Fanciful & Unfounded IV

Journal Assignment: #4 Sordid Study Session

"Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you." - J.P. Sartre

One page, single spaced, times new roman. Go! Be free!

-Professor Brink

It was a crisp winter day. It was good day for making sandwiches, fighting primates, and defending small villages. In short, it was a very bad day for going to the library. The library is good place – generally. But sometimes it can be a bad place. If one were to be (hypothetically) failing a certain class, and if one were in turn obligated to receive tutoring for that class in the library, then it is safe to say that the library would be a bad place. Tutoring might as well be torturing. Asking for help was never Alexa’s strong point, and this was excessively horrible. Oh well, she thought, at least it will be over in an hour. Yeah, over in an hour. She repeated this little mantra to herself (over in an hour) as she approached the library. Over in an hour, she pushed open the door. Over in an hour, she searched the bottom floor for a place to sit down. Seated in a cushy red chair she pulled her backpack into her lap and checked her watch. 3 minutes until humiliation. Two.

“Hey – Hi, are you Alexa?” a tall ruggedly handsome guy asked.

“Yes I am!” Alexa responded. Over in an hour?!

“Cool, so let’s get started,” he said pulling up a chair next to her. He smelled spicey and sweet at the same time, and even a little salty. He was like the food channel, only human. Alexa was enthralled. “So you’re having some trouble with Grapes of Wrath?”

“Yeah,” Alexa confessed, “I really don’t get it.”

“Don’t worry,” he said confidently, taking out a notebook and opening it to a fresh page, “I didn’t understand it the first time I read it either.” They worked steadily for an hour. Talking with someone else about the novel really helped Alexa, and this listener was so hott physically attractive.

“Grapes of Wrath can lead you in circles,” tutor Todd said pointing to a passage in his heavily annotated copy.

“Tell me about it!” Alexa said sighing.

“Oh don’t get to worried!” he said looking at her with concern.

“No, I’m not,” she said “it’s just –“

Their eyes locked across the table. His blue eyes searched hers and she looked away shyly.

“Steinbeck has this way of incorporating symbols that you wouldn’t expect,” Todd shared. “Like in this passage,” he gestured to her, “you might think he’s talking about one character, but he’s just using him as an archetype.”

“You’re right, I totally missed that!” Alexa said, “Does he do that often?”

“Oh, all the time,” Todd rejoined, “His novels are practically parables!”

“Todd,” Alexa said seriously, standing up.

He rose and read her meaning, “Do you want to get out of here?”

Her eyes traced the line of his sculpted body through his rumpled tee shirt. The answer was yes (oh yes). She nodded mutely. He reached for her hand, and the book she was holding tumbled to the floor.

“Let me get that,” he said bending down, so that she could observe his body at the best possible angle. Her breath caught. So. Manly. Todd retrieved her novel, and they quitted the library. They progressed hand in hand through the doors. Outside, It was snowing. The fluffy precipitation blanketed the campus, glossing over the landscape’s imperfections. Todd took Alexa’s hands gently and waltzed with her through the falling flakes. Snow landed in his black hair, delighting it by contrast. How lucky, she thought, that I should have such a supportive tutor. Todd’s hands massaged her back. He pulled her close and kissed her. His lips were warm and attentive.

“I’m going to need a new tutor,” she sighed.

This is - I don't really know how to talk about this.

Sincerely,

Alexa

I feel that your stories are running towards the fanciful and unfounded. For this next assignment, which I'm sure you know is hyperrealism, please keep to straight facts.

-A. Brink

You know your tutor has a girlfriend, right? He's also not that attractive.

Love, Sylvie