Anna dropped her napkin, "Probably the best pizza I've ever had here."

"Glad you liked it since you picked it." John eyed the people around them, "Recognize anyone?"

"I may be from a small town but the state's pretty big." Anna snapped him with her napkin and he barely deflected it. "We're not all so inbred that we never travel outside our town."

"Then could I suggest a very indiscreet proposal?" John pulled out his mobile to check the time, "Mind getting a hotel?"

"Why?"

"It's late and I don't want to drive forty minutes back to Downton because, and I don't know about you, but I'm bushed."

"How scandalous." Anna feigned shock, "I don't usually sleep with someone on the first date."

"I don't either," John laughed, "But it's late and I'd hate to force you to drive back at this hour."

"That's noble of you, it truly is, but I always prefer my own bed." Anna stood, pulling bills from her wallet, "Though if you wanted a go at my couch it'll be better than whatever hotel you booked yourself into in town."

"Why?"

"Because unless it was Mrs. Patmore's bed and breakfasts you'll be sleeping on a thin mattress with a seventy percent chance of bedbugs." Anna left the cash, "Your choice."

"Won't everyone wonder who the strange man leaving your house tomorrow morning is?"

"Maybe." Anna winked at him, "But I've got a long driveway and I'm pretty sure no one goes out that far on a Saturday morning."

"How comfortable's your couch?" John stood as well, taking the box of leftover pizza from the table, "I've got a very finicky back and one wrong move on the wrong surface and I'll be in a brace for a month."

"Must be horrible being so old." Anna teased, opening her car door and popping the automatic locks for him to join her. "I can't imagine what it's like being as old as you are."

"Very funny."

Anna turned the key, "I thought so."

They managed all the town streets to get back to the motorway, heading southeast. Anna settled comfortably into the drive, smiling to herself when she caught John's rapid blinks. Her laughter startled him a bit and she briefly turned to catch his half grin before returning it with one of her own.

"What's got you smiling to yourself over there Ms. Smith?"

"You're trying so hard to stay awake and I don't know why you just don't fall asleep."

"I'd be a poor passenger if I did that."

"I don't mind." Anna waved a hand at him. "Honestly, if you were driving and I looked like I just managed twenty-four hours with no sleep I'd crash too."

"Thanks very much for not pointing out how shit I looked earlier."

"I thought it was rude before a date to comment on their appearance."

"Is that what that was?" John's face split into an even wider grin.

Anna snorted, "You're the one who asked me to dinner so you tell me, was it a date or not?"

"I'd say it was. That was what I intended it to be."

"Then we're settled, it was a date and now I can tell you that you loo like you need duct tape to keep your eyelids from drooping…" Anna cringed, "Or any of my fifth period seniors."

"What grades do you teach again?"

"I teach them all. I used to opt for an honors class-" Anna paused, "You do know how the American school system works yes?"

"I'm familiar with the fake version they show on TV and in their high school drama movies."

"Discount all the singing, the fact that no one teaches, and the spacious classrooms with less than fifteen students and you're about there." Anna merged into the other lane, "High school starts at the ninth grade and goes through the twelfth. That's usually ages fourteen to eighteen but some are thirteen to seventeen since the cut off for birthdays is September."

"Sounds complicated."

"We're the country that still follows the customary system." Anna signaled and took the exit. "Most students are in standard classes while smaller percentages are in remedial classes, special education, or honors coursework which occasionally crosses over with advanced placement classes."

"And what are those?"

"They're like college prep classes. If they get a high enough score on the test for those at the end of the year most universities and colleges in the States will take it as equivalent to beginning credit coursework." Anna shrugged, "It's a way to get ahead."

"So they're the smart ones?"

"If they know what's good for them students will challenge themselves but most of the ones I have are content to get into community colleges or state schools nearby." Anna sighed, "This state is a black hole. It sucks everyone back to it. Eighty percent of students graduating this year in this state will state in state schools. When they graduate there they'll get jobs in-state and then marry, in state, and then the cycle repeats."

"Do you disagree with that?"

Anna see-sawed her shoulders. "I don't know because I can't really tell them to run away and never come back since I'm back here after having left."

"But you left."

"I'm not sure we ever really leave a place. It's more like we get dragged back to it." Anna snorted, "The disgusting analogy, in this case, would be that you get something under your skin and it claws at you."

"That's what this state did?"

"It's how it ended up. People are more likely to stay close to home and family for convenience purposes. Very few people'll toss themselves hither and yon and risk a holiday alone."

"Did you?"

"I was lucky I made friends with Mary. I never had a lonely holiday in the Air Force."

"What about afterward?"

"I dragged Mary here and the cycle repeats." Anna stopped at a light, turning to take them deeper into the backroads. "I came back here for my mum initially."

"You mentioned that earlier."

"But then, when she wasn't getting better, I stayed. When she died I stayed because I'd built a life here. And when I realized I grew right back into my place I didn't know if I could leave."

"Would you want to?"

"Mary's been sending out her CV to as many places as she can find. If she can even move to Columbus she thinks she'll get a better shake with some schools there."

"Is it better?"

Anna shrugged, "At the end of the day schools really aren't that much different wherever you go. The kids are assholes, the students never perform the way the government wants them to, and you have coworkers who keep paper chains for all the major holidays. You're always losing your supplies, you have to play parent-teacher-psychologist-therapist-prison warden all in the same day- sometimes the same hour- and you bring home a pittance that gets sliced by taxes and union dues you're not even sure you want to pay."

"After all that I wonder why anyone does it."

"Because once, in a long while, you find that one student you touch to the core or there's a student who fought the good fight all the way to the bitter end and finally mastered something difficult or you realize you're the only person who ever believed in someone and they're just chuffed that they finally mean something to someone." Anna smiled to herself, "You never get over that kind of success anywhere else."

"I guess, in the end, the best question is whether or not it fulfills you."

"It staves off boredom and keeps me humble."

John faced her, turning toward her in his seat as they reached a four-way stop in the middle of the backwoods. "Does it fulfill you?"

Anna turned to him, noting the absolutely deserted roadways, before facing him. "It does. I couldn't really see myself doing anything else."

"Then that's all that matters." John settled back in his seat, "John Lennon once said that when asked what he wanted to be when he grew up he said, 'happy' and the teacher reprimanded him for not understanding the question."

"I know this," Anna snapped her fingers, "He said she didn't understand life."

John nodded, "When I was young my mother always asked me what problem I wanted to solve. Never what I wanted to be or what I wanted to do but what problem did I want to solve."

"Did you find it?"

"I found hundreds of them." John waved the question away, "The sad part about life is we can't split ourselves into a million version to do everything we always dreamed we could do when we were younger."

"I think that'd be rather frustrating."

"How'd you mean?"

"Then you'd be jealous of yourself." Anna opened a hand, "It's like the idea of identical twins. I've had a couple sets in the last few years and I've seen how different they are. Most, at first blush, think of them like they're the same but these are two distinct, and separate beings."

"I'm following."

"In your scenario we're looking at our personal iterations, in the millions or whatever, and wondering why we couldn't do what they did since we're the same and we'd believe that lie."

"Why's it a lie?"

"Did you ever watch Orphan Black?"

"I got through the first episode but one of the characters looked a little too much like my ex-wife so I really couldn't bear that."

"If you'd watched further you'd see that other than Tatiana Maslany's incredible acting ability, it poses the wonderful question about nature versus nurture."

"With the clones?"

"Yes. Each clone has all the visual similarities to their sisters but each is distinct and unique. Each, raised in secret from the others, formed their own personalities, their own desires, and their own selves. They're complete unique beings. Yet we're doomed to compare them because, to our minds, they should be exactly alike because they're the same person."

"But they're not?"

"No," Anna shook her head. "I'd rather dream about what other versions of me would've done than be confronted with what they did because then I'd compare myself to a reality instead of a fantasy and the fantasy always fades under the weight of the realization about our own successes."

John laughed, "You're one of the deepest thinkers I've ever met."

"I'll take that compliment and return one to you with the comment that I think you're one of the most patient passengers I've had endure my thoughts train."

"It's been an enjoyable ride so I won't say no to another jaunt if you're feeling up to it."

Anna pulled her car down a little hill and then through a few switchbacks before parking in front of a refurbished farmhouse. "Maybe tomorrow, when I take you to get your car and we take a little tour of the area. Tonight I think we could both use some sleep."

She got out of the car, waiting for John to collect his rollerbag and briefcase from the back seat, before taking him up the backstairs to the porch. It took her a moment to find the right key in the dark but had the door open a moment later to let John into the house before locking the door behind them. Her fingers found the switch and her kitchen, with the large island, came into view before John ran into it with his hip.

"Careful, it's granite." Anna led him through the kitchen to the hallway, opening a door and flipping the light on to show him the room. "And this is your room."

"When you said couch I thought you were being serious."

"I was until I realized that'd be poor hospitality."

"You paid for dinner."

"I picked the restaurant." Anna pointed to the corner, "There's an outlet there for your phone and computer but I don't have a converter so-"

"I've got a couple." John put his bag on the bed, unzipping it, "I don't travel without at least three because I'm always bound to lose one."

"Reality of travel." Anna motioned to him, stepping into the hall to open the door right across from his. "This is the bathroom."

"Good thing you've got one because the alternative is less appealing."

"I've an outhouse too. Somewhere in the back of the property." Anna walked to the shower, pulling the curtain slightly to demonstrate how to work it. "Pull out to get the water going and then up here to send it through the shower head."

"How long until it's warm?"

"Depends on whether or not the water heater decides to act up." Anna flipped them off, drying her hand."

"That happen often?"

"We're working off an electronically pumped well, Mr. Bates." Anna shrugged, "We cater to it, not the other way around."

"And you live in this place all by yourself?"

"It was my mother's and now it's mine." Anna clasped her hands together, "If I follow in Mary's footsteps then I'll put it up for sale at the end of the school year."

"You'd do that?"

"I've already sold off most of the back property to the farm next door when they were bought out by a larger group and some of the flatter ground I got a good deal on from some developers."

"And the rest of it?"

"I won't sell anything wooded or any of the creek since I'm pretty partial to walking in nature when I can get myself away from the papers I've got to mark." Anna led them back to the hall. "But mostly I just stare out at it through those big windows next to the fireplace in the living room and I don't want my view ruined by ugly condominiums or cows."

"Not a fan of neighbors or farms?"

"I'm not a fan of people outside of school."

"Ah," John snapped his fingers, "You're an introvert."

"All the best English teachers are." Anna tried to hide a yawn, sending them both to giggles. "Sorry, I guess we both need sleep and I'm keeping you up, prattling on about my house."

"I don't mind." John lowered his voice and Anna felt a catch in the back of her throat. "I could listen to you read the phone book and I'd be fine with it."

"No one has phone books anymore."

"Well… the dictionary then."

"No on-"

John stopped her, raising his hand. "Doesn't matter, I enjoy listening to you and thank you for letting me stay here."

"You're welcome and thank you for listening." Anna blushed a little, "It's been awhile since I've had anyone who really wanted to listen to me."

"More fools them."

"You forget, I work with teenagers."

"Point still stands." John nodded to her, "Goodnight Ms. Smith."

"Goodnight Mr. Bates."

Anna left the hallway, risking a look back at him on her way up the open stairs to the master bedroom. As she got ready for bed she could hear him below her and smiled. Tucking herself in she listened for the comforting sounds of someone else in a house that sat empty for far too long.