A PERFECT RENDEZVOUS

Family Dinner

Leaning his hip against his desk, Harry smiled at the seven women between the ages of twenty and sixty who were learning to read. His heart had already been won over by their determination, their courage, and their intensity, and he was only beginning to learn to know them. He had less than twenty minutes before he was due at his parents' house for dinner, and he hated to end the class. Reluctantly he looked at his watch and said, "Okay, everybody, that about does it for tonight. Are there any questions about the assignment for next week or anything that anyone wants to say?"

Seven earnest faces looked up at him. Rosalie Silmet, twenty-five and a single mother, raised her hand and said shyly, "We—all of us—want to say how much it means to us that you're doing this. I got elected to tell you because I'm the best reader so far. We want you to know what a difference you're making just by believing in us. Some of us," he hesitated and looked at Pauline Perkins, who had recently joined the class at Rosalie's urging, "don't think you can teach us, but we're willing to give you a chance."

Following the direction of her gaze to the dark-haired, solemn woman of about forty, Harry said gently, "Pauline, why do you think you can't learn to read?"

The woman stood up as if she were addressing a person of great importance and admitted to Harry with painful dignity, "My husband says if I weren't stupid, I'd have learned how to read when I was a kid. My kids say the same thing. They say I'm wastin' your time. I only came here because Rosalie said she's learnin' real quick and never thought she could, neither. Either. I said I'd give it a try for a few weeks."

The other women in the room nodded reluctant agreement, and Harry briefly closed his eyes before he admitted to them the truth he'd hidden so long ago and forever. "I know you can all learn to read. I know for a fact that not being able to read doesn't have anything to do with being stupid. I can prove it."

"How?" Pauline asked bluntly.

Harry drew a deep breath and then said wryly, "I know it, because when I came to Keaton, I was in the fourth grade and couldn't read as well as Rosalie already does after a few weeks in this class. I know how it feels to think you're too stupid to learn. I know how it feels to grope your way down a hall and not be able to read the names on the bathroom doors. I know the ways you've figured out to hide it from people so they won't laugh at you. I'm not laughing at you. I'll never laugh at you. Because I know something else ... I know how much courage it takes for each one of you to come here twice a week."

The women gaped at him open mouthed, and then Pauline said, "Is that the truth? You couldn't read?"

"It's the truth," Harry said quietly, meeting her gaze. "That's why I'm teaching this class. That's why I'm so determined to get you all the new tools that are available for adults who want to read now. Trust me," he said, straightening. "I'll find a way to get you all those things, that's why I'm going to Amarillo in the morning. All I ask for now is that you have a little faith in me. And in yourselves."

"I got plenty of faith in you," Peggy Listrom joked, standing up and gathering her notebook and pencils. "But I don't know about myself yet."

"I can't believe you said that," Harry teased. "Didn't I hear you bragging at the beginning of class that you were able to sound out some of the street names on the signs in town this week?"

When Peggy grinned and picked up the infant who was napping in the chair in front of her, Harry sobered and decided a little reinforcement was needed to keep them going at this early stage. "Before you all go, maybe you should remind yourselves about why you wanted to learn to read? Rosalie, what about you?"

"That's easy. I want to go to the city where there's plenty of jobs and get off welfare, but I can't get a job because I can't fill out an application form. Even if I could figure out a way to get by that, I still couldn't get a decent job unless I could read."