Chapter 3

This is the third chapter of my never ending short story "Index Out Front". See the list at top right to read the previous chapters. I'll post additional chapters every couple of weeks. - Lyle
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She read the draft copy I had printed with a blank expression, eyes darting across each line in rapid succession.

“Crap.” she said, throwing the pages back on my desk.

“What do you mean? What’s wrong with it?”

“Don’t ask that question unless you really want to know. I don’t lie, I give my true opinion and if it offends you then you need to understand that the reason is because you asked – not that I was inconsiderate.”

“I can handle anything you can dish out……kid.” I was starting to regret having invited her to read what I had written.

She paused momentarily as if contemplating what to do next. She started slowly. “Your story lacks substance, fire, drama. Your story is a recounting of every day occurrences for the average person with average ability, intelligence and talent. If I wanted to know more about a person like that I would just walk down the street and start talking to whomever. Your story does not inspire me. Your story is like a painting of a bowl full of flowers. Yea, it’s great you can portray a bowl full of flowers but a real flower in my own bowl on my own table is a far more valuable. If you want to impress me, affect me, cause me to swoon, then write about something which will inspire me, make me want to achieve, make me cry with joy, make me think, make me feel human. Your story tells me what I’ve suspected – people are a miserable lot. Sorry, but I need light to survive.”

She was out of her chair and out the door before I could utter a word.

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I didn’t look as she came into class the next day. I knew she would not be afraid to look at me. Damn it.

I lectured about proper usage, grammar and syntax and sentence structure. I exhorted the value of community service, the need for political reform, the value of serving humanity, the essence of cultural diversity, I love teaching English Composition because you can have your way with all forms of opinions with a moldable audience. I chuckled inwardly as I fed this line of bull-crap to my students, knowing full well they would absorb it all and regurgitate it precisely at the next test as well as the next time the subject came up in a social gathering of family or friends. Everybody except her of course. I watched her out of the corner of my eye and could see she was not impressed.

I had pondered the topic of the next writing assignment but I hadn’t decided until I saw how uninterested she was in my lecture. “Three to five pages on Cultural Diversity. Narrow the topic to a perspective which can be fully covered in a short piece”.

She didn’t turn in a paper. I stopped her and asked her why. “The subject did not interest me.” She said curtly and walked off. I chuckled - It was going to be fun to lower her grade. “What would interest you?” I called after her. “Sculpture.” she said and continued to walk away.

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Coming up in later Chapters:
Sculpture
Sewers and Roses
A trip to the cemetery
Love is Like Salt
The Difference Between Men and Women
...and more!