"Yes, we glazed it ourselves, Miss Appleton, in the kitchen. The cook let us."

"What enterprising children… uh, I mean, young men!" Alice said, placing the apple on her arm rest.

"But aren't you going to eat it?" Bennie asked, his blue eyes wide.

"Why… uh why yes, of course. Now you boys sit down… one on either side of me. I've brought some books for us to look at. I'm sure you'll find them fascinating as I do. My, this is delicious."

The twins' eyes met triumphantly as Alice took several large bites from the specially glazed apple.

"It's a special recipe, Miss Appleton," Tim said, "Oh… what's that picture there?"

The tutoring session was going so well, that Alice felt her head swimming. The exquisitely reproduced photographs began to blur before her eyes, and sometimes she was seeing the images in triplicate. In addition the twins were crowding in close to her on either side to see the book that was spread before her, and on more than one occasion one of their small hands brushed hers as she turned the pages or as they were admiring a picture. On her right side, Miss Appleton became increasingly aware of Tim as he moved closer and closer to her, his arm pressing against hers, his soft, hairless cheek almost touching hers; while on her left side Bennie began to rub his arm slowly along the length of hers.

Abruptly, Alice stood up, letting the expensive book fall to the floor of the study hall. "Oh… I… I think I must go back to my apartment boys… I'm not feeling terribly well. Something… something seems to be wrong!"

The twins leapt to their feet and insisted upon accompanying their teacher back to her room. Students weren't normally allowed in the section reserved for faculty, but Alice's obvious pallor and the fact that her students were assisting her in a moment of malaise sufficed to satisfy the one guard they encountered, who was in reality a kind of glorified switchboard operator.