Possession is Nine Tenths of the Law

Perky, pert and pig-tailed, Emily Scharf is on the prowl. She spies Roderick in the Dining Hall, circles twice and lands in the seat to his immediate right.

"Um, I know this might seem a little awkward" she coos, "but I've been watching you and..well, I just think you're really hot and is it OK if I sit here?"

Roderick, midway through a drink of milk, keeps drinking. Megan, sitting on the other side of Roderick, leans forward. "I'm Megan and I'm his girlfriend."

Anna, sitting across from Roderick, looks puzzled. She nudges Molly seated to her right and whispers "Megan and Roderick? They are together? But I thought you..."

Molly just smiles.

Emily continues. "So, um, I was wondering if you would be my date at the Bach Chorale meeting tonight and afterwards maybe...you know..."

Roderick swallows. "Um...OK."

Emily is thrilled. "Ooooh...I could just kiss you!"

"Be careful," whispers Roderick, gesturing to Megan. "She's packing."

Emily departs just as a young man arrives at the table. "Excuse me, may I join you?" There is no objection, and he does so.

"My name's Albert, I'm studying painting."

There are introductions all around: Roderick...Megan...Anna...Molly.

"You're Venus, aren't you?" says Albert to Molly. "From Human Figure class?"

Molly nods. Albert rummages through his backpack, emerges with a sketchpad and leafs through it to a quite detailed drawing of Molly, nude, which he passes around for all to admire.

"You have a lovely figure" he says to Molly.

"Thank you."

"And perfect breasts."

"Thank you."

Roderick examines the drawing. "Very nice work" he comments, passing it to Megan.

On the way to Rhetoric class Megan whispers to Molly "I think he was hitting on you."

Molly shrugs. "They all do." She nudges Roderick and squeezes his arm.

Later that day, Roderick drops by the office of Mr. Strnk, who is again absent. Curious. The English department secretary sits nearby; he inquires.

"Have you seen Mr. Strnk?"

"No", she responds

"Is he on sabbatical or something?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Do you know when he'll be in his office?"

"No, you just have to keep trying."

At six forty-five, Roderick knocks on Emily's door. She opens, wearing a very low cut black long-sleeved sweater that shows ample boob. "Oh!" she says, "I've been thinking about this all day!"

Emily clings to Roderick's arm all the way to the Auditorium. On arrival, she pulls Roderick by the hand to the stage where members of the Chorale mill about, chatting. "Look everyone!" she announces. "I found a man!"

The members of the Chorale crowd around Roderick, greeting him. One of the sopranos wraps her arm around Roderick's neck and kisses him on the cheek, wetly. "Back off, Betsy!" Emily hisses. "I found him!"

Betsy, a tall brunette, shrugs. "Possession is nine-tenths of the law!" she says winking at Roderick. "Call me!" she whispers.

Mr. Mendelssohn greets Roderick effusively. "Welcome, young man, welcome. How much experience do you have singing bass?"

Roderick plays the clarinet rather well, but has never sung in his life. "I know how to read bass clef."

"Perfect!" beams Mr Mendelssohn. "You can join Zack and Fred over there. OK everyone! Sunday is the seventh Sunday of Trinity, so we will do Wer sich selbst erhöhet, der soll erniedriget werden...everyone have the music?"

After the rehearsal, Roderick walks Emily back to her room. "Won't you come in..?" she coos.

Roderick shakes his head. "Not tonight. I have some syllogisms to work on."

Emily squeezes herself. God, she thinks. He sings, and he knows logic.

"Okay", she says, touching him lightly. "I'm here when you're ready."

Later, Roderick curls up in bed with Molly. "How was the Chorale?" she whispers.

"It was OK".

"I think that girl Emily likes you."

Roderick smiles and squeezes Molly. "And Albert likes you."

"He just wants to draw me."

"You'd be surprised."

Molly squeezes Roderick's arm. It doesn't matter what others say and do. Roderick and Molly are together.

Candy Whistlethorne Never Sang So Well

In Human Figure class, Molly poses as Venus in Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. This pose is slightly awkward; she has to struggle to avoid falling over. Also, her hair isn’t quite long enough to cover her genitals as in the original, so she discreetly positions her left hand.

It’s chilly in the studio. Molly has goosebumps.

Meanwhile, Megan sits with Roderick in his room, working on syllogisms. Actually, Roderick works on syllogisms and Megan daydreams.

“Roderick?” she bleats.

“Yes, Megan?”

“When are you and Molly going to do it so you and I can do it without breaking your pledge?” Megan has high ethical standards, and wouldn't want Roderick to break a pledge.

“Um, I really don’t know. We don’t think about it that much.”

“It’s hard for me to wait.”

“I understand. Let’s finish these syllogisms.”

In the Auditorium, students gather for the first meeting of the year for the Old Ivy Bach Chorale. Anna arrives breathlessly – she had to run from her voice lesson with Mrs. Warbler; Mr. Mendelssohn, leader of the Chorale, enters the hall right behind her.

“Places, please!” he calls, and the students gather on the risers in groups according to voice -- sopranos, altos, tenors and basses. Befitting its name, the Bach Chorale exclusively performs the music of Bach, mostly cantatas and motets but also the occasional Mass or Passion. Mr. Mendelssohn likes to say that they could perform a Bach cantata every week for four years and not repeat one.

And so they do.

Mr. Mendelssohn takes a head count of voices. Ideally, he would like to have a balanced choir of six sopranos, six altos, four tenors and four basses. Men tend to have stronger voices than women, so he needs more sopranos and altos.

Of course, the students who turn out for Chorale never follow that distribution. This year, he counts thirty-six sopranos, three altos, one tenor and two basses.

There are various ways to treat this problem. First, he listens to each of the sopranos, including Anna. Some are simply awful; these, he sends to Glee Club. Some are very good, and Anna’s voice is enchanting. Mr. Mendelssohn asks Anna and about a dozen others to stay. All of the sopranos will attend biweekly rehearsals, and Mr. Mendelssohn will choose six who will perform in the concert.

Altos are a different challenge; some of the sopranos are really better suited to singing alto but are reluctant to “come out” as such, fearing the stigma and parental disapproval. Mr. Mendelssohn coaches these young women personally, assuring them he will never breathe a word to their parents, and that Bach Chorale is a safe place for altos. This is enough to get him to five. Mrs. Dowager from the Voice Department can step in and serve as the sixth, but in light of her ongoing weight problem and last year's unfortunate accident it may be necessary to strengthen the risers.

The men pose a completely different problem.

One effective draw, of course, is the promise of nookie. Female vocalists tend to be pushovers for men who sing, and Mr. Mendelssohn does nothing to dispel this perception; indeed, he encourages the young women to ply their charms on reluctant young men, enticing them to join the Chorale. The promise of pussy is enough to draw many a reluctant basso from the student body, although this works less well with the tenors. It certainly worked for Zack Hagen, a second-year student who presently stands on the risers with Fred, the other bass. Zack is well familiar with the side benefits of membership in the Bach Chorale, having recently sung Bach's motet Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied with his hand up Candy Whistlethorne’s skirt. Mr. Mendelssohn remarked after the concert that Candy never sang so well.

He addresses the women: “So, um, ladies, we have just the two basses so, uh, you know what to do.” And indeed they do. Over the next week or so, there will be many similar scenes on the Old Ivy campus; a young woman will cajole a young man to join the Chorale, pointing out the joys of music, the benefits of extracurricular activity and the possibility of a little something extra afterwards.

For the tenors, Mr. Mendelssohn just hires ringers.

Ach, Um Deine Feuchten Schwingen

Molly slept in Roderick's room last night after the drive back from Beauneville; this morning, she rises early and heads straight for the Bosendorfer in the Conservatory and starts right in on Beethoven's Diabelli Variations. She hasn't played the piece in awhile, and wants to see how much she remembers.

Roderick wants to see if he can finally get some face time with the elusive Mr. Strnk. But first, breakfast. In the Dining Hall, he fills his plate with scrapple and applesauce. Seeing Anna sitting by herself, he sits next to her.

"How did you like your weekend in our home town?"

"I liked it very much. It's a lovely town."

"Do you miss Milan?"

"Not so much. I've spent very little time there, actually. My parents sent me to Ecole Vevey when I was very young, and on school holidays I usually went to our place on Lago di Como."

"Lago di Como? Wow! That sounds nice."

"It's lovely."

"It must be hard for you to be away from your parents."

"You don't know my parents."

Roderick has to admit that he doesn't know Anna's parents and to be perfectly honest he doesn't really care to learn more about Anna's parents, but he wouldn't mind learning more about Anna because she is really lovely.

As they get up to leave the Dining Hall, Anna invites Roderick to come to the Conservatory this afternoon. "We're rehearsing a song by Fanny Mendelssohn, and I'd like you to hear us." She says.

"Sure!" says Roderick. "I'll be there."

Anna touches Roderick's arm lightly with her right hand. "It was very nice sitting with you this morning," she says. Roderick feels a thrill up his leg again.

Once again, the elusive Mr. Strnk is not in his office.

Meanwhile, in her room, Megan continues to write her novel.

Charlotte followed Bentley to the Library, where Lady Margaret stood waiting for her. Charlotte curtsied. "Milady," she said demurely.

Lady Margaret curtly acknowledges Charlotte's gesture with a wave. "Your father has indentured you to me in return for an ample income sufficient to preserve Puddleton Manor in your family name. You will now have the goodness to accompany me in my coach to Bilgeworth Hall, where you will serve as Lady-In-Waiting and attend to my needs.

Charlotte is aware of Lady Margaret's tastes, and has no illusion about what it means to "attend to her needs". Why is this happening to me? she thought. Was it the other night, with Rex? She had only used her "safe" word twice, but...perhaps he was displeased.

Promptly at four, Roderick knocks on the door to the Conservatory and enters. Inside, Molly sits at the Bosendorfer noodling around on the keyboard like she does when she's warming up, and Anna sings a scale.

Molly is happy to see him. "Sit right here," she says, pointing to one of the comfy armchairs. "We're about to start."

Anna finishes her scale, then stands close to the piano so she and Molly can have eye contact while they perform. She nods to Molly, and Molly launches the piano introduction. Anna breathes, then sings:

Ach, um deine feuchten Schwingen,
West, wie sehr ich dich beneide...

Roderick is smitten. Anna's voice, and everything else about her, is just gorgeous.

I Don't Remember Doing That

Natasha opens the door to her studio. It's Roderick, Molly, Megan and Anna. Her face brightens. "Roderick! Hi! What a nice surprise! Come in everybody!" Natasha hugs Roderick and Molly warmly, then shakes hands with Megan and Anna.

Roderick hasn't seen Natasha since she took time off from Beauneville Latin to have Felix and Fanny. Before she got pregnant, Natasha was a little zaftig, in a pleasing sort of way, but then she gained a lot of weight when she had the babies. Now, the extra weight is gone, and -- wow! She still has long jet black hair down to her buttocks, which are currently hidden because she's wearing pants, but would still be hidden if she were pantless thanks to that long hair.

The studio, which used to be a carriage house, is expensively furnished. Natasha invites everyone to sit down on two couches that face one another across a coffee table; Roderick occupies the center of one, with Molly and Megan on either side, while Natasha and Anna sit on the other couch.

"How are Felix and Fanny?", asks Molly.

"They're upstairs with Mrs. Pampers. Mom and Dad said it would help my career if I don't have to take care of babies all of the time. They also let me live here and I get an allowance and a car and driver. And Dad's paying to send me to Old Ivy. They're letting me matriculate late; I start next week."

"That's great news," says Roderick, and he means it. Natasha can be a little clingy sometimes and Lord knows he has no shortage of female attention, but there's always room for more on the Good Ship Roderick. Also, one look at Natasha is enough for him to know that he wouldn't at all mind hanging out like they used to do, as long as Megan doesn't get mad and shoot someone.

"How is Henry?" asks Molly.

Natasha screws up her face like people do when they reach into the refrigerator and emerge with something rotten. "Feh!" she says. "He's history." The Witherspoon family, it seems, persuaded Henry to turn his back on the Kulturpunks and go to school for tax accounting. "Tax accounting! Can you imagine throwing over me and the movement for that?" Natasha spits out the words "tax accounting" as if it were that rotten thing from the refrigerator.

Molly tries to empathize. "I guess he figured he needed to get a job and make money to support a family."

Roderick, too, wants to help. "After all, Ben Franklin said that nothing is certain in life except death and taxes."

These helpful comments are lost on Natasha. "So now I'm a struggling artist and single mom with two babies," she blubbers.

Roderick smiles. "Two babies and a nurse."

Natasha nods. "Yes, I'm fortunate to have a nurse."

"And a studio where you can live and work," adds Molly.

"Yes, that too."

"And a car and driver."

"Yes, a nurse, a studio and a car and driver."

"And an allowance."

"Yes, my parents are very generous."

"And a Dad who is rich enough to pay to get you into Old Ivy."

"Yes, that too."

From upstairs, there is the faint sound of a child crying. Natasha rolls her eyes and shouts "Pampers! Do something about that racket!"

Mrs. Pampers responds from upstairs. "Yes, Miss Natasha." The crying stops.

Natasha shakes her head in frustration. "Jeezus! What I have to put up with!"

Megan is curious. "Are you planning to bring the babies to Old Ivy?"

Natasha looks at Megan as if she's crazy. "God, no, that's what Pampers is for. I have to be free for my art. Speaking of which, I want you to see my latest." She stands and beckons the group to follow her to the far side of the studio, where a large painting stands covered with a cloth.

With a sweeping gesture, Natasha unveils the work. It is a very large and very detailed image of Molly, nude, reclining on a bed; the point of view is from her feet.

"Hmmm," says Roderick. "I see that you've abandoned the Pre-Raphaelites in favor of the Dusseldorf School."

Natasha seems thrilled that someone understands her work. "Yes, the Pre-Raphaelites are so un-Kulturpunk."

"I don't remember posing for this recently," says Molly.

Natasha smiles. "Pictures from the last session!"

Molly seems slightly disturbed. "I don't remember doing that." The that she refers to a certain way a girl might entertain herself when she has some privacy.

"Artistic license!" laughs Natasha in a manner that suggests she does that rather frequently.

Anna speaks soothingly to Molly. "It's a lovely painting."

Megan, who also does that whenever she can, suddenly understands the appeal of the visual arts.

In the evening, Megan, Roderick, Molly and Anna drive back to Old Ivy. Megan drives and Anna sits in the front passenger seat; Roderick and Molly sit in the back. While driving, Megan grills Anna; she wants to know if the girls at Ecole Vevey do that and other things. The conversation is a little disappointing to Megan, because even if things happen behind closed doors at Ecole Vevey, Anna isn't spilling the beans.

Molly's left hand touches the back seat. Roderick gently touches her hand with his and says "I've never seen you do that."

Molly just smiles.

Thunder and Lightning

Molly rises early Sunday morning and heads straight for the Bosendorfer, without pausing to dress. Seated naked at the piano, she works on her scales.

Anna joins her around nine. "Good morning, Molly!", she says with a smile.

Molly stops in mid-scale, which shows you that she likes Anna. Ordinarily, Molly would not stop in the middle of a scale if there were an earthquake, a tornado and a fire in the living room. "Did you sleep OK?" Anna nods. "Do you want me to get dressed before we start?"

"No, that's OK", says Anna. "It's good to be comfortable."

Molly thinks that she and Anna will get along just fine. This was a concern; she wasn't sure she liked the idea of working together with a vocalist. Molly is accustomed to playing solo, and sometimes with instrumentalists, but vocalists are supposed to be so temperamental. Anna, however, is lovely.

Molly is also accustomed to practicing while nude.

"OK, then," says Molly. "Let's begin." She plays the opening bar of the Fanny Mendelssohn song.

Anna listens, breathes, and begins to sing:

Ach, um deine feuchten Schwingen,
West, wie sehr ich dich beneide:
Denn du kannst ihm Kunde bringen
Was ich in der Trennung leide!

Molly stops. "Wow!" she says. "You have a great voice."

Anna blushes. "Thank you."

Meanwhile, Mary Bloom dresses in her long white dress, braids cornflowers into her hair, makes breakfast for the family, takes some food to Mrs. Peabody, and reads aloud from Elsie Dinsmore novels. At nine-thirty, the Blooms depart for the Church of Nothing, leaving Molly and Anna behind to practice.

Today's sermon at the Church of Nothing: "Speaking Out is for Losers, So Shut Up."

Later that afternoon, Roderick, Molly, Anna and Megan all sit at the dining room table with Mr. and Mrs. Smith. On the menu tonight: roast pork, applesauce, smashed potatoes and little green things.

"Yum, honey, delicious pork", says Mr. Smith, taking a second helping.

Mrs. Smith is curious. "Anna, are you related to the Zemlinskys here in Beauneville? They live right behind us next street over."

Anna smiles. "Mrs. Bloom asked me that, too. I don't know."

"They have a daughter your age...Roderick, what is her name?"

Roderick is working on a large piece of roast pork, which he swallows. "Natasha. Natasha Zemlinsky. She's an artist."

"That's right!" says Mrs. Smith. "Natasha."

"Also," says Roderick, "she's a Kulturpunk."

Anna noodges Molly, who sits to her right and whispers: "Excuse me...what is a Kulturpunk?"

Molly -- who is now fully clothed -- whispers back: "The Kulturpunks are a global movement of youth disaffected by their parents' bourgeois values, simple-minded commitment to pop culture and cheap leftism; they reject all that and, inspired by the life and work of Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn, pursue Bildung."

"Oh!" says Anna. "We didn't have such things at Ecole Vevey."

Now Megan is curious. "What is Ecole Vevey?"

"Where my parents sent me to school, in Switzerland. It's an all-girls boarding school."

Megan makes a mental note to discuss this further with Anna. For her novel, she needs source material on the kinky stuff that goes on at such places.

Dinner complete, Mrs. Smith stands up. "Roderick, why don't you and your friends drop in on Natasha tomorrow?"

"Good idea, Mom." There are no classes tomorrow, so Roderick, Molly, Megan and Anna plan to stay an extra night.

Molly and Anna depart for the Blooms just as a thunderstorm moves in.

Roderick says goodnight to Megan, who is staying over another night, retires to bed and reads for awhile, then turns out the light. The storm is a doozy -- thunder, lightning and pouring rain.

After a particularly loud crash of thunder, Roderick hears a knock on his bedroom door. Donning his bathrobe, he answers the knock. It's Megan, in her bathrobe, white as a sheet.

"I'm scared of lightning," she bleats. "Please -- can I sleep with you tonight?"

"Um -- OK."

Roderick returns to his bed, still wearing his bathrobe. Megan follows him to the bed and pauses. "Um...I'll feel more comfortable if I sleep naked, do you mind?"

"Um, no, that's fine."

The bathrobe slips to the floor and Megan slips into the bed. There is another loud clap of thunder. She cuddles close to Roderick.

The storm seems to die down a bit, but Roderick can still hear rain falling on the roof outside his window. He wonders if Megan is sleeping yet.

"Roderick?" Apparently not.

"Yes, Megan."

"Am I really your girlfriend?"

"Of course, Megan. Try to get some sleep."

That night, Roderick is sorely tempted to break his pledge to Molly. But he doesn't.

Catherine's New Best Friend

Birds chirping. Roderick awakes.

It's Saturday morning, and Roderick is at home in his bed. Molly invited Anna home with her, and they all drove home with Megan in her bright red Mustang. Anna stays with Molly at the Blooms, and Megan sleeps in the guest room with the Smiths.

Roderick tentatively reaches out with his foot and touches the floor. Eek, it's cold. Naked, he pads across the room to the closet and dons his bathrobe.

Knock, knock. It's Megan at the door, also in a bathrobe, a textbook in her hand. "Good morning, Roderick," she purrs. "Can I come in? I thought this would be a good time to go over Rhetoric."

Roderick thinks it's an excellent time to go over Rhetoric. He relaxes on the bed with his notebook and pencil. Megan starts to join him, pauses, looks up at the bookshelf and exclaims "Oh! What an interesting book! I want to look at it."

Megan reaches up to the top shelf for the coveted book; while doing so, her bathrobe falls open momentarily so that her unrestrained breasts are in full view, and also confirming something that Roderick has always wondered about, that redheads have red hair everywhere.

"Oops!" she says, giggling. "Wardrobe malfunction."

"I can see that," says Roderick dryly.

Meanwhile, at the Blooms, Mary Bloom wakes up early and makes pancakes, eggs and bacon for breakfast. The other Blooms -- Mr. and Mrs. Bloom, Molly, Margaret and Catherine (plus Mr. Fuzzums and Miss Kitty), plus Anna Zemlinsky gather at the breakfast table and chit chat while Mary places two big platters of food on the table. As Mary takes her seat, Mr. Bloom reaches for the bacon with his fork.

"Daddy, wait a minute!", says Mary sternly. She reaches out her hands to either side, beckoning everyone at the table to join hands in a circle. Closing her eyes, she recites: "Bless this food, which we bought with our own money, and I cooked with my own hands, and let us eat so we can fill our bellies and sustain our daily work to make ourselves happy and have fun. Amen."

"Amen!" says everyone.

Mr. Bloom winks at Anna, who sits to his immediate right. "She's very religious", he whispers.

Mary beams. "I learned that at Young Virgins group." She glances at Anna. "Are you a virgin?"

Anna, her mouth full of pancakes, isn't sure how to respond. She still is, for the record, but is not accustomed to speaking about it openly at the breakfast table with the families of people she just met.

Mrs. Bloom saves her. "There is a Zemlinsky family here in Beauneville, are you related?"

Anna swallows, and smiles shyly. "I don't know. It's a common name."

Mr. Bloom chimes in. "Personally, I know of hundreds of Zemlinskys." He doesn't really, but he likes to agree with people, especially his eldest daughter's young blond friends.

"Daddy, can you set up some dates for me next week?" Last night Mary checked her cash flow and she is a little concerned. Miss Agassiz seems to be moving on -- Mary is seventeen now, and "Mistress Renee" prefers her fem subs to be underage. That cash cow looks to be tapped out, and Mary needs to diversify. Another reason: with Roderick off to college, Mary actually has to pay Willard Fenstermacher to write her History papers. It's shocking what the world has come to -- you have to pay people to do things that should be done in the spirit of love and generosity.

"Sure, honey, no problem." Henry Bloom is proud to pimp for his daughter, for a couple of reasons. For one thing, it teaches her the value of money, and the work ethic. Also, it's great for business, as the client list of Bloom and Co. has doubled in the past year. It's amazing, really. Advertising clients sign up in flocks when they can put a session with Mary the Schoolgirl on the expense account.

"Just make sure you're getting your homework done," says Mrs. Bloom.

"I will, Mommy."

After breakfast, Molly is anxious to hit the Bosendorfer. She's working with Anna on a recital of art songs based on texts by Goethe, and the first one -- Ach, um deine feuchten Schwingen, by Fanny Mendelssohn -- has a difficult piano part. Molly wants to be ready tomorrow when they rehearse together.

Anna wants to walk over to see Roderick, but doesn't know the way. Catherine offers to walk with her, and Anna gratefully accepts. Catherine grabs her backpack (with Mr. Fuzzums and Miss Kitty), and they depart.

As they turn the corner from Cherry to Twelfth, Anna asks: "Who is that in your backpack?" Earlier, she saw Catherine furtively place her friends inside.

Catherine stops, pulls off her backpack, reaches in and offers Mr. Fuzzums to Anna. "It's Mr. Fuzzums!"

Anna takes Mr. Fuzzums and hugs him. "Oh what a lovely bear! But I believe that someone else is in your bag."

Furtively, Catherine shows the bag to Anna. "It's Miss Kitty. She doesn't like to come out of the bag around people she doesn't know."

"I have a friend back at college, too. Would you like to know his name?" Catherine nods. "It's a secret, so I'll whisper."

Anna whispers something in Catherine's ear. Catherine beams, and taking Anna's hand leads her new best friend to Roderick's house.

It Is So Nice To Meet You

Mr. Manzoni is not a bad teacher; back in Italy, he won a prize at the University of Florence for his remarkable lectures on Dante. There is a small problem, however; Mr. Manzoni speaks no English, which makes it difficult to communicate with Mr. Babel, head of the Foreign Languages department at Old Ivy, who speaks no Italian. Thus, it seems there is a misunderstanding; Mr. Manzoni is assigned to teach Elementary Italian (for students with no prior background in the language), but he thinks he's teaching Advanced Conversational Italian, for students with three to four years of study.

Today, Mr. Manzoni is on a roll. "Attenzione! Tutti in piedi! Il Canto degli Italiani!" he shouts, waving his hands wildly as the Italian national anthem plays on a cheap boom box.

The students -- of which the headcount is notably reduced from the first class, but still includes Molly -- stare at him uncomprehendingly.

"Tutti in piedi! Tutti in piedi!" Mr. Manzoni grows increasingly mad in his gestures. Molly has no idea what he's trying to say, but from gestures alone figures out that she's supposed to stand up.

Mr. Manzoni reads several names from a sheet of paper and each time is greeted with silence. It seems that some students dropped the course. Molly wonders how they will pass the Music exam and graduate.

"Bloom!" Molly snaps out of her wonderment and raises her hand. She knows better than to actually say something.

Mr. Manzoni picks up a book, flips through it to a bookmarked page, walks over to Molly and thrusts the book into her hands. Molly wrinkles her nose. He smells. Mr. Manzoni stabs the page with his pudgy, nicotine-stained finger. "Leggi!"

Molly looks at the book. It reads:

In su l'estremità d'un'alta ripa
che facevan gran pietre rotte in cerchio,
venimmo sopra più crudele stipa;
e quivi, per l'orribile soperchio
del puzzo che 'l profondo abisso gitta,
ci raccostammo, in dietro, ad un coperchio
d'un grand' avello, ov' io vidi una scritta
che dicea: "Anastasio papa guardo,
lo qual trasse Fotin de la via dritta."

She looks back at Mr. Manzoni. Understand this: in the karate dojo, Molly fearlessly faces down bigger and stronger opponents; at the keyboard, she plunges into the most difficult scores without blinking; in the studio, she stands naked before inquisitive artists without fear or shame. But here and now, alternating glances between the text and smelly Mr. Manzoni, she feels complete and utter dread.

"In...su...less...less...lesstrem..."

Mr. Manzoni explodes. "No! No! No! No! No! Pronuncia! Sputo!" He makes a spitting gesture, which Molly correctly interprets to mean extreme displeasure.

Meanwhile, in the Dining Hall, Roderick fills his tray with an early lunch. Exiting the line, he sees Anna Zemlinsky sitting by herself. He approaches.

"May I sit here?" he inquires.

Anna smiles. "Please!"

Roderick sits. "Where are you from?", he asks.

"Milano."

"Oh, in Italy." Anna nods and smiles. Roderick doesn't know anyone from Italy. In fact he doesn't know anyone from another country. Oh, wait-- there's Bibi, the gorgeous Swedish girl and her idiot brother. Also, Mr. Cupcake is from Slovenia or something.

"You speak perfect English."

"Thank you."

"You don't look Italian."

"What do Italians look like?"

Roderick searches his mental bank of stereotypes and settles on Sophia Loren. "Dark-haired and big breasted."

Anna makes a little movement with her upper body as if to say "You don't think these are big?" without actually saying it. Roderick gets the point.

"How did you learn to speak English so well?"

"Mama and Papa sent me to school in Switzerland. I can speak Italian, German, French, English and a little Dutch." She giggles. "My best friend in school comes from Amsterdam."

"Say something in Dutch."

"Het is zo leuk je te ontmoeten."

"Can you say that in Italian?"

"E 'così bello conoscerti."

Anna's voice sends a thrill up Roderick's leg.