Seasons of Ferne, Summer's Passion

Chapter 5

First period English was one of Evelyn's favorites. The teacher, Mr. Taylor, he of the ever present cup of coffee and endless variety of plaid shirts, was quite the old school literature buff. Each new month brought with it a new focus, one never seeming to relate to the next. One month's study of the Odyssey could give way to a month of Aesop's Fables, followed by a month of Beowulf. The random nature of his lessons may have driven some of his students crazy, but Evelyn enjoyed the breakup.

This month was A Midsummer Night's Dream, one of her favorites. That morning however, she was having trouble focusing on the lesson. Thoughts of her new life and her future distracted her, pulling her eyes dreamily to the windows as she focused on the bright blue morning sky. Wisps of white clouds danced in the wind, playing with Evelyn's imagination as they frolicked in the open air. White birds would morph into jumping rabbits, stretching into leaping deer as they played in early June sky.

"Evelyn? Are you still with us?" A deep voice asked, snapping her into focus.

Evelyn snapped her head around to the sounds of snickering classmates, feeling their judgments and silent ridicule as a cold breeze against her skin. Her face turned hot as she looked up at Mr. Taylor, his eyebrows raised inquisitively at her over the bright yellow and highly cliché smiley-faced cup. "Yes, sorry." She said, darting her own eyes back down to the page of her textbook.

"Then would you be kind enough to read the next line so we can begin our discussion?" He asked, placing his cup down and sitting on the corner of his desk.

Evelyn's face turned warmer as she felt another wave of cold air hit her when a few of the girls sitting behind her snickered again. She had no idea where they were in the play and her teacher knew it, her admittance to that fact was his little punishment for daydreaming. Evelyn sighed, taking in the heavy scent of flowered perfume some of her more popular classmates wore. Wishing she were outside smelling real flowers, Evelyn choked back her pride and focused on the teacher. "I'm sorry, I'm not sure where we are?" she said quietly.

"Not the only thing she's clueless about..." A girl whispered behind her, bringing on more snickering. Mr. Taylor looked past Evelyn sternly, his irritation growing.

"That's enough, Jessica." He snapped before turning back to Evelyn. "Act two, Scene one. We're in the middle of the argument between Oberon and Titania, just after Oberon demands the changeling boy from Titania."

Evelyn scanned the page until she found the lines. "How much do you want me to read?" she asked.

"Just Tiania's lines." He replied, sipping again from his cup. The smiley face almost seemed to taunt Evelyn as the teacher brought it to his lips, finding it hard to 'have a nice day' after embarrassing herself in front of Jessica and her friends.

Evelyn sighed again and began reading:

"Set your heart at rest: 

The fairy land buys not the child of me. 

His mother was a votaress of my order: 

And, in the spiced Indian air, by night, 

Full often hath she gossip'd by my side, 

And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands, 

Marking the embarked traders on the flood, 

When we have laugh'd to see the sails conceive 

And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind; 

Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait