The boy named Jerrold looked up with absolutely blank eyes. He clenched and unclenched his fists, squirming in his chair, and his jaw worked up and down without uttering a single sound.

"I could have sworn that Jerrold was here when we began class," Lisa Hamilton said tartly. "Excuse me while I mark him absent."

The class was given time to giggle.

"Merribelle? Can you tell us?"

A high-pitched nasal voice began: "Two, Mrs. Hamilton. It has two atoms of hydrogen, so it -"

Briiinnnggg!

Merribelle was rudely interrupted by the raucous sound of the class bell. It was five minutes to three, and another boring school day was over, and better yet, it was Friday! A whole weekend of freedom loomed ahead! The bell produced a nervous explosion, a discharge of every ounce of restraint that had stored up during the long hours. Lisa Hamilton couldn't have prevented her pupils from talking out loud and scraping their books together if she'd wanted to, and if truth be known, she was just as glad her last class was over as they were.

Immediately Merribelle and sulfuric acid atoms were forgotten by all, and the boys and girls stood in the aisles and chattered like magpies as they filed out the door. The chemistry classroom emptied, and from the long halls came the echoing reverberation of lockers being opened and shut and students coming and going. Mrs. Hamilton was left standing behind her desk; they all had something to do, someplace to go.

All except the thirty-one year old teacher. She smiled wistfully as the last of her students drained from the room and left it empty. Then she began gathering her papers together with a slow, precise grace, her mind wandering as it often did at the end of the day about where she should go and what should she do.