Kim McCall bounded up the steps to the small brick house set back from the street. She rapped briskly on the door while checking her watch. Good, she was five minutes early. The black haired 20 year old Canadian girl bounced several times up and down on her toes, less from impatience than from her pent-up energy.
The door opened and Kim nearly laughed as the dignified older man standing in the doorway blinked at her several times rather blankly before asking "Can I help you?"
"Hi, Doctor Lake, its Kim. I'm baby-sitting your grandchildren tonight?"
The man's face animated. "Oh yes, Kim, please come in." He ushered her into the living room. Kim looked around. It was pretty much what she expected of a college professor's place. Filled bookshelves covered most of the walls. A table and desk seemed to groan under the stacks of papers covering them. He gestured to a worn, but comfortable looking sofa.
"Please sit down Kim. I'm afraid your charges aren't here yet. My daughter and her husband," Kim noted a scowl pass across his face, "Should be dropping them by any minute now. I was planning to stay with them myself, I really do love their company, but I have a faculty meeting that slipped my mind. Would you like a coke or a cup of tea?"
"Thank you Doctor Lake, a coke would be fine."
He returned in short order and handed her a cold glass. "Kim, I want to thank you for agreeing to this on such short notice. I was at my wits end until Professor Nolam learned of my dilemma and suggested you. She speaks very highly of you."
Kim smiled. "Professor Nolam is a wonderful lady. Her children are delightful, if a bit of a handful. It was fun and I have always enjoyed my time with them."
"Well, I happen to know that she and her husband were always pleased to get away and had no worries to interfere with their nights out together when you were with the children."
Kim smiled again. She wondered if Doctor Lake was aware of exactly how the Professor and her husband spent some of those evenings out. She had found out one night cuddled up with her roommate Pam.
"Do you know what I saw last night while you were babysitting?" the Southern US girl had giggled in her soft voice. "Professor Nolam was out at the Rodeo Round-Up Club. You would have never believed it was her. She was wearing a skirt neither you nor I would have worn, it was that short. She had on a low-cut blouse that was so tight you could not only see she didn't have a bra on, but you could see every little bump on her nipples. She was wearing nude pantyhose and high heeled boots. I nearly fell out of the booth I was in, in fact I had to hide behind Chad Daverling."
"I can't believe it," Kim had replied. "Professor Nolam? I thought she was out with her husband."
"Oh, she was," her roommate had assured her. "I didn't recognize him either. He was all decked out in tight jeans and boots and all himself. He sat beside her and struck up a conversation with her, bought her a drink and they acted like they didn't even know each other. I'll have to remember that. It looked really neat."
"Well," winked Kim. "Maybe I'll pick you up someday?"
"Yeah, right," came the reply, slightly muffled as Pam nibbled her roomie's bare shoulder. "Even in this day and age we'd probably get stoned. And not the fun kind of stoned" Then they had both forgotten about Professor Nolam and her husband and the Rodeo Club and Chad Daverling as their hands had begun to run over each other's bodies.
Kim brought herself back to the present just as a knock came on the door. Doctor Lake opened it to reveal a couple in their late twenties along with two little girls, one about six and the other four. She studied the adults. The woman was obviously Doctor Lake's daughter. She looked just like him.
She looked at the husband and then back at the wife. Something was definitely out of kilter here. They both looked unhappy, although they were making an effort to hide it.
"Hi Dad." The woman looked at Kim, curiosity on her face.
"Hello sweetheart. I'm afraid there's been a hitch in our plans. There's an unexpected department heads meeting tonight with the Dean that I absolutely have to attend. This is Miss McCall. She was one of my students last term and generously offered to keep the children when this conflict arose. She comes highly recommended and assures me she will watch the children carefully and won't be having visitors."
"I promise," said Kim brightly. "Nobody here but me and my math books."
In short order the two little girls were snuggled onto the couch, paying rapt attention to the flickering screen of the black and white television. The parents had gone and Doctor Lake showed Kim where the snacks were before going to get dressed. Kim settled herself between her two charges and made friends.
Lake reappeared, dressed neatly in a suit and tie. Kim had just risen to get some water for the girls and almost bumped into him on her way to the kitchen.
"Doctor Lake, you look very nice."
"Thank you, Kim."
"I suppose," Kim said thoughtfully, "That I will have to revise some of my assumptions. I guess I've always thought of you in those tweed jackets with the leather patches on the elbows and seen you trying to remember where you left the outline for the day's lecture. But that's just one side of you."
Doctor Lake laughed. Kim enjoyed his laughter, it was bright and cheery. She remembered him as so much more subdued in class.
