Myra Kaine - Lesson for teacher

The ball arced high in a wide curve through the brilliant blue of the sky and a roar went up from the young throats to follow the speeding ball in its wake. Gulls squawked excitedly and scissored their wings frantically above the rough dirt diamond laid out on the playground that had been dug out of the high meadow by the Pacific.

Glittering in the sun like spectacles, the windows of the shabby square white schoolhouse looked down on the wild game. A steep path connected the dusty playground to the steps of Rio Sur School, wound on below to a storage shed and then to the ribbon of highway above the sloping green meadow that slid to the narrow beach and the water's frothy edge.

The dirt diamond was churned with dust and the air filled with it as a tall, shapely legged teacher flew around the bases, her softly braided blonde pigtail flying out behind like a flag. The screams were frantic now and the students raced to try and stop her flight. Finally one plump perspiring boy dug the ball out of the grass by the highway and flung it up to the yard in a mighty heave.

"Quick! Hurry! Get it here!"

"Hurray! We won!"

"S'not fair! Miss Fenton's too good! Her teams always wins!"

"Gee, Miss Fenton… you're better'n we are. You always hit a home run."

Valerie stood panting and laughing behind home plate, flinging the pigtail she had woven to keep her long silken hair out of her eyes back over her shoulder and wiping her Grace Kelly like face. She waved the outfielders in with one arm and they came struggling up, complaining and grumbling.

"Stop complaining," she laughed, trying to get her breath. "Everybody has the same chance, besides, I'll be on the other team tomorrow."

Her face shining with perspiration, full firm breasts still heaving with her efforts, Valerie Fenton gathered her charges. She was limp but happy. There was nothing like a good baseball game to clear the blood and use up some of the kids' boundless energy.

They trooped up the path by two's and three's and four's, all twenty-three of them. Valerie gathered the balls and bats and started wearily up after them. At twenty-five she could still keep up with them, even the big ones, for the students at Rio Sur School ranged in ages from six to eighteen.

A tall blonde Swedish-type girl with soft straight blonde hair pulled into a thin braid that bobbed down against the tops of her buttocks as she climbed, she moved with the easy grace of a dedicated athlete. There was no extra fat on her long legs or slender arms and her high full breasts were surprising on a girl her height. They bounced like ripe firmly soft melons above her small indented waist and gracefully curved hips. Valerie was slightly taller than usual and had felt the stares and curiosity of strangers all her life because of it. It was as though no one could quite believe the tall vital figure, the gilded skin, sleek and golden from the sun, brilliant white smile, the incredibly blue eyes, the long flaxen hair, voluptuous breasts and shapely thighs. Looking at her one couldn't help thinking of Nordic legends or some ancient goddess come to life when she went striding by with that air of genial optimism and health.

It was as though she were bathed in a golden light, carrying her aura with her, and thus untouchable and unreal to most people. So full of life herself, when most people rejected that much life, she aroused curiosity, envy and her beauty, warmth and eager openness literally dazzled ordinary people.

"Miss Fenton."

Valerie stopped on the path and turned to peer in the direction of the voice, puffing a stray strand of pale hair out of her eyes. At last she located a tall man standing in the deep shadow of the shed. He stood still as a statue, immaculate, well dressed and unsmiling.

Dragging the bats behind her, Valerie walked over to the waiting man. It had to be someone from the district office, of course, but the administrative powers that be so rarely came down to bother that she was caught off guard. She smiled warmly at the man that she still couldn't see very well from the sun in her eyes and his hiding place in the deep shade. She sent up a little prayer that it wasn't the new superintendent, Taylor Crane. A strange warning had shot through her when she'd met him briefly at the welcoming tea two weeks ago. Something cold and hard and calculating had emanated from him. She'd determined to stay out of his way.

"Miss Fenton." Valerie shivered at the sound of his voice and now that she was closer, she could see that it was the tall commanding figure of Taylor Crane, his handsome face a mask, his eyes as cold as his voice that sent prickles of apprehension up her spine.

"Why, Mr. Crane… how nice of you to come to visit us… we don't get many visitors here at Rio Sur… do come up to school… I was just getting the children inside… after…

"Yes. I saw. That's why I wish to speak to you here."

Valerie felt like a naughty student herself from the tone of Crane's voice and his icy manners as she stood now in front of him, balls and bats balanced precariously in her arms. She knew she was hot and sweaty and dusty too. Her pleated linen skirt suddenly felt uncomfortably short, showing too much tanned thigh. Her sweater clung too tight and her sneakers felt very unsuitable in his gaze.

"Miss Fenton," Taylor Crane said again, folding his arms and staring down at the panting disheveled teacher. He could smell the cologne that her exertion had made more discernible, a clean, flowery scent. A ridiculous vision of this striking young blonde girl rolling naked down a sun drenched meadow, crushing wildflowers under her tanned skin came into his head. The full ripe breasts were still lifting with every breath and the tight sweater clung to the firmly rounded mounds. Her brilliant smile was faltering uncertainly now and a small worried frown creased her smooth tanned forehead. Taylor felt his gut tighten at the sight of her.

"That kind of fraternizing with the students can't do them or you any good." He intoned coldly.

"You mean…"

"I mean that ridiculous baseball game I just witnessed."

"But… I've always played games with the children… it's part of what I try and accomplish."

"I mean…"

Valerie set the bats and balls down in confusion, wiping her hands self consciously down the pleats of her short skirt. This man was just as cold as she had sensed even under his smiles at the tea. Damn! Just when things were going so well! Another year or two and she'd get that grant to open her own school. It was so close now.

It was a dream that had slowly taken shape and grown with each of her five years at Rio Sur School. The country just didn't realize what they'd lost when they did away with the one room schoolhouses that used to educate the young of America. She hadn't realized herself until she'd come here straight from the exclusive Smith College in the East, full of the jargon and theories of education, discarding them all one by one as experience taught her the value and the worth of having to teach all grades in one room… from first grade through high school.

At first it had seemed hopelessly outmoded and rural but she'd grown to love the easy cooperation that it imposed, the helping of the children when they were out here alone with her and had to get along together and make do with what they had. It was an experience in living as well as teaching. Little by little she had grown to love the little school and found herself formulating whole new approaches to teaching and finding the exhilaration in seeing them work. She wouldn't go back to a town school now… she couldn't… back to the dreary regimen of a well regulated public town school. It was unthinkable. The criticism of the new superintendent now gave her a momentary stab of apprehension.