My name is Jacob Hennessey but everyone calls me Jake. I'm currently retired at 55 years old, from the local University where I was a professor of Philosophy. I've lived in the same house for over 30 years and over those years I've had many neighbors. Some of the neighbors I got along with well and some not so well. I've lived alone since my wife passed away from cancer 20 years ago so I'm pretty set in my ways. But, for all of that, I'm not a curmudgeon. I'm not the guy who yells at the kids to get off my lawn because I really like kids and I thought they added a lot of life to the neighborhood.
About 13 years ago a Ukrainian family moved in next door with 5 kids whose ages ranged from 18 to 9. They were pretty recent arrivals to our country so none of them spoke much English and I, of course, didn't know a lick of Ukrainian. But, I would smile and wave at the parents whenever I saw them and they would wave and smile back. Some of the older kids were picking up English in school but they were embarrassed to talk to me.
The youngest, the 9-year-old, whose name I would learn later was Anna, was very inquisitive. She would watch me as I did yard work or chores around the house. Every now and again a ball she was playing with would fly over the fence so I would toss it back to her. Anna would be up in her tree house watching me and when I would send the ball back over the fence she would smile, wave and then sit up there and watch me work. As the years went on and as Anna learned English she would come over to talk and watch me do my chores. She was a great kid and was very bright.
After my chores were done on weekends I would sit in the shade of my garage and watch the neighborhood. More often than not, Anna would be in there with me asking all sorts of questions...the inquisitiveness never went away with that girl. She would ask me why I didn't go to church on Sundays like her family did. She asked me why I wasn't married. Nothing was off limits in her mind. I didn't want her to lose her questioning mind so I would answer each question to the best of my ability and as honestly as possible.
When Anna found out that I had been married and that my wife had died she was very sad for me. She told me that my wife was waiting for me in heaven because I was a nice man. She was a little shocked when she learned that as an atheist I didn't believe in God or heaven. "Aren't you afraid of going to hell?" she would ask. I told her there is no hell to be afraid of if you don't believe in God. This information took her a while to process. We had many discussions over the years about the existence and non-existence of God. I would give her books to read by various philosophers that supported both her argument and mine and then we would discuss and argue every weekend the philosophers she had just read. Anna had a very active and agile mind.
When Anna reached her high school years she was an honors student and played volleyball. It turned out that she was very athletic and she made the varsity team in her sophomore year. I had played volleyball in college so we would talk about how the game was different from when I played to the present. I went to all of her matches, usually with one or both of her parents. She was the team's setter and was a joy to watch. She was first team all-state her last two years and had lots of colleges knocking on her door offering scholarships. In the end, she was the Valedictorian of her class and the volleyball team Captain.
When it was time to choose a college to attend she came to me seeking advice since I had been in academia for so many years. She, bless her heart, wanted to major in philosophy due to our years of reading and talking and she had both athletic and academic scholarship offers from some of the finest Universities in the country. We boiled it down to two schools...Yale or Harvard. Both were excellent and would give her the best possible education. Anna opted for Harvard, primarily because it was located in the Boston area. She liked the idea of going to school in a big city.
I was invited to her high school graduation and drove to the airport with her parents to send her off to Boston. We didn't see each other for a couple of years because her family couldn't afford to fly her home but we kept in touch via email and texts. She managed to come home one year at Christmas time and she brought me a Harvard scarf for a Christmas present (I gave her an old copy of Kant that she always loved). We sat in my house for hours during her holiday discussing what she had learned.
Since Anna couldn't come home and since her schooling was paid for she took classes during the summer terms in order to graduate quicker. When Anna graduated, I flew to Boston, along with her parents, to attend. She graduated Summa Cum Laude of her class and there was no person prouder than I was. She was playing volleyball during this whole time and was first team all-conference every year. Because she had eligibility left when she graduated she enrolled in graduate school at Harvard. She stayed away for a few more years until she had earned her PhD in Philosophy. I couldn't attend that ceremony but her parents did fly out for it.
One day in late June there was a knock on my door. When I went to answer it, there was Anna! I hadn't seen her in a few years and I couldn't get over how she had grown up and how beautiful the girl was. As soon as the door opened she flung herself at me and gave me a big hug and kissed me on the cheek. She was wearing a light blouse, some khaki shorts and sandals. I was a little stunned while this winsome, nubile young woman had me in a death grip with, her now, large breasts pressed into my chest. When she let go she was beaming at me with her big beautiful smile.
She handed me a wrapped gift that I detected was a book of some sort. "Open it!" Anna said. I unwrapped the gift and was stunned to see that it was a copy of her dissertation. "I just wanted to thank you for all of the hours we talked. I learned so much from you that I wanted to give you back what you taught me. All of this is thanks to you! You are the best friend I have ever had and I love you dearly for everything you did for me."
I was getting quite teary eyed as Anna was talking. And, seeing that, Anna got teary eyed too and pulled me into another hug. We stood there for a long time embracing in the middle of my living room. When we released each other, I invited Anna to sit down and asked her if she would like something to drink. "Do you still keep Coke in your fridge for me?" When she was a kid she always liked Coke so I always had some in my refrigerator in case she wanted one.
"Of course I do! My fridge would look bare if there wasn't a bottle of Coke in there."
She always drank from the bottle so I popped the cap and brought the bottle to her. Anna took a long pull from the bottle and then smiled. "My parents never let me drink Coke but you always had it for me. I think my parents would have been angry with you had they found out!"
"It was our little secret!" I replied. "So, what are your options for the future? Have you talked to any Universities about positions?"
"As a matter of fact I have. I have accepted a position here at the local University and will begin teaching in your old department in September!"
