A Girl by Any Other Name (49 page)

“Professor…err… Cal, can I speak to you?” Melanie Adams interrupted.

I turned toward her, trying my damnedest not to scowl. “One minute, please.”

When I turned back, Sophie Becker was gone.

I spent the next twenty minutes listening to Melanie Adams drone on about poetry and the great

American novel. She plied me with compliments about how much she was enjoying my class and all

the things she had learned. Damn, the girl could talk. I nodded when appropriate and added my own

comments, but my thoughts kept drifting to Sophie Becker, Sylvie Cranston and of course…Lenore.

* * * *

She didn’t come to class, but her essays appeared in my mailbox. The one on
The Raven
was a

train wreck and gave me no clues whether she was my Lenore or the raven tapping at my door. It was

as if she was throwing the assignment. Her papers on
Moby Dick
and the Hardy novel were much

more detailed, but provided no real insights. I wondered if her absence was due to the exam

scheduled for today. Did she think I might recognize her slanted handwriting on the essay questions?

It was a stretch to think that way, but it didn’t stop me from glancing at her empty seat or the

closed doorway of the classroom. About an hour into the two-hour class, a knock came that had me

springing from my chair as if it was a hotplate.

I sighed in disappointment, staring at Roy Adkins and three other boys I’d nicknamed the

Asshole Alliance.

“Mr Adkins, I’m afraid I’m very busy right now proctoring an exam. I believe you boys received

an invitation to attend. Is this your idea of fashionably late?”

His lip twitched into a tight grimace. “We’re sorry, Professor…er… Mr…”

“Cal, just Cal,” I said not hiding my irritation.

“We just ran late.” He made a move to come into the classroom, but I blocked the door. The

arrogant sense of entitlement they exhibited pissed me off, and I was already in a bad mood.

“You are over an hour late. You don’t have enough time to take the exam and I don’t have the

inclination to let you.”

He stood back, a slight sneer forming on his pimply face. It was clear the Asshole Alliance had

no respect for me, my class or their education. I’d worked hard on my elocution. It was necessary in

my profession, especially living this far north, but occasionally my Texas shone through. Funny,

women found the accent charming and sexy. Men, though, thought it signaled stupidity. These boys

were no exception, often responding with snickers and eye-rolls when I let a Texasism slip through

my lecture.

“It wasn’t our fault,” Roy explained, acting as the group’s spokesperson.

“I’m sensing a story here, but I’m afraid I do not have the time to indulge you.”

“Just a minute, please.”

Curious, I closed the door and stepped out into the hallway. I glanced at my watch. “Sixty

seconds starts now.”

“We were on our way, but this old lady was stuck on the side of the road. We stopped to help

her. Her car battery died. She had an old car so it took us a while to jump it, but luckily I took

mechanics in high school and all of us know cars.”

“Well, I guess chivalry is not dead. Goodbye.”

“Wait, sir. Please. What would you have done? Are you honestly punishing us for being Good

Samaritans?”

I glanced at the four of them. Did they really think I was dumb enough to believe that it had taken

them an hour to jump a car? Or that I’d missed the stench of stale beer on their breath, and the red-

rimmed eyes they all sported, indicative of a night consisting of heavy partying?

“So y’all drive together?” I asked, emphasizing the y’all.

“Yes, yes we do,” he replied with hope. The other boys all nodded and murmured in agreement,

making it clear they either thought they were superior in their intelligence or I was gullible in mine.

“And were you able to help her? The elderly woman?”

“Yes, we were. She’s safe and back on the road. Can we make up the test?”

“Mr Adkins, the syllabus, and I know you’re very familiar with it, specifically states there are

no makeup exams in my class.”

“But, Cal, surely you can make an exception for an extenuating circumstance like this. I mean,

what would you have done? Left her on the side of the road?”

“Perhaps called the auto club and explained I had to get to school for an important test?”

“She was scared.”

I made a move to open the classroom door, but his voice stopped me with one last plea. “I need

this class. I can’t fail another or my parents are going to cut me off.”

“Is that supposed to appeal to me on some level, Mr Adkins?”

“No, but what we did should.”

I regarded them for a moment, almost grateful their little intrusion occupied my mind for a brief

moment. “I’ll think about it. Come back after class and I’ll let you know my answer.”

They all nodded, thanking me profusely. Oh yeah, this was going to be fun.

My class all shuffled out once the exam was over, and the four of them strutted in, not hiding

their wide smirks. Hell, they didn’t even hide the fact that they had stayed sat in the hallway studying

like fiends while the exam took place.

Roy stood around my desk. “So can we take the exam?”

“You realize it would be rather unfair to the rest of the class who came on time.”

“Yes, but we took the moral high road, knowing it may bite us.” The moral high road? He was

laying it on thick. “If you don’t let us take the exam, you’ll be supporting the lack of compassion that

plagues our society.” If only he worked this hard on his papers.

“Well, Mr Adkins, I would never want to be one of the forces responsible for our society’s

downfall. I tell you what, I’ll allow y’all to take the exam.” They all beamed wide smiles of relief,

turning to each other with silent but apparent glee as if they had crossed home plate without the

benefit of running the other bases. In true ump fashion, I geared up to call them out. “On one

condition.”

“What condition?”

“I want you to take a pretest. If you pass it, I’ll give you the real exam.”

“A pretest?” one of them questioned. Roy held his hand up, gesturing his buddy to shut up.

“It’s only one question. I don’t even expect a complete sentence. Do y’all agree?”

“Sure, that’s fair,” Roy said. “Thank you, sir.”

“I’m a fair man. After all, I have a mother and if she were to ever find herself stranded, I should

hope some fine young men like yourselves would step in.”

They went to take their usual seats. “No, I need you to spread out. Each of you take a seat in one

of the four corners.” After some awkward shuffling, they complied.

“Take out a blank sheet of paper. I will give you the question orally, but you must write the

answer down. If anyone blurts out an answer you are disqualified. If anyone fails the pretest, none of

you can take my exam.”

“That seems unfair,” Roy whined.

“You’ll find life to be unfair, Mr Adkins. After all, I should be reaching home about now,

watching the play-by-play of the Cowboys game on ESPN, but instead I’m here with y’all. Do we

agree to the terms?”

A brief silence followed by unanimous nods responded.

“Good. Ready for your question, gentlemen?” I asked, crossing my arms.

“Shoot,” Roy said, not hiding his smirk.

Batter up, boys. I’m about to throw you a curve ball.

“What was the make and model of her car?”

Stunned silence greeted me.

“What?”

“The lady you helped.”

“We… We don’t remember,” Roy said. Funny how he knew all of them didn’t remember.

Strike one.

“In the hallway, you told me you were all good with cars. Surely you’d remember, especially

one that you worked on for over an hour.”

“It was an older car. One they don’t make anymore,” Roy stammered. I had to hand it to him. He

was quick on his feet, but my mind could run faster than his any day.

“I see. How about a color? Do y’all remember the color?”

“What if it was multi-colored?” the kid in the back asked. I smiled, amused by his reasoning. If it

was multi-colored then multiple answers would be correct.

“I don’t know how many elderly women drive rainbow-colored cruisers, but then again I wasn’t

there.” I gestured to all of them. “Y’all were. If that’s the case, then tell me each and every color.”

“It was—”

“Not out loud. On your paper.”

Their pens poised in mid-air, followed by aggravated sighs of frustration.

Strike two.

“Care to venture a guess, gentlemen? Or can we finish this little exercise?”

Roy crumpled his paper, not hiding his animosity at being called out. I knew from his grades that

missing this test was an auto fail for him.

I cleared my throat, gathering my materials. “I hope you all learned a valuable lesson today.”

“What? Not to lie?” Roy asked, the pretense of politeness gone from his voice.

“I was thinking more along the lines of…don’t be late to my class,” I said through clenched

teeth.

Strike three. You’re out.

They all stood, no doubt doubly pissed they had just spent the last hour cramming for a test they

would never take and aggravated about a class they would have to retake. I didn’t tell them the lesson

I was really trying to teach them. They might not remember Wolfe, Homer or Poe after my class, but

they sure as hell would remember this: Southern was not synonymous with stupid.

Chapter Seven

Excerpt from
Raven Girl

Age 14

I was on a total high from my awesome day and it was just going to get better. There was a

bonfire tonight at the big lake, with promises of girls in bikinis and guys throwing around a football. I

was excited for it, but sad too because I didn’t think Sylvie would come. She never came to anything.

I decided to go find her before I left. I hadn’t talked to her all day. I knew she’d be by the lake fishing.

I sat next to her on the dock. She wore a yellow dress today with white flowers on it. Her hair

was loose, which was rare. The wind picked up and it snapped strands across her face, carrying her

sweet scent in my direction. She had my old fishing pole out in the water, swinging her legs.

“Hey, girl.” It was my usual greeting.

“Hiya, Tex.” I wasn’t sure when she’d started calling me Tex, but it had stuck. Truthfully, I

really liked it.

“Catch anything?”

“Nope, not yet.” We sat for a while staring at the water that was still casting a reflection of the

hot Texas sun overhead. It acted as a mirror and I loved that because it allowed me to look at her

reflection without making it obvious. She turned and smiled brightly at me. “Congratulations on

making the football team. I hear they’re going to start you. That’s pretty rare for a freshman, isn’t it?”

I knew I was smiling way too cocky for my own good, but I couldn’t help it. Pride was a sin and

I was guilty as hell. “No freshman has ever been starting quarterback in the history of Prairie Marsh

football.”

“Wow. Well, it’s good you’re not conceited or anything,” she said, bumping my shoulder.

“Just stating a fact. Do you wanna go to the bonfire tonight?” I asked, bumping her right back.

She looked away from me to a point on the horizon. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t. Besides, you’ll be too busy with that circle of girls who flock around you to

pay any attention to me.” She didn’t say it like she was jealous, which kind of pissed me off even

more. Talking to her was as easy as breathing sometimes, but other times it was as difficult as pulling

out nails with my teeth.

“I promise to hang out with you all night and no one else.”

“I don’t want to go,” she said sharply, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Can I ask you something?”

“You just did.”

I rolled my eyes. “Seriously.”

“Spill it, Texas. I don’t have all day.”

“Are you embarrassed to be seen with me?” I asked sincerely.

She stared at me for a moment as if she didn’t comprehend what I was saying. “That’s the

stupidest thing you’ve ever said, and you’ve said some pretty dumb stuff. Why would I be

embarrassed? You’re the most popular boy in school.”

“Then why do you act like you don’t know me? I wave to you in the halls and you just look

away. I know we didn’t hang out in junior high, but we’re in high school now.” Some part of me

hadn’t wanted to associate with Sylvie in school before. I’d thought she did it to protect my reputation

and it had made me feel guilty because I’d let her. I didn’t care about that now. Her company was

worth any risk to my social standing. But despite all my efforts to engage her in conversation or

introduce her to my friends, she remained a loner.

“I’m just in a learning mode at school.”

I let out the cynical laugh that was becoming more common as I grew up. “That’s bullshit and

you know it. By the way, where the hell do you eat lunch? I look for you in the lunchroom everyday