"You, Tim?" Alice was shocked, and the glasses that she had been about to place on her pertly upturned nose fell to the desk. "But… I don't understand. Do you have a good reason Tim? I've never known you to shirk your duty!"

"Uh… not really Miss Appleton," the blond thirteen year old replied.

The class sniggered and Alice looked up sharply. Recovering her composure, she spoke with renewed authority. "We'll have to discuss this after class, Tim. You know that."

"Yes, ma'am," Tim replied, turning to go back to his seat.

Throughout the rest of the class, Alice felt flushed and perturbed. It was so unlike the Larsen boy not to have done his homework, and then not to have a decent excuse at that! The whole thing was very unsettling, and Alice hurried through the day's lesson, postponing her suggestion that the twins read their short stories to the class until another time.

When finally the last bell rang, Alice gave a particularly long homework assignment which was greeted by groans from her students. Ignoring the groans, the pretty twenty-three year old bid the boys good-day and began to leaf through a poetry book that was usually on her desk. The title swam before her eyes, Love Poems of William Shakespeare. The title was decidedly embarrassing, Miss Appleton decided once and for all as she waited for the classroom to empty. But there had been something special about the book when she'd first seen it in the bookstore, that had made her buy it. Perhaps, she thought, she would cover it, and that way she would not be faced with the rather blunt title every day.

"Miss Appleton?" Tim waved good-bye to his brother Bennie and stood watching Alice Appleton with curious interest. How long he had been standing there observing her, Alice could not tell, but she decided that she was angry. Yes, she was angry with Tim Larsen, and she was going to let him know it in no uncertain terms.