flashback to the fall

I saw two white T-shirts streak past my window in the rain. Who-? Charlie and Lee have started running again. Lee saw me open the door and stick my head out, and he hollered back, "You gunna be around tonight?"

"Why?"

"College algebra finals are coming up."

"Ah. Yeah, come on over when you're done."

And so Lee came over, and we hunched over algebra at my kitchen table, with the front door wide open and the trailer more lit than usual because I want to be as transparent as possible and I don't want the neighbors talking. I actually don't teach Lee: He graduated last spring. It's the weird age where we don't know whether to treat each other like friends or more of a teacher-student relationship. Ms. Chang or Lily? I mean, I used to run with him, but I also teach his sister.

Lee's a cocky, Yankee-hating, talkative boy. In the fall, he would come over several times a week for math help, but then he dropped the class, and I hadn't seen much of him since. So you can see why the scene tonight seemed so familiar but distant to me. The beginning of the school year - even my second year - seems ages ago.

Tutoring Lee takes time, but I like the mental exercise of the algebra and I like knowing I haven't lost the touch.