Old Miss Gracing by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview
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Chapter 14
With no warning eleven year old Zeke discovered that he had reached puberty while taking a bath. He thought he had outdone Einstein’s discoveries. He did a lot of thinking about Morrigan’s and Miss Gracing’s legs, sometimes both at once.
In a short time, he gathered from some conversations he was having with other boys, that there were a number of geniuses out there.
When some things made little sense to him, he learned enough of the available intelligence, to determine that he could make an overall categorization of “sex,” and ask his parents about it.
They never heard the word. So, there was only one other person he could possibly ask. This seemed to be a very important topic today and he didn’t want to risk saying anything stupid.
When Zeke got to her apartment, Miss Gracing came slowly to the door, first having to shut off her record player. Zeke politely waited. She said; “Zeke! Don’t tell me. You’ve found something else imperfect in your world.”
“It’s far from an imperfection this time. This is more like a severe need for good information.”
“Come on in and have a seat. I’ll fix us some tea. Let’s see now. You’re twelve years old now, right?”
“Almost.”
“So, I’m going to take a wild guess that the information you need is related to a recent discovery and some commentaries you have heard.”
Zeke snorted and said; “Yes.”
“You have no problem. When you hear something that doesn’t sound right, it probably isn’t and remember; ‘You can’t think like that.’” She hoped that would be the end of the conversation, but had a suspicion it wasn’t.
She got the tea heating and went back to her stereo. She put on the song she was just listening to, wanting him to hear it, because it was one of her favorites and possibly a good diversion.
I remember you.
You’re the one who made my dreams come true A few kisses ago.
I remember you.
You’re the one who said “I love you, too.
Yes, I do. Didn’t you know?”
I remember too a distant bell
And stars that fell
Just like the rain out of the blue.
When my life is through
And the angels ask me to recall
The thrill of it all.
I will tell them “I remember you.”
When it ended, she again shut off the stereo and brought two teacups to the table. Upon sitting, she said; “What did you think of it?”
“I liked it a lot. I’m a real sucker for that sentimental stuff. Gets me every time. You, too?”
“Yes, obviously,” she laughed.
He was nervous about what he really wanted to ask, so sidestepped saying that he gets that reaction often while watching movies, hoping she would volunteer something. “In one, some guy was very much in love with his wife and she died when she was like 25. He talks to her spirit and takes care of the kid. It made me cry.”
“I’ve seen that movie, too. The name escapes me.”
Not getting his hoped for break, Zeke said; “Good. Well, let me ask my questions slightly differently.”
Miss Gracing grudgingly said “Okay.”
“I need to know about, like the parts and what you do with them.”
Miss Gracing’s eyes fluttered. She took a deep breath and said; “You really should ask your parents.”
“They say they don’t know anything about it. They tell me it’s because they’re Catholic.”
She laughed at the sincerity on his eager face and his correct information, though she knew he would only know how
correct it was years from now. She said; “This wouldn’t be comfortable for me.”
“You can’t think that way.”
After a bit more of chit-chat about the movie with the forgotten name, she became annoyed with her own evasiveness and saw Zeke’s disappointment. She decided that she would tell Zeke what he so desperately needed to know. She surmised he already knew half of the parts side and she could provide the other half with a ten inch Art Deco statue. The bronze naked body, sitting in the closet exhibited what it needed to exhibit and she held a sword.
The session went well with few questions asked. When it was obvious that she concluded, he said; “Is that all there is to it?”
She very adamantly said; “No. That’s not all there is to it. You asked for the physical part. There’s a mental part, too.”
“Well, tell me about that.”
“It would go on forever. There’s no short answer. There are countless books, movies and songs dealing with the subject and none of them have a complete answer necessitating more books, movies and songs.” She paused and saws that Zeke was very confused, his eyes wide, probably thinking a number of different thoughts at once, so she added; “I can say this
unequivocally. It has everything to do with putting the other first.”
Zeke continued his blank stare, cocked his head to his left side and still retained his questioning look. So she smiled and coyly said; “Would you like to tell me what’s in your horrible little mind, when you keep re-discovering the wonders of nature?”
His eyebrows went up and he started laughing, thinking of Morrigan and her legs; “No.”
“Fine then, session over.” She put her record back on and they sat silently during their tea. When it ended; she got up, led him to the door and said; “Okay, Zeke, are you ready to take on the world now?”
“I’m not so sure. But, I know I’ve had the best teacher anyone ever did.”
When he was walking home oblivious to his environment and daydreaming more than before, he wondered if Morrigan had been having similar conversations with Miss Gracing. She had been saying some strange things recently.
The next day Zeke “just happened” to get behind Morrigan when they both walked to school. He ran to catch up with her and reached for her books.
“That’s not necessary,” she said, moving her books away.
“Look, I’ve got gym and shop this morning, so I don’t have any. Besides, it’s traditional.”
He again reached for her books, this time successfully.
He said; “I had a strange talk with Miss Gracing yesterday.
Have you been having any?”
“What do you mean, strange?”
“Strange, you know.” He grimaced, looked into her eyes and cocked his head to one side.
She giggled, looked at him and said; “Maybe I’d use the description “out of the ordinary.”
Zeke’s eyes momentarily eyed the blue sky. When he looked back at Morrigan, he grinned and said; “Tell me, have you made some new discoveries of late?”
She giggled again, looked at the ground and said; “Yes.”
“I made mine while taking a bath.”
She looked at him eyes wide and laughed out the words; “Me, too.”
Miss Gracing was slightly uncomfortable while walking to school the next day. For some reason she was rather confident yesterday and maybe said some things she wouldn’t have in a quieter mood. She also felt silly and amused and didn’t think that was the appropriate attitude at work. She hoped that since the parents often do such a bad job of it, that someday it would be handled in the schools, but by some other teacher. Then she
saw Zeke and Morrigan together fifty feet in front of her, laughing, walking cockeyed and bumping each other. Maybe she did the right thing after all.