ONE STARRY NIGHT

CITY LIFE - YUK!

"There is something bigger than fact: the underlying spirit", Emily Carr

Nancy looked at her parents. They sat where they always sat. In front of the TV eating their meal. While they stared unblinkingly at the images on the screen as if, to Nancy's way of thinking, these characters were somehow going to step into their room and join them for whatever her mother had placed on their plates. 

She glanced out of the window at the night lights of the city thinking about the millions of people moving down below their 40th floor apartment.

Apartment? Nancy had to smile. People who she had read about who lived outside the city had smaller homes then their 10-room two-story home.

Home? Another word she had grown to hate.

Nancy looked around the spacious and well furnished place where she, at 27 still lived with her parents. Single with no prospects except a few dates with guys who after a few sentences began to grope her or invite her into their beds. She looked at her mesmerized parents who slept in separate rooms. And at the tall buildings that made up the city's concrete canyons.

And the only thing she could think of was - YUK!

Here she sat. Living with her parents. Holding a PhD in English Literature. All the while working part time in a department store. Hating everything about her life.

She glanced down at her laptop, reread the letter she was writing , closed her eyes for a slow count to 100, and pressed the send button.

A small ad had appeared in one of the many newspapers her father had delivered each day.  Asking if anyone would be interested in relocating to a rural area as several openings were available for teaching positions. Please send resume', pictures, and references. With the pushing of the send button these were on their way to the email address.

Nancy sat back and with an audible sigh wondered what she had just done. She closed her eyes and in her mind pictured a quiet forest smelling of pines. Leaves that turned brilliant colors in the fall, and laughing children. 

Three days later she got a reply to her email inviting her to come to an interview at a hotel the next day.

When Nancy got there she was ushered into a small room where several other, she guessed, were also applicants for the jobs. She tried to smile warmly as a door opened and two middle-aged women entered the room. They were dressed in simple clothes and both held  clipboards. One of the women stepped forward and said, " Thank ya'll for comin' here today." This last word pronounced with a long drawn out tadaaaayy. 

Nancy had to strain a bit to catch everything the woman said since she had an accent she was not accustomed to hearing. The woman then asked each their names so as she could make a note on her board. Then she asked, "will each of ya'll tell us why ya wants to come and work fer us?"

Again that strange and new accent. It was not unpleasant to Hancy's unaccustomed ears but she began to realize where these jobs were going to be located.

The interviews were conducted in a manner that Nancy was not accustomed to either. Every applicant was asked a series of questions with everyone staying in the same room.

"Where do you live now?

Why do you want to leave this city?

Are you married?

Do you plan to be married?

What are your hobbies and interests?

As these, and other similar questions were asked, some of the applicants stood, excused themselves, and left the interview. Nancy thought this was very rude. But began to realize that these people could not give up city living any more than she could not wait to leave. And if at all possible she was going to make this interview work. After about an hour one of the women (her name was Grace left the room and returned with a basket filled with cookies and a tray of holding a pitcher of amber liquid. By this time only four applicants were left. Three women about Nancy's age and one guy. 

As she took a bite of one of the cookies she studied the others but her eyes kept straying to the guy whose name was James (Jim). Dark haired. A little over six feet with broad shoulders. 

As she bit into what she began to taste was one of the best tasting cookies she had ever put into her mouth, Grace brought her a glass of the amber liquid she had poured into several glasses. One sip and Nancy's eyes flew open at the sweetness of the beverage. This, she instantly realized was her first experience drinking a southern staple - sweet iced tea. After her first sips she began to understand more of what was being asked of her. She was going to not only leave the city but become immersed into part of the southern culture overnight. That is if she would even be hired by these two women. A completely new way of not only living but also learn a new way of life.

Was she really ready for this?

The other woman, Cora, began to speak. This time she did not ask questions.

"We have decided that since you all have remained through what must seem to you like a bunch of silly questions unrelated to any educational job we might be offing I need to tell you about what it is we are offering and let you make up your minds." Gone was the homey accent she had been using. This was replaced by something of a flat voice that Nancy might place somewhere in the mid-west. 

Cora continued, "We represent a school district located in the rural area near where the borders of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee meet. A place where education stops about the 5th grade and everyone there is expected to work directly in the coal mines and die young.  When the mines closed and the money ran out we were left dirt poor. But someone gave us a gift and we have a brand new state of the art school system but no teachers. This is where you all come in."