Free Naughty by Nature by Judy Angelo Page A

the room.  “What else, class?”
    “Simile.”
    “Metaphor.”
    “Imagery.”
    “Diction.”  They fired
the words at her from around the room.  Good.  They were paying attention now. 
Maybe that little shake-up with Franklyn had served a useful purpose, after
all.
    “Now let’s look at
'Night Poem' by Margaret Atwood to see how we can apply these techniques in our
analysis.”  She picked up her poetry anthology from the desk.  “Page
sixty-four, everyone.  We’re going to pull this poem apart layer by layer and
see what it really means.”  She smiled, warming to her subject.  “Reading poems
is so much fun, especially when you see what the poem says on the surface and
then dig deeper to find a whole new world of meaning.  Now, who’d like to read
aloud for us?”  She looked around.  “Any volunteers?”
    A hand shot up in
the front.  Tessa had to hide a slight grimace of disappointment.  Always the
same hand.  An eager student and high achiever, but she wished she could
stimulate others to be just as enthusiastic.  She smiled at her eager beaver
but held out for just a few more seconds in the hope that a shy fish would
bite.  And one of them did.  Verna George, a new immigrant from the island of
Grenada.  “Great, Verna.”  Tessa gave her a wide smile.  “The floor is yours.”
    Verna began
reading, her voice soft with the lilting accent of the Caribbean islands, and
as she did the rest of the class followed in their books.  All heads were down,
following the words.  Great start.
    And then her phone
rang.  Yikes!  Tessa made a dash for her handbag and began to dig.  And dig. 
And the phone kept ringing.  She plopped the big handbag onto the desk and dug
some more.  Impossible task to find anything in a bag so full of clutter, even
a ringing phone.
    The class began to
titter.  Darn.  She always made a point of turning off her phone during class
time but today she’d messed up. 
    Finally, her
fingers clasped the offending device and when she plucked it out of her bag the
screen said ‘Wolf Spencer’.  Tessa’s heart leaped.  She immediately pressed the
green button.  “I’m sorry, class,” she said quickly.  “Verna, please continue
reading.  I’ll be right back.”
    Tessa hurried out
of the classroom and pulled the door shut behind her.  She put the phone to her
ear.  “Wolf,” she said, her voice breathless, “how are you?”
    “Sorry, Tessa. 
Sounds like I caught you at a bad time.”  His voice, low and deep with just a
hint of gravel, was like music in her ear.
    “No, not at all,”
she started then realizing what she was saying she said, “I mean, yes.  I’m
sort of busy but…it’s so good to hear from you.”  And it was.  It had been
almost a week since she and Wolf had had lunch together and with each passing
day the tension inside her had grown.  Maybe she’d had no right worrying about
a man she’d seen all of three times but there it was.  She’d been on pins and
needles worrying about him and there was nothing she could have done to stop
it.  “How are you, Wolf?" she asked again.  "And how is your mother?”
    “I’m hanging in
there, Tessa.  Thanks for asking.  And Mom’s back in Canada with me.”  There
was a pause and it sounded like he was taking a breath.  “It’s been tough for
her.  The stroke left her paralyzed on the right side.  She’s a trooper, but…I
don’t know if a positive spirit is enough to get her back to normal.”
    “But the
doctors…what are they saying?  What about physical therapy?”
    "We’re going
to do all that.  We’ve got the appointments booked but it’s going to take a lot
of work.”  His voice trailed off but then it came back stronger and firmer. 
“But, you know what?  We’ll beat this.  I've just got to keep her spirits high
and do whatever it takes to keep her from getting bored.  That’s the killer for
her.  In her whole life this is the first time she’s