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“Not bought, it was never on sale. It has always been in the family it appears going back generations.” David was pleased to have her interested at last, and gladly answered her questions. He thought now was a time to spice things up to his advantage, “My family and theirs are pretty closely related in fact, you know. That practically makes me royalty.”
Among what? The trees? Yuri who had spent her entire life except for the last two in the big city was not impressed. This was one of her biggest challenges in this town: keeping up with this image of old man Jansen’s granddaughter. She began to fidget, hoping that David would get the hint and take her home.
Two minutes of cluelessness landed her in the bathroom instead. She wondered why she even bothered. David’s fidgeting was probably not his fault. ‘The goat is as good as the grass where it grazes’ she thought it oddly appropriate that this saying she had gleaned from long ago excavations in her, then, neighborhood library would resurface now. No it was not David’s fault, but he still had ruined a perfectly good outing. Not to mention a perfectly good meal. Yuri took her eating seriously, and took a second to appreciate the well-rounded curves that stared at her from the mirror.
She let David lean over, and put his hand on her knee on the drive home. He deserved that much. Despite what the experts say, a woman can always tell when a man feels attracted to her. Love is a totally different matter. At the moment, she was getting strong vibes now from the much respected bank manager but sadly she would have to disappoint him, and maybe the whole town, whom she suspected secretly wished she would ‘find a good man and settle down’. She thought that rather quaint and old-fashioned, and shook her head inwardly at the thought. Maybe she was the one who was let down, because deep down, beyond the hard, aloof poise, she knew she wanted the same thing. She felt a lady should always be clear on certain things. What she was not clear on was whether she was a lady or not.
She easily parried David’s advances towards kissing her. The lights in the living room of the small house were off but she could hear the healthy, heavy breathing of her grandfather as he reclined on the couch. She decided to let him lie there. A few minutes later, she had his blanket over him, then she tip-toed away to her bedroom
Chapter 2
The sun hung high in the sky, and its golden rays played across the school grounds, bouncing upon the pavements, refracting through the windows to end up on the eager morning faces of the students of the Peri Heights Community High School. The wind was warm to the touch, and created a nice backdrop as it played against the leaves of the tress scattered across the school compound. Yuri certainly thought it was a nice day as she tried to pass across to her students the mysteries of life or what she knew of it as best as she could. As a biology teacher, she did not have to deal with the amount of lethargy that her colleagues who dealt with the other natural sciences math, physics and chemistry had to deal with. Biology was pretty accessible to anybody who was willing to put the effort, and what was more, it always had very cool teachers whom everybody liked. Yuri herself had taken an interest in biology because of her high school teacher Mrs. Kline. For the students it was over too quickly when the bell went off.
Tuesdays were her busiest days, and she knew she would spend a single period in the faculty room before hopping from class to class till well into the day. She by passed the history teacher, Mr. Slater on her way out. Mr. Slater was new to the faculty and still kept pretty much to himself most times. Even in the faculty room, he would often be found in a corner, poring through a book, or other. He had the uncanny ability to seem perfectly aloof and attentive at the same time. The other teachers said he was from Eastern Europe, hence his strange ways. Yuri just though he was shy, and would come out of his shell at some point, after all, nobody could remain an island forever.
The school bell went off again before she could reach the faculty room. The speaker phone in the hallway which was one of many connected to each, and every class as well as the faculty room came to life, with the voice of the principal coming across smooth as silk. All staff and students were expected in the auditorium for an impromptu meeting immediately.
