op 11

Watch the Sky / Patty Larkin










Having seen the campus the day before, Lead was not initially nervous as he Jack approached the school Monday morning. However, arriving to see it bustling with plaid uniforms and navy blazers had given Lead pause; it seemed to invigorate Jack. When Jack suggested that they go get coffee and let students enter their first period classes before they carried materials into the lab, Lead was exceedingly grateful.



They parked the car in Lead’s driveway and walked down the hill to the coffee shop. As more kids passed them walking up hill for their first classes Lead wondered if he had made the biggest mistake of his life. Did he really care if wombats were successful at the Franklin Park zoo? Care enough to give up summer? Live in a strange place, surrounded by laughing, jostling kids?


Lead sighed heavily as he and Jack stood on the street in front of the coffee house. There were kids here too, wandering the street, brushing past him with a tossed off “‘cuse me.” Jack heaved open the glass door and the two entered to stand in line behind three young women with plaid skirts, blue knee socks and the tails of their white blouses sticking out from under blue sweaters. They chattered about some kind of clothing, though not without clearly noticing the two men behind them.


“Get me something with milk and sugar.” Jack asked Lead and disappeared to the back of the room.


Lead nodded and glanced around. The room was long, narrow and dark. It would have been dark regardless, but the light wasn’t helped by the fact that a large copper coffee grinder stood as decoration on his left blocking a fair amount of one of the store’s front windows. The walls were painted what appeared to be a deep blood red. Mexican colored artwork lined the walls. Lead inched forward as the girls ordered a variety of lattes that clearly they were taking back to friends waiting elsewhere. There were probably a dozen tables in the room, most of them taken. Lead figured those who weren’t in navy and plaid were probably faculty. He sighed heavily again and checked his watch vaguely aware that others were lining up behind him. Lead hadn’t moved ahead any when Jack returned.


“Hi.” Jack nodded confidently and smiled at the girls in line, who had clearly watched him approach.


“Hi…” one replied weakly as the tall handsome man stepped behind them to join his brother. They quickly turned their backs toward him in a flurry of whispers.


Jack chuckled at someone standing behind Lead. Uncomfortably, Lead glanced over his shoulder, hoping there was not another crowd of adolescent girls standing there too. Directly behind him was an old man, quite engrossed in the book he carried. However behind him stood a small, pretty woman, her shoulder length black hair falling forward as she had turned her head to study the coffee grinder. She was biting her lip trying unsuccessfully not to laugh. Leave it to Jack to make contact with women everywhere he went, Lead thought staring at the woman a moment, his gaze interrupted as the line inched forward an Jack ordered.