| Ms. Jefferson had propped her bare feet up on her desktop with ankles crossed. Her eyes were still lowered, so it appeared to Robin, as though she were still grading papers. Robin was a little unnerved at this new seating position. Ms. Jefferson was making herself mighty comfortable. He looked around to see if anyone else found this odd. His other classmates, on the contrary, seemed totally engrossed with their reports. Either no one had looked up or he was the only one that thought Ms. Jefferson was acting strange. He went back to his report and wrote a few more lines, then looked up again. He stared at his teachers smooth soles. They looked absolutely lovely. This was an unexpected treat, though he was hoping for a little toe-wiggling as well. Her feet just sat there. His eyes shifted to Ms. Jefferson�s face. Now that he looked at her, she actually appeared to be asleep.
�Marc,� Robin whispered to the kid seated next to him. �What?� �Is she sleep?� �Who?� �Ms. Jefferson.� Marc looked up at the front of the class. He shrugged. �I don�t know.� �I think she is. I�ma go check it out.� �Check it out?� Robin stood slowly. Ms. Jefferson made no acknowledgement of his movement. He moved towards the front. Still no response from the teacher. By this time, Robin had captured the attention of the entire class, who was now, very interested in what Robin was doing. Robin walked up to the desk, bent over and blew lightly on Ms. Jefferson�s soles. Ms. Jefferson shifted in her seat and rubbed her feet together, but remained in essentially the same position. �She�s asleep,� said Robin, looking back at Marc. �What are you gonna do?� �I don�t know.� Robin started going through Ms. Jefferson�s desk drawers and ran across a spool of twine. �What are you gonna do with that?� asked Marc, who had now joined Robin at the desk. �I think we should tie her up and do shit to her.� Marc chuckled. �Shit like what?� �Oh, I got some ideas.� Robin and Marc tied Ms. Jefferson�s wrists to the arms of her chair and also tied her ankles together, while the rest of the class gradually gathered at the front to see what the boys were up to. �Anybody got a feather?� asked Robin. �I got a fuzzy thing on the end of my pen,� said one girl, thrusting her pen towards Robin. He accepted the pen with a nod. �Well, thank you. You�re being very helpful.� He inspected the pen, noticing that indeed, the end of it was covered with some purple feathery puff ball. This would do. He drew the pen slowly up Ms. Jefferson�s arch. She giggled and rubbed her feet together once more. Robin touched the ball to his teacher�s toes making them wiggle vigorously. She giggled then finally came to. �What are you guys doing?� Ms. Jefferson mumbled, after seeing the assemblage in front of her desk. She pulled at the twine around her wrists. �What�s going on?� she asked, becoming noticeably panicked. |
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| �Aw, we�re just playing a game, Ms. Jefferson.�
�What kind of game?� �It�s called �Ask Teacher�.� �Can�t we play �Ask Teacher� without me being tied up?� �No. It don�t work that way. Anybody have any questions? Ask her whatever the hell you want.� �When�s our next pop quiz?� someone offered. �Yeah, when�s our next pop quiz?� Robin asked. �I can�t tell you that.� �I think you can,� said Robin, dusting the ball of his teacher�s foot with his pen. Ms. Jefferson squealed and cackled, curling and wiggling her toes. �Robin, quit it! That tickles!� �I can imagine it does.� Marc held onto the twine around Ms. Jefferson�s ankles while Robin continued to tease both of her feet with his pen. �STOP! CHEHEHEHEEHEEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!� �When�s the quiz?� �Friday, okay!� Ms. Jefferson sputtered. �Good. Another question from the audience!� �What�s your middle name?� �Well?� said Robin. Ms. Jefferson just sat there, attempting to collect her breath. �I can�t hear you,� said Robin, feathering her arch, making her toes wiggle spasmodically as she again, exploded with laughter. �WAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA! IT�S NORA, OKAY!! WAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!� �What�s her first name?� Robin heard someone mutter. �Cone on, step it up people,� said Robin. �Ask her something hard.� �What�s one hundred and seventy-two times thirty-four?� asked Marc. �Genius!� Robin grinned. �Well, what about it?� asked Robin, poking Ms. Jefferson�s arch. |
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