At the beginning of the semester, Margarette asked how old I was. I said I'll never tell.... "Come on," she said. "Can I guess?" I told her she could guess all she wanted. "23?" I said no. "24?" I said no again. She seemed stumped and stopped guessing. Sybil, her sidekick, said, "Well, we KNOW you're not 30!" I tried not to grin too big. "You never know," I said. "Riiight," they both replied in unison.

This went on all semester.

Finally it was the last day of class. Margarette looked at me and said, "How old did you say you were again?" I didn't say anything. "23," she said. "You're 23." "Nope," I said. She looked at me real hard and said: "22?" I shook my head. "Come on," Sybil said from the next row over. "It's the end of the semester. We'll probably never see you again. Tell us!" I just grinned and turned around in my desk. We had a video to watch in class and it was just starting.

The video ended and the professor said his goodbyes. People started shuffling out of the class. I stood up, turned around, and faced Margarette. She was wearing an orange cable-knit sweater and tan pants. I placed my hand on her shoulder and looked deep into her blue eyes. She looked back into mine. "32," I said. "32," she said back questioningly. "I'm 32," I said and started to walk away. Sybil yelled: "32? You're not 32!" Then: "He's lying!" I heard Margarette say: "Yeah! You're not 32!!!" I just glanced over at her and grinned, walked out the door, and went on my way.

-- W i l l

Copyright © December 2001 W i l l