5. Longing

Waiting at the crosswalk, the woman scrolled through the messages on her BlackBerry. Thumbs on autopilot, she responded to query after query with economical one-liners.

When the light turned green, a crowd of students, fresh from a class, materialized around her. Their chatter was boisterous, interrupting her concentration. Reluctantly she stowed away her phone and let herself be carried in their chattering current, as eavesdropping, she picked out accents and imagined life stories.

“Black tie,” said the West London girl. “Tell her to wear a cocktail dress.”

Born to barrister parents and pampered in Chelsea.

“Can you please call her?” begged the boy with the Scottish brogue. He was a foreigner in this privileged environment. “She wants to know what to wear.”

“He takes it so personally. It’s as if you’ve actually slapped him.” A different conversation between two Midland lads.

“Absolutely cannot make a mistake in that tutorial,” his companion agreed.

Sons of steel magnates who had met at Eton.

The library came into view—an imposing structure with tall gothic spires. The woman hung back as the students surged ahead. Pausing, she watched their figures grow smaller then disappear through the stone archway.

The phone rang twice before she heard it.

6. Yearn

Pooh Bear and his friends had come to the close of another adventure. The babysitter quietly closed the book and glanced at the sleeping child. Only three recitations and she had dozed off. A new record.

Carefully extracting the sippy cup from a slack grasp and switching off the lamp, he tiptoed out of the room. In the kitchen, he found his texts spread at the table, the complex equations patiently waiting. Their undecipherable symbols taunted him as panic replaced coherent thought. The final exam was tomorrow. A semester of procrastination had finally caught up with him. He felt his future—once a solid, glittering thing—dissolve. If only he could start again. Choose a different degree, attend all the lectures, keep up with the readings. He thought about his charge upstairs. The simplicity of childhood: cocooned in pastel down with the safety of a stuffed bear and the security of her own thumb.