It was the last period of parents-back-to-school night and I was standing in the hall directing traffic, hoping to beat the cars out of the high school parking lot. I was about to turn around and head into my office when I heard a woman's voice call my name.
"Excuse me, Mr. du Fossé?"
I turned to see who called me and found myself face-to-face with a strikingly attractive blond woman dressed in a grey business suit. Standing in her 3 inch stiletto pumps, she was just slightly taller than me.
"Yes," I said, "how may I help you?"
She extended her hand with its expertly manicured nails and introduced herself, "I'm Kate Vercauteren. My daughter Elise is in French IV and I was wondering if you could give me some advice about potentially moving her to the Honors course?"
I detected an interesting accent, which, combined with the surname led me to think that perhaps she was Belgian. "Of course, please come into my office. Oh, and please call me David."
"In which case please call me Kate. Thank you so much for agreeing to see me. With our jobs my husband and I rarely get the opportunity to speak in person with school personnel. I promise I won't keep you long," she offered as we walked into my office.
Walking behind her I could not help but admire this woman's physical charms. Her business skirt was tight enough to hint at a firm, well-rounded ass, and short enough to reveal plenty of her gorgeous legs. Of course the high heeled shoes with their pointed toes helped draw my eye and certainly played their part in making for an appealing picture. I said to her, "Oh, I don't mind helping you. Very few parents in this district even bother to ask my advice, so it's kind of refreshing. Pardon me for asking, but your accent and name indicate that you're from Belgium, am I right?"
She turned and beamed a smile at me, "Yes, that's very astute of you. Most people think I'm French!"
"Please," I said as I pulled back a chair and motioned for her to be seated at the small conference table. I sat down as well and asked, "So what is it I can help you with?"
"Well, my youngest daughter is a senior this year and I'm thinking that perhaps she can handle the Honors level again. She started out in Honors but dropped to College Prep because she had so much on her plate. Do you think that it's feasible, and if so do you think she can handle it?" she asked.
"Let's take a look at her records," I said as I turned to my PC and booted up the student database. "Last name Vercauteren..."
"No. It's Miller. I married an American but kept my maiden name for professional reasons," she said.
"OK. No problem. Just a minute...there it is. Let's see..." I explained that Elise seemed to be a very strong student and that instead of French IV we might consider AP French.
"I taught that course for many years, and I think that based on the record, Elise should be fine in AP. What's more, it would look better on her transcript for college. What do you think?" I asked.
"Oh, AP hadn't even entered my mind. I will certainly run this by Elise and have her speak to her guidance counselor. But hasn't she missed a lot already?"
"It's still early enough in the year where she can catch up and I wouldn't mind helping her," I offered.
"That would be marvelous. Thank you so much. I will certainly speak to Elise about that. It's very kind of you," she said. "So you taught French before becoming the supervisor?"
"Yes, I did, and German too, although we offer fewer and fewer of those classes," I replied.
"So how is it that you're familiar with a Belgian accent?" she asked.
I went on to explain that my parents were Dutch, that they had married in the Netherlands and then emigrated to the States. I told her that although I was born here, we spent many vacations visiting relatives in Holland and travelled to neighboring countries. "Besides, as a linguist," I said, "my ear is trained, and I speak a little Dutch."
She talked about how she met her husband through work. He had been transferred to the Brussels office of the same multi-national conglomerate for which she worked. They married in Belgium and both of their daughters were born there. They moved to the States when her husband was offered a very lucrative position with another company and Kate had successfully persuaded her firm to relocate her position to their Philadelphia office. "And now I'm VP in charge of East Coast operations," she said proudly, "I really like being in control, I must admit."
We talked about Belgium and the lovely city of Brugge. We shared memories of our travels, people we met, foods we enjoyed, and discovered we had many common interests, likes and dislikes. All of a sudden I looked at the wall clock and realized how late it was. "Oh wow," I exclaimed, "it's after nine o'clock!"
She immediately apologized, "Oh I'm so sorry for keeping you so late. I had no idea."
"Not a problem," I said, "I really enjoyed our conversation. I'll walk you out."
As we made our way to the parking lot Kate said, "You know I really enjoyed talking with you. I'm so glad you took the time to help me, otherwise we would never have connected. In fact, I would love to continue the conversation in a more relaxed setting. How about you?"
"That would be super," I replied. "What did you have in mind?"
"What about sharing a few drinks at the Brass Lantern on Old York Road this Friday? I can skip out of work a bit earlier than I usually do and we can meet there at 4:30 or so," she suggested.
"That would work for me. I know exactly where it is. I'm looking forward to it."
By this time we had reached the mostly empty parking lot. I asked her if she had parked far away and she said that she arrived at the high school early enough to grab a pretty good spot. She pointed at a shiny red Porsche 911 Turbo Carrera.
"Wow!" I exclaimed. "Nice car!"
"Thanks. I really love it. It's my baby."
We parted company. She turned to flash me a smile and said, "See you Friday!"
