Pelt - Nor a Lender Be" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pelt James Van)

up, brushes the back of her dress and says, "Do you know one?"
"Sure," he says. "A good one. Come a little closer so I can tell you." He
keeps
his hands on his legs so she wonтАЩt see the trembling. The trembling might
frighten her. If she knew about the things under his skin, it might frighten
her. If she knew what swam behind his eyes, it would drive her off.
***
The two observers, a black-haired woman in a grey pantsuit, and a man,
sporting
old-fashioned glasses, jeans and neatly pressed sport shirt had come into
class
at the beginning, taken seats in the rear, then not moved other than to
whisper
quietly to each other during WilliamтАЩs lesson on Hamlet.
William paid them little attention. Visitors came to his class regularly:
parents whoтАЩd just enrolled their kids, still suspicious of a live teacher
instead of a computer DeskTop unit; media people with tiny cameras whoтАЩd film
for their programs ("Retro-Teaching Survives in Colorado" was the title of a
piece a week earlier); board of education members, each with their own
agenda,
etc. TheyтАЩd make notes about the semi-circular desk arrangement, how much
William talked, how often students responded. The minute details seemed to
fascinate them. Sometimes old folk came in to wallow in nostalgia, to
remember
when all schools used to be like this.
William concentrated on the class of fifteen students; they were playing a
quote
game.
"So," said William, "If I were your boyfriend and you wanted to dump me, what
might you say?"
Sheila, a sixteen-year-old with a splash of freckles across her cheeks and
nose,
nervously raised her hand. "My Lord, I have remembrances of yours that I have
longed to deliver?" She paused, pantomimed handing him something, then smiled
when William took it. Her fingertips brushed his palms. She said, "IтАЩd tell
you
that if I returned your ring or something."
William nodded again, leaning toward her. "Yes, Sheila. Exactly. But what if
I
denied it hurt me? What if I were a creep and said to you, тАШNo, not I. I
never
gave you oughtтАЩ?" He said it gruffly, brusquely as if he really was irritated
at
her, as if he despised the idea of her.
"My honored Lord," she said, flushing. "You know right well you did. And with
them words of so sweet breath composed as made the things more rich." She
sighed. "I love that part."
William wandered around the room. The students watched him; he could feel
their
eyesтАУtheir attentionтАУcentered on him. It was always this way: the