Page 13 - Demo

Kendallville Mental School7three-feet in diameter, sat proudly in front of the limestone post office. As we drove around, I pointed out various businesses, restaurants, Kraft%u2019s new caramel plant, and a malevolent, smoke-belching foundry that looked like a relic of the Industrial Revolution. Then we spent about an hour cruising through the countryside, where Lynn saw her first Hoosier hog. She said it looked as big as a Volkswagen.That evening, we spread papers and notebooks on my livingroom floor and started working out a rough curriculum. We decided that my classes would cover plastics, woodworking, and drafting, while Lynn%u2019s would deal with a variety of crafts such as metal tooling, leather work, and macram%u00e9. And we decided to combine some classes and teach them together. About nine o%u2019clock, we were ready for a break, so I made popcorn, and we climbed into my fiberglass bowl/chair (which I%u2019d made at Ball State as a creative project) with James Taylor on the stereo. All of a sudden, I was kissing her. And she was kissing me back. This wasn%u2019t good, it wasn%u2019t good at all.I got up to go to the bathroom and ponder this foolishness. We%u2019d just met, and would be working together for at least the next school year. Getting involved was a very bad idea. Very bad. On the other hand, the kissing was quite pleasant. When I returned to the living room, Lynn was sound asleep. I knew she hadn%u2019t slept well the previous night on the floor of her duplex so, instead of waking her, I covered her with a blanket and retired to my bedroom. I don%u2019t know if it was love at first sight, but I was definitely infatuated, and here we were, spending our first night together. The next morning, Lynn drove up to Western Michigan to pick up a carload of clothing, books, a few hand-me-down cooking utensils, and to wrap up her college life. For furniture she had only a single, multi-colored, cardboard end table, so when she returned several days later, we went shopping. She bought an inexpensive single bed (no headboard), a 4-drawer unfinished pine dresser, and an uncomfortable inflatable plastic chair. It wasn%u2019t much, but it was in keeping with a first-year teacher%u2019s salary. To cut down on rent, she and the new high-school Spanish teacher, who would be arriving in a few days, were to be roommates.