The first presentation began. She spoke about her topic, the research she did, the results and the personal work she did. Her presentation took twenty minutes. The class asked questions for twenty minutes and I gave them five minutes to finish writing her grade cards. Her topic was to interview HR executives for ten companies she would consider working for. She was to find out what it would take for her to get a job with them that would pay $100,000 a year, with full health benefits and a stock option or profit sharing plan. Get their coaching on what you need to do between now and getting hired. She got a score of forty-eight from me.
The second presentation began with the student, one of that classes ding-bat sisters, reading the assignment to us. "Number twelve: Interview twenty-five adults with disabilities that you do not know. Identify their disability and find out what aspect of life they find the most enjoyable. If possible interact with them (or one of them) in a social setting and evaluate how their disability affected you." She was obviously embarrassed to have been forced to be with disabled people. The socializing she did was to attend a dance at the private high school where all of her subjects attended. Her evaluation of how their disability affected her was summed up by her telling the class that people with Cerebral Palsy can't dance very well. The first question asked her what Cerebral Palsy is. She answered, "It's something that messes with your brain." The second question asked, "What other disabilities she interviewed?" She said, "The school only had one kind." I gave her a twenty score.
The third presentation was for number twenty-two: "Interview twenty-five people you don't know who work in a career about money. (An accountant, banker, loan officer, stock broker, investment counselor, etc.) Find out their personal attitudes about money. Have them define their personal concepts of being rich, poor, spending and saving. Get their advice on how you can become rich. Evaluate their advice and tell us what you have done to begin to get rich." The man who presented wore a suit to class. He spoke about interviewing bank managers and stock brokers. He showed nicely made charts about how much money bank managers thought qualified as rich compared to how much stock brokers defined as rich. He ignored their ideas about poor. He told the class that how he was beginning down the road to getting rich was to begin dressing and behaving like someone would dress and behave if they had money. The students asked him what career he was preparing for. "Playing first base in the pro's." They asked how much money he thought it took to be rich. "A million a year." I asked, "How much of the million a year would he need to invest to stay rich?" He guessed and said, "Half?" He scored a thirty.
The fourth presenter was a no-show. I told the students to give a score of no higher than ten points and then stack the completed cards on the table and they were dismissed until Wednesday. I named the next four presenters.
As I stacked the cards and put them away Melissa came in, carrying our lunch. We closed the classroom doors and had a quiet lunch together. I asked how her morning had gone.
"The instructor was ten minutes late. I sit by Barb and Jo and they told me about a party they went to. Then Barb asked if I wanted to go to a party with them this next weekend. I said, "No, we have plans." Barb asked, "We who?" I said "We. On Sunday a man asked me to marry him and I said yes!" We would have said more but the class started."
We kissed and smiled. Half a sandwich later there was a knock on the door. I got up and went to the door. I opened it and a cute woman said, "I'm looking for Melissa. Is she here?"
I asked, "Are you Jo or Barb?" Another head appeared and they said, "Both!" I opened the door and they came in. They joined us for lunch. I didn't say much. At one point Jo said, "I've got to go buy flannel shirts and worn jeans. Melissa dresses like she's at the University of Montana and gets engaged to a man with a career! I dress like miss fashion and haven't had a date in six weeks!"
Melissa looked at me and I shrugged. She said, "It wasn't my clothes that attracted him." As she said it she blushed.
Barb asked, "Ok, out with it! You met in class? Right?"
I shook my head. Melissa said, "Remember that assignment about doing something that scares you? I met him doing the assignment. I'd seen him in class, but we didn't meet."
Barb asked, "What did you do for the assignment?"
I looked at the clock and knew Melissa would be giving her presentation in two hours. I said, "Don't tell them. Melissa will be presenting all about her assignment in two hours. If you are here you'll hear part of the story."
"Wait! The assignment is for your class?" Jo asked. I nodded. She said, "I'm cutting Econ III today!"
We were finished eating. I gathered the trash and said, "Class starts at one. Between now and one I'd like a little face time with Melissa. I hope that's Ok with both of you."
Jo said, "I think he wants us to wait outside." She smiled and got up. Barb said, "I want to stay."
I said, "What you want and what you get aren't always the same thing." I helped her to her feet and ushered them outside. I pulled the door closed and turned to see Melissa unbuttoning her blouse.
"Why do you think I wanted some alone time with you?" I asked.
"I have no idea. I wanted you alone because I've discovered I love having my breasts sucked on by you. Would you?"
My answer began on her right breast. Learning all about the things that light her fires is such a pleasure. It may take many years, but I'm in no hurry. As I had her areola and nipple in my mouth she said, "No hickies please. When I show the class my chest I don't want hickies to show."
I popped back and released her breast from my mouth. She looked at my face and started laughing, loudly. "I'm kidding! I'm kidding! I'd never show them my chest. Oh, Honey! Your whole career flashed before your eyes. I'm so sorry." She hugged my face to her breasts and I smiled. She was loving me and promising not to bare it all for a good grade.
At ten until the hour she redressed and I went to open the door. Melissa was sitting in her center seat when people started coming into the room. I set the stacks of cards on the table and told everyone to get one of each color. I saw Barb and Jo headed for the cards and announced that only registered students of the class could have cards. When everyone was in, seated and semi quiet I asked that the doors be closed. I told them about the grade cards and how they worked.
The first presentation was number two: "Interview at least twenty-five people you don't know. Find out their beliefs about global warming. Find out what they are doing or not doing to help global warming. If you agree that human's are a big causal factor in global warming tell us what you were doing before this assignment and what you are doing now."
The young man speaking basically replayed Al Gore's movie for us, quoting from his sources and his stated beliefs. He didn't quote from a single non-believer. In my mind it was like attending a church service. It wasn't "fair and balanced." He told of how he recycled before the assignment and now had also given up eating things with a face. Six people clapped when he was finished. He asked, "Any questions?" And no one in the class asked a question. I did. "Did you attempt to find someone to interview who didn't believe that global warming was man-made?" "Yes, I asked around but no one knew of anyone who didn't know about it." I asked, "Were any of your interviews off campus?" "No." "Of Older people?" "No." I wondered if he had listened when I explained how the objective of the exercise was to get away from their comfort zone and out into the larger community. He got a twenty as his score and a note telling him why.
The second presentation was by Enrique. He had come to me early on and wanted to know how to do the project. Find a job paying $100,000 a year... the same assignment as the third presenter in the morning class. He was nineteen and usually dressed like he wanted to blend into the street crowd in East L.A. For his presentation he had a fresh haircut, clean shaven, a dress shirt and tie, charcoal slacks and shined shoes. He began by telling the class how scared he was when he read the assignment. He talked with ten men he knew who had good jobs, looking for a career to aim towards. Of the ten none made anywhere near $100,000. He went to the owner of a real estate company near where his family lives and interviewed him. That man sent him to three other men, successful men. Each of them sent him to others. Two of the men he interviewed offered him jobs to see if he liked the work and to see if he was interested in starting now towards the $100,000 job. He told the class about the work and the decision he made. He was staying in school and working part time for an architect. In six years he would have his degree and his license to be an architect. His mentor guaranteed him a job and benefits starting after graduation at $100,000. The questions came hot and heavy. He had answers for every question. Good answers. Many students clapped when his time was up. I gave him a fifty.
It was Melissa's turn. She came up front and began. She was dressed in her normal school attire. She opened a notebook and read the assignment, reminding everyone that she picked first and picked number twenty-three. "Interview twenty-five people you don't know finding out what social activity they fear the most. Pick one of the activities they fear and that you have never participated in and do it. Report on your research, their reasons for their fears and your reaction to doing something new and possibly scary." She read a list of things people told her they were afraid of, social things, not spiders and snakes. The list included public speaking, singing, public displays of affection, dancing, passing gas loudly and being seen naked. She told the story of interviewing a teacher who said she had nightmares about standing in class teaching, looking down and realizing she was naked. She decided to find a way to go to a place where being naked would be legal and Ok. She told about using the internet to find a nudist resort, but not so close there was any chance of seeing anyone she knew. She told herself it would be Ok to be seen by people she didn't know but not Ok to be seen by anyone she knew. A couple of the men in the room made under-their-breath comments. She ignored them.
She told about driving two hours away and going into the office. A naked woman took her money and gave her a brief orientation and a map. She parked and took off her clothes and headed for what she thought was the safest place for her, the swimming pool. When she got to the pool there were about six people near and in the pool. She looked them over and was scared, but feeling a little better when no one paid any attention to her. She said she looked for a place to put down her towel and beach bag when she realized the man sitting at the picnic bench was someone she knew. The class gasped.
"I didn't know if I should run back to my car and fail the class or let him look up and see me. While I was frozen in place wondering, he looked up! He smiled at me and came to me. Over the next couple of hours he introduced me to his friends, couples and singles and I got comfortable. When it got late I put a sleeping bag on the ground and he went to his cabin. The next day I interviewed lots of people about nudity and found that the ideas I had about nudists were way different than what I found. By the time I drove home on Sunday I had a new attitude about being nude. I had some new friends, too."
She didn't have to ask if there were questions. There were hands up all over the room. She pointed at one of the ding-bat sisters. She asked, "Were the men walking around naked with... with erections?" Melissa answered as if the question was valid. "Yes they were nude but nudity isn't as sexy as dressing in lingerie. In the whole weekend I didn't see an erection in public." She pointed at another hand, belonging to a man about my age, thirty-five. "Were there any out of shape people there?" "Yes." On it went until I was about to call time. Melissa called on Barb. She asked, "Does the man you knew go here?" "Yes. But I don't have his permission to say who it is, so I won't."
I called time and asked them to fill out their cards. I didn't. Like the morning class the last presentation was a no-show. We collected all the cards and dismissed the class. Barb and Jo waited quite a while before the rest of the class left. They quietly came to me and whispered, "That's where she met you?" I nodded and said, "I was sitting at the table grading mid-terms."
Jo asked, "Was that last weekend?" I shook my head.
Melissa said she needed to talk to me for a moment and the three girls still hanging on let go and left. As soon as they were out the door Melissa was in my arms. After we kissed she asked, "How'd I do?"
Jo answered, "According to the grade cards you got an "A". At least a forty-eight I'd say."
I packed up while Barb and Jo asked a few more questions. They walked with us in the direction of parking and I said, "If you don't have plans for this weekend we're throwing a bbq and you're invited."
"At your house?" Barb asked.
Melissa smiled and answered, "No. We're making ribs, beans, salad, cole slaw and you could make cornbread down at the resort. There's tennis, swimming, a biking trail, lots of trees and lawn."
"Nick would see us naked!" Jo said.
"You don't have to decide now. Just be packed with a towel and sunscreen and meet me at my office or my car on Friday. We'll leave right after five."
They headed for their cars and we headed into the faculty lot. As I drove onto the freeway headed home Melissa said, "I didn't lie."
"You also didn't tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Thank you."
