Humanity really is rubbing off on me. I pull up a few articles in my optic feed, so that I’mnotlying, I’m just not sayingeverytruth. Another workaround I’ve discovered while maneuvering the dynamics of this workplace.
“Dancing and its benefits on the human mind.”
Lucy grins. “It’s gonna be great. We’re really gonna show them.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I know I am,” she replies, stopping at her library. “Hope? That’s an organic thing to do.”
I wish I could discuss with her intimately all the things I can do that organics cannot. Especially below the belt, in the bedroom. I harness that carnal thought before it ventures too far.
“So it is. Jack borrowedThe Odyssey. Your bet seems to have worked.”
“You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say that,” Lucy admits. “I won’t let Carlisle sink her claws into him and cast him out. Not if I can help it.”
“I believe you,” I say, and another electric moment passes between us. We’re so close to each other, within an arm’s length. How easy it would be to pull her close to me, like I do in the comfort of her home—our home—and embrace her.
* * *
When the ninth graders return for their final class of the day, Lucy and I get to work. Within ten minutes of the lesson, the students are already clamoring excitedly to be heard. She has a way of captivating them, and today is no exception as she uses her digital stylus to virtually write across her holoboard.
“What was it like being a woman in Athens and Sparta? Who can tell me?” Lucy asks.
All hands raise. There’s some giggling. They’ve certainly paid attention to the reading assignment this time.
It’s no surprise when Pearl speaks first. “Athenian women were homemakers. They didn’t leave the house because if they did, they could be accused of adultery.”
“That’s very true,” Lucy assents, motioning to me.
I pick the next student. “Hoseok. What about Spartan women?”
“Spartans were away at war a lot, so women didn’t even have to live with their husbands until their husbands turned thirty,” Hoseok recites, going over his digital highlights on his tablet. “They were expected to bear healthy children. That was their biggest concern.”
“Good.” I nod, and Hoseok sits a little straighter in his seat at my praise.
“Why was marriage important to both Greek city-states? Jack?” Lucy asks.
He squirms in his chair, uncertain. “Heirs. Having kids was a big deal. If you couldn’t have any, man or woman, it was grounds for divorce.”
Lucy and I exchange a brief look, and I assume she’s as inwardly pleased as me at his participation. And without attitude or defiance, to boot. I catch sight ofThe Odysseyin his half-open pack near his feet. Judging by the placement of a dog-eared page, he’s already begun reading.
“Correct, very good. Now, judging by the reading you completed yesterday, I want you to answer this question,” Lucy continues. “And it doesn’t matter if you’re aren’t a girl. I want your honest answer: would you rather have been a woman in Athens or in Sparta?”
The students’ minds are wondrous things. I can see them all thinking.
Vanessa, with her vibrant pink hair, raises her hand. “Neither. I want to live on Lesbos with Sappho.”
Lucy chuckles. “A nice alternative, but the question still stands.”
“I’d choose Sparta,” Pearl muses. “If I had to have one or the other.”
“Why is that?” I ask.
“Because your husband doesn’t even live with you until you’re thirty,” the young lady next to her says with a giggle. “That means you can do whatever you want. No boys allowed.”
“Yeah, they had better rights, I think,” Vanessa agrees. “And you could participate in, like, sports and stuff. You weren’t just stuck at home.”
A few of the boys roll their eyes. Jack’s heckler, Colton, lifts his hand. “If I had a vagina,” he begins boldly.
