She glanced at the clock, peeking at the students with their heads bent over their desks, before calling time. Some of the students groaned, a choice few threw their pencils on their desks, and everyone else just sighed. With a barely contained smile she took her place in the front of the room.

"Now I'm sure you're all wondering why I'd be so cruel as to give you an impossible task for ten minutes." A few nods were punctuated with more verbal responses. "But, if you'd had the sense to actually read the instructions at the beginning you'd notice all you really needed was to write your name and then circle 'A' on all of it."

The class went into an uproar until she put her thumb and middle finger in her mouth to whistle shrilly at them. They quieted and she held up one of the tests. "I've been saying it for weeks and I thought this would help it sink in better. Reading instructions fully and completely is critical to doing well on your assignments in future. And, much as you'll all hate this, this is graded."

"What?" Everyone let out their collective exclamations and someone lifted their hand to the air.

"Yes, you have a question?"

"Oh, no, I was just pointing out how unfair it all is."

"We don't point like that." She stuck up her middle finger, "We cite our disagreements like this."

Everyone laughed and the bell rang. She clapped her hands together. "Alright, put your papers on my desk and I'll see you after the weekend."

They cleared out of the classroom and she let out a long breath before stacking the papers, tucking them into her bag. Someone knocked on the frame of her door and she turned to smile at the thin form of the woman taking up space in the doorway. "I'm moving as fast as I can Mary."

"Right?" Mary snorted, pointing at the disarray of the desk. "Because this is fast."

"I do have a final period, unlike yourself."

"Don't complain to me if you don't like it Anna." Mary shrugged, "Maybe you should think about switching over to AP."

"I happen to like the students who aren't so neurotic they're having dramatic breakdowns in your classroom on a weekly basis."

"It's not weekly." Anna pursed her lips and Mary shrugged. "Maybe once every two weeks."

"My point still stands." Anna finished gathering the papers on her desk, organizing the mess until she could live with what was left. "I happen to like that the worst thing that happens in my class if someone yells an inappropriate word or they fail it."

"You like that they fail?"

"I like that they're not borderline suicidal when they do." Anna adjusted the strap on her bag and put it over her shoulder. "They tell you, in the Air Force, that nothing will be more difficult than what you do there."

"I don't think they ever taught high school to a group of rednecks too far from civilization to realize the world's bigger than they are."

"Hey," Anna swatted at Mary, "As a born and bred redneck I take umbrage to that."

"You should since you couldn't stay away from this town." Mary unlocked her car, "And I was the idiot that believed you when you said, 'Hey, once we finish, we should go be teachers'."

"You always wanted to teach."

"I intended to teach at a private school somewhere in Columbus or even Cincinnati. Not forty miles east of Athens." Mary pulled her door open and leaned over it to continue talking to Anna. "I put out my CV again."

"Again? Why?"

Mary waved her hand at their surroundings, "Because eventually this'll crumble to dust and I need to be ready for that eventuality." She pointed at Anna, "You should be too."

"I couldn't imagine teaching anywhere else."

"Says the woman who told me, in no less than three bars on two continents, that you never wanted to move back here. To the 'black hole'. Your words, not mine."

"I know what I said and I know what I did to get away but…" Anna slumped, "Home is home, Mary. We can't make ourselves any different than we are."

"Unfortunately for you." Mary ducked into her car. "I still expect you for happy hour. It's Friday and we're going to enjoy it."

"Please don't tell me we're trucking to Athens to out-drink a college crowd."

"Technically you're still the college crowd." Mary winked, "Ms. 'I've almost got my doctorate'."

"I do almost have it. Another meeting with my advisor and she approves the thesis. Then I can move up to another pay bracket."

"Or you could send out your CV with mine and go somewhere." Mary leaned out her open window, her engine humming. "Ever think about applying to be a professor at the Academy?"

"Not sure they'd have me back."

"Please. Captain Anna Smith, Special Forces with her perfect record and mathematic scores?" Mary snorted, "Right, like they wouldn't be knocking down your door to get you after you publish your thesis."

"I really wish you wouldn't make a big deal out of this."

"Anna." Mary turned off her car as Anna leaned on hers. "As much as I love the rural nature of this place that means the same five men hit on me and I refuse them once a week, or the fact that I live in a shit hole just a door down from you, or even that we're getting paid shit so we're piss poor but doing good work, I've served my time with that. I'm ready for something bigger than that. You should be too."

"Maybe."

"When you get your head around the idea that the world can be your oyster instead of your snow globe, I'll tell you who's hiring." Mary turned her car back on, "Happy hour, coming or not?"

"I'll be there." Anna waved Mary out of the parking lot before tucking herself into her own car.

She pulled out of the lot and managed the narrow back roads toward town. Rusting and crumbling buildings flitted past her, landmarks of another age. Monuments to a better time.

Coming over the hill she swerved to avoid the car driving right at her with headlights momentarily blinding her. Anna managed to avoid the ditch and screeched to a halt in the gravel. Breathing hard she managed to stop the shake to her hands before getting out of her car.

"I'm so sorry." She looked across the road to see the man getting out of her car. She also noted the long scratch down the side of his car.

Turning to her own vehicle, Anna cursed. "Oh shit!"

"I'm sorry."

"I'd hope so. You sideswiped my car." Anna put a hand through her hair, shaking her head at the streak of paint and visible metal.

"It was an honest mistake."

"There are double yellow lines on this road." Anna turned, taking a step back slightly when she noticed how close he was now. He almost towered over her. Most did, the problem with being small, but something about his appearance comforted instead of menaced.

"I know."

"Then what's your honest mistake?"

"I'm not from around here."

"I got that from your accent but I'd assume you had some driving training since you rented that car." She pointed to his car across the road. "Even for a Limey like yourself, driving's not difficult."

"How'd you know I was a Limey?"

"I was stationed in Harrogate for two years."

"Explains the tip of a Yorkshire accent you've got there."

Anna folded her arms over her chest, "I liked the Yorkshire accent. Something very attractive about how they drawl their vowels."

"I don't disagree." He held up his hands and then pointed at her car. "Afraid I fell into a bit of a trance and then forgot about driving on the wrong side of the road."

"What could've entranced you?"

"It's beautiful here."

Anna raised an eyebrow then pivoted on her heel to give attention to the forested hills around them. With a shrug she retook her position. "I guess there's a bit of charm to it but I've lived here so long I don't notice it anymore."

"Time for a vacation. Give you time to miss it."

"I thought ten years in the Air Force would've done that."

"How'd you ever find a hidden gem like this?"

Anna snorted, "I was born here and it sucked me back. Welcome to Ohio, sir, the black hole of the United States."

"Why'd you say that?"

"No one ever really leaves this state. They just go away for awhile before coming right back. It's the way it works here."

"We go where we feel comfortable."

"I guess." Anna knocked on her car, "I hope you've got some insurance to cover this Mr.-?"

"Bates. John Bates." He extended a hand and Anna shook it. "And I do. I never travel without it."

"Get into a lot of scrapes then?"

"No," He laughed, "It's just good business practice."

"I bet it is." Anna opened her door again, digging in the glove box for her insurance information. "I'd better gets yours and you get mine then."

"Right." He jogged back to his car, digging around for it, and came back.

Handing over two cards, he took the one Anna gave him. She read the information on the first card and then his second. "Industrialist and entrepreneur?"

"It means I manage businesses."

"I'm an English teacher, Mr. Bates, I know the definition of entrepreneur."

"English teacher, Air Force veteran… is there anything you haven't done yet Ms.-?"

"Smith, Anna Smith, and a great many things." She finished recording the information and handed back the insurance card. "But, to impress you more at the moment-"

"Not sure you could do that."

His smile caught her off guard but Anna recovered. "I also teach Mathematics."

"English and Mathematics." He hissed through his teeth, "You can't be horribly popular with your students."

"They actually like me quite a bit thank you very much." Anna opened her door, but stopped. "If you want, I know a garage in town that'll fix your scrape and mine in an hour then you can get wherever you're going."

"How close is town?"

"Downton's only ten minutes from here."

"You're going to Downton?"

"Yeah?" Anna raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"That's where I'm headed."

"Kismet." Anna got into her car, lowering the window as she turned the key. "Follow me then Mr. Bates."

"May I propose a condition?"

"Go on."

"You allow me to buy you a drink. Call it compensation for your car."

Anna considered him a moment before nodding, "If you think you can manage it, yes."

He smiled, "Perfect. Give me a minute."

Anna watched him get into his car, signaling to her he was ready when she was. She pulled back onto the road, occasionally looking at his car in her rearview mirror. Religious but not superstitious, Anna could swear something happened to her when they met on the road. Something that had her stomach celebrating that he was right behind her. Something that got her blood up and excited her. Something about Mr. Bates that had her feeling like a teenager again.

She was not entirely sure she liked it.

Then again, she was not entirely sure she did not either.