“Senora， un momento por favor？” she turned her head and noticed the small shriveled man， his brown face lined with a map to places only he knew. “Thanks for helping my grandson Julio to read，” the gentleman said in his faltering broken English. She immediately thought of Julio， who once as unreachable as a hardened walnut， slowly cracked opened to reveal the eager child inside. She thought of the inner struggle Julio must have had as he tried to make sense of the foreign letters and the sudden joy when he had unbroken the mysterious code. Was the grandfather the same？ She looked up at this elderly gentleman， probably his grandfather， and quickly recognized the sameness of the two. “Gracias Senora” a weathered hand came out and firmly grasped hers with warmth that radiated from his soul to hers. Just as abruptly he removed his hand and left her. As he walked away she thought of that exotic sun and realized maybe it was closer to her than she thought.
今天周几，周二还是周三？她一直带着学生们进行那似乎永无休止的复习。这件事我好像昨天刚刚做过啊？还是去年做的？烦死了，怎么都赶到一块儿了。“史密斯小姐，我去下洗手间可以吗？”正要迈腿跑出去的乔治，停下来问道。我是第几次听到这样的话了？她想着，随口答道：“好的。”然后她看着他跑出了教室。
她坐在桌旁，眼睛凝视着学生，脑子却不停地在想下班后该做些什么事情。我今晚该去健身房或是该去市场买点吃的东西。她机械地继续上她的课，给学生讲字母“a”。“‘a’怎么读？”“a，a，a……”学生们异口同声干巴巴地读着。时间一分一秒地过去了，似乎在嘲笑她这无聊单调的一天。
该下课了吧？正想着，教室的电话响了，她叹口气，起身，走过学生的课桌去接电话。话筒那端的声音似乎传自百英里之外。哦，我多希望我现在不是在这儿，而身处异国他乡啊。她的思绪飞到了异国情调浓郁的墨西哥卡波海滩，去年她在那儿度过了愉快的暑假：慵懒地躺在沙滩上，任由阵阵微风轻吻她的肌肤，那种惬意、恬静的感觉，至今记忆犹新。