Lectures

Rivershadow  (I think you'll like this one at least)

In the style of Frederic and Annabeth Chase

"Coffee is way more effective than sleeping with the teacher," Danielle said matter-of-factly.

"You are bad," Marie replied shaking her head.

"How am I bad? I'm finding healthy alternatives to prostitution. I am an excellent person." Danielle said as they crossed the campus in silence to get back to the auditorium where they were listening to a lecture on the American Civil War. This was their twenty minute break in the six hour lecture, and they were lucky to have gotten to the tiny coffee stand before the rest of the students.

They climbed down the amphitheater steps to go on the stage where their professor was straightening out some papers. On the way down the steps, Marie noticed someone new; a little girl sitting in the front row. She had a pillow tucked underneath her legs and a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. A backpack was on the seat next to her, lumpy as if it was filled with books. A water bottle stuck out from the top.

They crossed the stage.

"Hey Doc, we brought you coffee." Danielle said handing him a cup.

"Thank you," Dr. Chase said, looking up from his papers and stunned by the gift. "Finally two people who know how to ace the course."

Danielle shot Marie a meaningful look.

"How are you two doing?"

Dr. Chase had recently helped Marie get into a really tight research program about the Civil war last week. He'd argued with his fellow director for ages and gotten Marie in even if she didn't have a BA yet. She'd spent a week away from classes and her job picking through South Carolinian family heirlooms that were actually Civil War relics and trying to place them in history for a show called Souvenirs from History that would air on the History Channel. She was in even more debt than she'd been before, but it had totally been worth it. For some reason she thought that Dr Chase had a soft spot for her.

Danielle whizzed through the latest awesome thing she'd done, making Dr Chase laugh.

"Who's the little guest at the front?" Danielle asked after he'd finished laughed. "I didn't know that they made prodigies that young."

"Oh, they do." He said with a smile. "That's my daughter, Annabeth."

"That's a cute name." Marie said. It was very unusual, and didn't carry itself well for a little girl. It sounded so very proper and grown up. She tried to figure out a meaning, an etymology... maybe it was an anagram for something.

"Hmm, she's a cute kid." He said. "Also particularly bright. I think she understands more of my lectures than some of the students who pay to be here."

"Well that's not hard," Marie mumbled. She had a very high intolerance for ignorance.

"Well I'm not supposed to pronounce myself on the subject, but you're right Marie; it is not." He said.

"Wouldn't she rather stay home, though? Draw, run around, play?" Danielle asked.

"Nope." Dr Chase said. "She likes reading, and she rather read here, so she says. The background noise or the history might interest her- but I think she's really just a daddy's girl. But don't tell her I said so."

Marie smiled. She liked this kid.

"Do you mind if we go say hello?"

"Oh, no, go for it. She's reading right now, so she may take a few seconds to answer- I only got about five minutes of chatting out of her. But I promise she doesn't bite. Unless she's at a good part."

Danielle giggled but Marie knew that that was a serious risk for a fact. As a child her father wouldn't even touch her if she was reading a book and was really into it, and had found little ways to tell if she was, too.

They left him to his papers and went to go meet her.

Danielle knelt in front of her.

"Hi," she said.

As promised it took a few seconds for her to look up, but Annabeth did with startlingly grey and stunningly intelligent eyes. They were unsettling to Marie.

"Hello," she replied courteously.

"My name's Dani," Danielle said. "And you are?"

"Annabeth May Chase," she replied holding out to her hand.

"Good to meet you," Danielle said with an 'aww, cute' smile, shaking Annabeth's hand. "That's a nice name."

"You have a pretty middle name too, sweetheart." Marie said.

"My daddy likes a writer called Louisa May Alcott. She was my mommy's favourite too, that's what he told me but I have no reasonable or adequate proof." Annabeth said. "He said that I'll have to read her books when I'm old enough and I hope that's soon."

"I read Little Women when I was nine," Marie said. "She was one of my mother's favourites too."

"I'll read Little Women when I'm nine too." Annabeth nodded.

"Make sure to read Little Men too," Marie said.

"I don't like sequels," Annabeth said.

"This one's a good sequel. You can ask your mother." Marie said.

"Oh I can't do that," Annabeth said shaking her head. "My mother's gone and I don't know her name so I can't look in the phone book."

"Okay," Danielle said. She rescued the conversation by asking Annabeth what she was reading. She went into a deep discussion about Harry Potter.

Marie tugged on her scarf and pondered something. She looked over at Dr. Chase who was now correcting essays, giving Annabeth, Marie and Danielle some space.

No way.

But she took a good look at Annabeth... The curls, the language, the eloquence... and the eyes. Especially the eyes.

She walked over.

"Annabeth told us that she doesn't know her mother," she said.

Dr Chase looked up shocked, as if he was expecting to have to argue with her about it.

"That's correct," he said. "She came out of nowhere when Annabeth was born and left her with me."

"And she told us that her middle name is May because her mother's favourite writer was Louisa May Alcott."

"She tells too much too quickly," he muttered under his breath. He was right; he'd have to get her not to if Marie's hypothesis was correct.

"And I saw her eyes."

"Everyone has eyes."

"My middle name is Louisa," Marie said.

Dr Chase looked at her and he smiled a bit.

"I was wondering how long it'd take you to figure it out after you met her," he said. "I was betting on more than ten seconds."

"About two minutes," Marie said. "Though her name is an anagram for 'Athena' if you add an 'a' and a 'b', so I suppose that I had a head start."

He smiled to himself and shook his head.

"Is it that obvious?"

"No, I've just anagrammed words in my head since I was a child to stay focused, and calm when people were bothering me." Marie said. "How long have you known that I was a child of Athena?"

"Since you walked into this class and asked your very first question." Dr Chase said. "Also when you inverted the letters like b and d on your first report draft- dyslexia, I assumed."

"Is that..." Marie hesitated. This might make it sound like she thought he was a creeper. "Is that why you chose me for the television project?"

"I needed someone who would work hard and be resourceful. I knew that if you'd chosen this class, you were in this class you were passionate about American history. I knew that you would work hard if this was what you'd chosen as your passion. That's how everyone in your family is- you should see the towers and K-nex constructions Annabeth builds in her room. I knew you'd want the opportunity more than anything, and that I could rely on you."

The pit of Marie's stomach started bubbling up. She was used to being nerdy and bookie, prideful and know-it-all, clever and intellectual. This was a whole new side of Marie that he was bringing up, and it was a side the sun barely ever shined on and that mostly went unnoticed. She, and all her siblings, could fixate on a single thing and never, ever stop learning or discovering or working with it. It could be bad, but it could be good. And not many people acknowledged that.

"Thank you, Dr Chase," Marie said. "It really means a lot. And one day it'll mean a lot to Annabeth."

Danielle walked up to them.

"Thank God that people have started to walk in, I could hardly keep up with that kid. Where did she learn all those words?"

"People are..?" Dr Chase looked at the steady stream of people coming back into the amphitheater. "Shoot."

He chugged a gulp of coffee. "I'll check on Annabeth now that she's torn away from her book. Thanks for that. And also for the coffee."

"Later Doc," Danielle said before dragging Marie up the stairs.