Passion in James County XV: Ben and Nancy
Ben immediately recognized Dawn Dillon when the girl walked into his classroom for English composition class. His heart started to pound and his chest felt tight. "God! She looks just like her mother must have looked when she was in high school grade!" he thought when the slim, lovely teenager walked into the room, moved down the aisle between the desks, and took a seat.
The classroom full of students sat there, looking at him expectantly. Ben stood up, picked up the corrected essays, and walked around in front of his desk. "I'm Mr. Morris," he said. "I'm going to be teaching this class for the rest of the year. I know a few of your names from other classes where I've substituted, don't I, Mikey?" He glanced at a blushing Mikey Bacon, who was notorious for making mischief, while the class giggled.
"I have your essays graded," Ben continued. "I'll call your name, you raise your hand, and I'll give it to you. It's one way for me to get to know who you are."
After he handed the last student her essay, Ben started back toward the front of the classroom. "I have a question for you," he said. "Do you think an aberration of nature makes a person admirable?"
"What do you mean?" Mikey Bacon asked.
"I'm not being critical of any of you who said pro athletes were admirable," Ben said, "but take pro basketball players, for example. They are freaks of nature. The only reason they're successful at what they do is because they were born bigger and more coordinated than normal people. Why does that make them admirable?"
"Because they make lots of money?" Mikey asked hopefully.
Melissa Griggs raised her hand. Ben nodded in her direction. "Just because you have a lot of money doesn't make you admirable," she said, looking a bit smug.
"Yeah, but some pro basketball players do all kinds of good stuff," Ronny Wiggins said. "They give money to charity, go visit kids in the hospital, stuff like that, doesn't that make them, you know, admirable?"
"What about firefighters?" Annalise Mills, whose mother was a firefighter/paramedic asked. "They do good stuff for people every day."
Ben remained quiet, watching and listening, as the kids struggled with the question he'd asked them. His eyes scanned the class, but kept drifting to Dawn Dillon. "I can't believe how much she looks like her mother," he thought. "She has the same slim build, the same lovely eyes, and her hair's even the same color."
The kids kept the discussion going, making some good points. When conversation began lagging, Ben decided to see if he could get them looking at a different aspect. "Some of you picked people who weren't famous," he said. "Quite a few of the girls see their parents as admirable. Ginger, you made a good case for your mother, so did you Annalise. Dawn, you made a very eloquent case for your father, too. What do the rest of you think?"
The discussion took on new life as the kids struggled to try and figure out how someone who wasn't famous could be admirable.
When Ben realized there were just a few minutes left in the period, he called a halt to the discussion. "What I'd like you to do for next class," he said, "is to write a one-page essay on what qualities you believe make a person admirable."
The bell rang, the kids picked up their books, and started filing out of the room.
"Dawn, can I speak to you for a second?" Ben said when the girl neared his desk.
"Ah...sure, Mr. Morris," the young woman said, looking nervous.
"I just wanted to tell you I was touched by your essay," Ben said when the classroom was empty. "It made me feel as if I knew your father. I was sorry to hear about what happened to him. He'd have been very proud of you."
"Ah...thanks, Mr. Morris," the girl said, blushing. Clutching her books to her chest, she left the room.
During his free period, Ben went to the teacher's lounge. There, he encountered Tosha Brown, a slim, attractive black woman who taught history.
"How's your first day going?" Tosha asked him.
"So far, so good," Ben said. "Better than I thought it would, actually."
"You know," Tosha said, grinning, "a lot of the girls have decided you're a real hunk."
"Aw come on," Ben replied, feeling himself blush. He'd never thought of himself in those terms.
Tosha poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table across from Ben. "I understand you and Evelyn are an item," she said, holding her cup in both hands, sipping from it.
"I'm not an item with anybody," Ben said. "Evelyn and I have been seeing each other, but there aren't any commitments I'm aware of. At least I haven't made any."
Tosha peered at him over the rim of her cup, then lowered it. "Does that mean you'd come over to my place for dinner if I asked you?" she said softly.
Ben smiled at her. "I think I'd like that," he said. "Am I being asked?"
Tosha nodded, her brown eyes locked on his.
"When?" Ben asked. Tosha was quite attractive; an evening with her could turn out to be quite interesting.
"You doing anything tonight?" she asked softly.
Evelyn had told Ben she wouldn't be available tonight because, as a member of the teacher's union negotiating committee, she had to attend a school board meeting for negotiations on the new union contract. She said she expected the meeting to run very late. "Nothing much," Ben said.
Tosha smiled, displaying a mouth filled with even white teeth. "Dinner will be ready about six," she said. She picked up a piece of scrap paper and wrote something on it, then she pushed the paper across the table to Ben. "That's my address," she said.
At five-fifty-five, Ben knocked on the door of Tosha's apartment. She opened it, looking extremely attractive. She had on a ribbed white button-front cotton sweater and baggy jeans, cinched around her waist with a wide black belt with a silver buckle. The outfit highlighted her lithe body. Ben thought she looked terrific.
"Hi," she said.
