He'd seen her before. She would occasionally stop for an iced tea at the same little place he did, but this time it was a little different. She'd taken a booth and had spread out a bunch of papers and was engrossed in writing on them. A little here, a little there, rather curiously.
Then it struck him. She's grading papers! She's a teacher! Now it all made sense. He'd never really known a teacher before, but the rhythms that he'd observed her during could be explained by her being a teacher. Now, at least he had something to talk about, and today was the perfect day for it since the place was full and there was nowhere for him to sit at the moment. Except for the unused portion of her booth. Walking directly to her, not taking his eyes off her, then stopping some three feet short of the table, he quickly said, "Ist hier frei?"
This had worked before. He would apologize for his absentmindedness and quickly explain that he had spent some time in Germany and it was perfectly normal to share a table with someone unknown to you after first asking permission. Only this time something seemed to have gone wrong.
She simply nodded and said, "Ja." For a second he stood staring blankly, wondering why she wasn't looking up when it dawned on him. She'd answered him in German! This was new to him. Always before, the woman would look at him confused and allow him to have the upper hand. Only this time, he was looking confusedly at her and she wasn't paying any attention to him at all. Well, this certainly wasn't going quite the way he'd planned. Actually, he hadn't really PLANNED anything, other than the lead in. That usually was enough to pry a little chink in whoever's armor he'd spotted. This time, however, the chink wasn't so obvious.
Or was it? Quickly regaining his balance, he said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I lapsed again, but then, so did you. How long were you in Germany?" Marianne looked up, finally, not a little miffed at losing her train of thought. Displeasure soon departed as she looked the source of the interruption over. Her eyes slowly climbed from tabletop to the top of his head, with growing approval with each inch. She smiled a coy little smile while feeling just a slight twinge in her crotch, a signal she never ignored.
She said, "I'm sorry, I heard you say Germany, but I really wasn't listening until then. What did you say about Germany?" And what did he mean by lapsing, she wondered. Larry had felt her penetrating sweep of vision examine him thoroughly in just a few seconds and was thrilled by the fact that she had done it. This one was different. This one thought like he did and he liked that.
"I just asked you how long you had spent in Germany."
Before she could realize that she wanted to ask how he had known she had been in Germany she said, "I was born there." She quickly added her question. "How did you know I'd even been there?"
This guy was starting to look intriguing because he was smart. She liked smart. It always made for a fun time. Not brilliant, not stuffy academic smart, but just above average intelligent. With a sense of humor. She began instantly hoping this guy, whoever he was, had a sense of humor. "Oh, OK, that explains it."
"Explains what?" she asked. "Your answering my question in German," he said, with a grin that said something to her, but she wasn't sure just what. "Did I? I wasn't really paying attention. I guess I was too deep into Harry Potter essays. What did I say?" She laughed at this. This was exactly the cue Larry was hoping for and he took full advantage, sitting his tray down carefully so as not to disturb her stacks of papers. "You said yes." This was said with a quick smile and a pause while the words sank in. Larry hoped that Marianne would see a double meaning to them just before he explained the innocent meaning.
"I asked if I could sit down and you said yes. Is that still OK, now that you're fully conscious?" He laughed and she smiled, both of them feeling that this, whatever βthis' might turn out to be, was starting out very nicely. Marianne thought to herself that this warmth she felt warming her inside felt just right. Larry found himself breathing slowly, consciously slowly, feeling air enter his lungs, pause a while, and then slowly, purposefully exit them. For the longest moment they just looked at each other, communicating, but not really knowing what they were communicating, except that they knew they both liked it and they knew the other one liked it as well.
"So, what do you teach?" Larry said, breaking the spell before it got too heavy and possibly spoiling things because it started too soon. "Sixth grade. These are essays about a Harry Potter book we just finished reading. Some of them aren't too bad. And then we have some others....."
Her voice trailed off, leaving no doubt what she meant. He immediately picked up on her meaning and asked what else she taught. He wanted to know if she taught all the subjects or did her students move around to other teachers? He said that his sixth grade teacher had been a man and they had everything with him, except gym. She started in with an explanation that she had a teammate and they shared the basic subjects and after a minute realized that he had her talking quite readily and was completely attentive to her every word. This made her pause and ask him if he was really interested in all this. He smiled without taking his eyes off of her and said, "I've always wanted to be a teacher so this is fascinating to me."
"Well, before you decide you want to be a teacher you should have some idea what you're getting yourself into. You should help me grade some of these papers and that might change your mind." Marianne laughed, thinking this would make him say something about already having a busy schedule and that he wouldn't really know what to do. Instead, he responded, "I'd love to. What do you want me to do?" Now it was Marianne's turn to be off balance.