Scene 7 - October 15th

Interior Townhouse, Afternoon

Quinn Kaufman

A little later that day, I was sitting in a small circle in the regular after-class Orgo study group, when Susan Redhorn dropped her eraser, which bounced high over all our heads before coming down and rolling under a massive desk that took up most of the room we met in. “Shit,” she swore, “That’s a nice eraser. Anyone see where that went?”

“No idea,” came the resounding chorus from everyone - I supposed they had lost track when it bounced.

“It bounced into the ether,” Peter Smith said in his typical deadpan manner.

“Yeah, Pete’s right,” agreed Chris Timon. “That thing’s gone. Sorry, Sue.”

I rolled my eyes. “It ended up under the monster desk after it landed,” I told them, pointing.

She slid out of her seat and knee-walked over to the desk, leaning over to peer under it. “Quinn’s right, it’s down here,” she reported, “but I can’t reach it. My arms are too short.”

“Here, let me,” Peter offered, coming over to the desk. He lay down in Susan’s place and struggled. “No, my arms are too thick. I can’t reach far enough under either.”

“Maybe if you and I lift the thing up, Sue can grab it?” Chris suggested, wandering over as well.

“Let me have a go,” I said, knee-walking over like Sue had done. “I’m a few inches taller than Sue, at least.” Peter stood to allow me access, and I made my attempt. Unfortunately it was just out of my reach as well.

“Too far for you too?” Susan asked sympathetically.

“No, I think I can...” I shifted, turning my head to look away from the crack in the hopes that I could stretch that little bit farther. A moment later, I had my hand on the troublesome thing, and withdrew to present it to Susan. I went up to one knee and held it up to her like a knight making an offering to a princess. “Your trinket, my lady,” I joked.

“How kind of you, gentle knight,” she teased back, miming a curtsy despite her jeans before taking her eraser back. She cast a baleful eye over our study mates. “And what help were you two, I might ask? Two big strong men, unable to do such a simple thing for me?” She held the glare for a few seconds before we all collapsed into laughter.

Spending too much time on Orgo does strange things to the brain.