DISCLAIMER : I DO NOT OWN THESE CHARACTERS ..BUT LIKE AUTHOR OF -REUNIFICATION- I WOULDN'T MIND OWNING ERIC STOLTZ.


REVIEWS: PLEASE REVIEW ..FEEDBACK WOULD BE HELPFUL.I CAN TAKE CRITISISM AND OPEN TO SUGGESTION.


CHAPTER SUMMARY: GRACE DOESN'T GET ANYMORE WINE IN THIS CHAPTER..BUT THINGS DO GET FRIENDLY (NOT THE WAY THAT SOUNDS ). THIS IS MY VERSION OF POSSIBLE EVENTS LEADING UP TO GSA. READ AWAY.











THE SPACE BETWEEN






A.D - And finally everyone for tomorrow please read The Turn of the Screw. I'll be expecting some insightful feedback and lots of questions on this one. I expect everyone (emphasis on that word & said with sarcasm ) to come prepared to participate . So thank you.


Grace listened and with her head tilted down made a note of required reading. She looked up just as Mr.Dimitri finished talking. He had been leaning against his desk with arms animately gesturing- trying , all though each day it seemed to get harder to make the effort , to create some enthusiasm among the blank stares of the majority. This was a familiar pose for him. Grace smiled, just hearing his voice ,it was like the tone the infliction of it ...... Every word he said meant something ,you could tell that and he way he chose to say it well thought-out. Hadn't he said " Everything means something" and no thought and action is ever without result. No actions is ever really lost. The smile expanded as she focused on the cleft in his chin.







The collective everyone begin shuffling papers, talking , rising and gradually the group thined. Mr.Dimitri moved to sit at his desk, pushing a lock of red hair aside -tucking it behind the ear. He started to look for something. Grace seizing the opportunity approached and launched into speech:



G- I was wondering....I mean you may not even remember but a while back ,when we were doing the play you mentioned Emily Dickinson. (Ackwardly) I guess it sort of inspired me you know to read some of her stuff ....(with gaining confidence ) and it's good. But I also have some questions. I don't know if you would mind...


He cut her off.


A.D- Of course. Right now I have a class coming but if you have a free period or even after school come by and I'll be here and I'll try my best.


A self depreciating smile.


A few students started to enter the classroom ..grade nine. She didn't know any of the faces. Dimitri smiled at her and started to look towards the door watching them enter. Grace put her backpack on his desk and hurriedly began looking through one of the pockets. She removed a paper folded in a square and handed it to Mr.Dimitri.



G- Here. Whenever you have time it's about this. I'll see you later..I can't be late for my next class.



He took the paper and placed it on his desk near coffee thermos -unopened. He watched her leave.










A computer printout..





EMILY DICKINSON


I Dwell in Possibility


I Dwell in Possibility-
A fairer House than Prose
More numerous of Windows-
Superior- for Doors-

Of Chambers as the Cedars-
Impregnable of Eye-
And for an Everlasting Roof-
The Gambrels of the Sky-

Of Visitors- the fairest-
For Occupation-This-
The spreading wide of narrow Hands
To gather Paradis-



And at the bottom in writing he recognized so very well.
Possibility impregnable of eye?
Doors? When only possibility there is still an escape route ,but as reality written in prose fewer doors.
Windows? Optional choice of perspective.
Visitors? Can you really choose.









He refolded the paper, she was certainly mysterious- cryptic even. He wanted to hear explanations and her answers ... He had had an appointment planned for after school. He was supposed to met Chris for dinner- she was in town again for weekend ,some kind of conference , thinking...... he thought well that was not until 5:30 there was time. Suddenly he found his mood had improved and he was looking forward to seeing her again.






He waited and she never came.


He wondered why. He knew in the back of his mind though he would not ask her. Some questions we keep, some we throw away in a game of fetch hoping the answers we need are returned. He slowing packed up his leather bag and left the room.

Outside walking to his car -reserved parking 122. He passed student parklot....it was slightly out of the way but not much. He casually looked. He knew she drove her mother's veh to school sometimes. A dark coloured Ford explorer wasn't it? Nothing.









~*******************~


Manning/Sammler Manor



G- Mom I didn't know you were planning on picking me up.
She is sitting at table ( 2 tables actually pushed together to form one...in a way a parallel to 2 families now one- touching yet still each also having there own identities) and leafing through a magazine.


Lily's getting dishes out and preparing to work on dinner. No take-out tonight.


L- Well I was in the neighbourhood. I was surprised to find you still there at 3:30 though I thought you would have raced away. I know that's what Jessie....


G- Actually I had some questions about an assignment and was going to ask Mr.Dimitri ( slight hesitation here ) ,but no big thing it can wait until tomorrow.


L- Oh. Ok then ..unless you want me to try and that a look at it Gracie. I have been known to have answers you know (jokingly).


G- No it's ok. ( More quietly )You wouldn't understand.


She gets up and leaves room.







~**********************~


ZOE'S RESTAURANT



At a table for two August Dimitri is sitting with a dark haired woman. Some sort of pasta salads are half eaten on the table.



Chris- ...and then I thought Gus would love that! (Laughter )



No response. August had a rather blank look on his face ..he was thinking. Chris took his silence for something else. She never could understand him- he was funny and charming, sweet even but always something eluded her. A very complex man. She reflected he had been sort of off all evening and even at one point when he had not realized she was looking, an unguarded moment , angry. She wondered why. People always wondered about August Dimitri once they knew him for a while , he gave every appearance of openess and was a great friend but you never felt you actually knew him. And you really wanted to.



A.D- Do you remember studying Emily Dickinson in college?


Chris- Sure, I guess. I remember a lot of things. But I was never crazy about her, I always thought she was too weak ,pathetic even and her writing lacked clarity. She lived her life scared and of what. "Nothing to fear but fear itself" right ?


D- I think that was why I liked her most..her strength. I mean it's easy to say confidence and strength are beautiful and they are I'm not denying that. But strength isn't always found where you expect it to be. That's why I liked Dickinson, it was harder for her because she felt things so much but still was brave enough to put her thoughts and opinions out in the world to be judged. And as for clarity if you mean no clear end and beginning, well I'll concede that point....but what is an ending to something is almost always the beginning of something new.



Dimitri w small smile looks down and pitchs fork into piece of lettuce. He looks up and gives Chris larger smile and hint of laugh.


Chris - You'll never guess who I saw at this club last week . Jim and wait till I tell you who he was with.....









~*************************~



That night he read her words: A short story (one she had given him shortly after Christmas break) Titled Pictures:




The Queen was always right, yet she failed in everything to see the truths before her. The Queen was blind. Once she had seen with eyes so comforting but now her vision was rapidly failing. Still a fear lingers that the cataracts will clear , as it has been said that will happen in a few years and now there are new secrets to hide. Let her eyes be blind just a short time longer , please. Or do we ever know what we really want. Maybe the impairment is already one of choice. Do we get to choose what we hide or is it never a choice. Sometimes what we know to be true don't we push it away - a safety net- by pushing knowledge into a subconscious. Safely tucked away to open and examine years later when what is hidden holds no pain.




He stopped reading. Picking up a pen he wrote on last page of story his critique. He analysed use of voice , grammar etc all the things as a teacher he learned to do with no effort.



Then he wrote , Grace- You asked sometime ago about stories for extra credit..here is a challenge. Read and review the following. 500 words -what does it mean?
Mean to you..not what you think I want to hear.







Woodstock by Joni Mitchell



I came upon a child of God
He was walking along the road
And I asked him, where are you going
And this he told me.....

Chorus

Then can I walk beside you
I have come here to lose the smog
And I feel to be a cog in the something burning
Well maybe it is just the time of the year
Or maybe it's the time of man
I don't know who I am
But life is for learning

Chorus
We are stardust
We are golden
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

By the time we got to Woodstock
We were half a million strong
And everwhere there was song and celebration
And I dreamed I saw the bombers
Riding shotgun in the sky
And they were turning into butterflies
Above our nation

Chorus






He was about to sign August. He stopped ..signed Mr.Dimitri.








~**************************~



Next day in class when he passed back to students corrected work he also gave Grace her story. She turned as he knew she would to last page. It was not what she had expected he could tell....she frowned perplexed.

The Bell rang.

He had expected her to stop and talk but she did not , she left with the others. He had expected at least an explanation or apology about yesterday's no show. Grace was good at apologies he remembered.










On Lunch hour he was not disappointed. He was listening to walkman- Pulp Fiction soundtrack. He just rediscovered the movie again when it aired 2 or 3 days earlier on TMN. Urge Overkill he liked that music.. kind of funky;






"You never get tired of putting me down
and I never know when I come around...what I'm gonna find
Don't let them make up your mind "





He remembered scene where John Travolta character phoned Lance. And Lance "Are you calling me from a cell phone ... I don't know who this is".


He laughed out loud.


Grace entering the classroom asked - What's so funny?
Seeing he was alone that is.


A.D- Nothing, I was just thinking of something I saw recently...(he noticed expectant look ,she was waiting for him to continue).... a movie actually. I do actually have a life you know and occasionally they let me out of school.


G- What movie? (said very much like Rick in EitT)


D- Pulp Fiction


G- Yea, I've seen that ..it was confusing but very cool. No one ever knows who I mean when I say my favorite character was Lance....he only had bit part so no one thinks of him much after movie ends. But ...


D- I know Lance.


He laughs and lets her in one earlier joke. They both laugh.


G- I should go I was supposed to meet Lisa for lunch. I just wanted to talk about..(she stops ) actually you know what I can come back later if that's alright?


D- Ok, after school.


G- I'll be there.





Turning she walked towards door. August is still looking after her. She turned back at doorway and gave him a smile and slight laugh.








To be continued.....