Shelley and Jane chatted about the merchandise until Sharlene had finished her food, which she set aside barely nibbled. Shelley said, "Sharlene, can you talk about Ms. Palmer? I hardly knew her at all.”

Sharlene's eyes filled with tears, but she lifted her head and said, "She was wonderful. Just the most wonderful person in the world. At least to me she was. When I started working at the museum, I'd just finished my secretarial course. I knew how to type and take shorthand, but I didn't know much about spelling and grammar because I always thought that was dull. Ms. Palmer would correct my mistakes without making me feel stupid. All my teachers had always made out like I was some kind of dummy. I was real pretty in high school, and I guess they expected me to be an idiot."

“You're very pretty now," Jane said, "and you're obviously not stupid."

“No, I'm fat."

“You're voluptuous," Shelley exclaimed. "I'd give anything for a bosom like yours!”

Sharlene blushed and said, "Voluptuous? I'll look that one up. Anyway, after a while, Ms. Palmer told me about some classes I could take in English. Didn't say I had to, or even that I needed to. Just made it sound like something I'd have fun doing. And, you know? It was. Everybody else in the class carried on like crazy about having to diagram sentences and all, but I liked it. It was like working jigsaw puzzles, sort of.”

Jane nodded. "I liked it, too."

“Ms. Palmer always asked about what I was learning, and even helped me when there was something I didn't understand. She was awfully smart and well educated. Went to fancy private schools, I imagine. Anyhow, after I took those classes, she started talking about other classes I could take. History and business.