The Teacher

The teacher is sitting in an upgraded business class window seat having just left a family vacation at the beach. She is desperate to be transported into a cinematized world of Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary in order to recover.

A man takes the aisle seat. Not long after, his hand darts under the thin fabric of the airplane blanket. The teacher knows that his hand has also slipped into his underwear when she sees the familiar movement of a trapped mouse searching for a way out. Involuntarily she imagines the squishy flesh of him nestled under the soft, hairy paunch she met earlier as he lifted his bag into the overhead bin. The man pretends not to comprehend the teacher's peripheral vision but quickly withdraws the hand anyway. He will do this three more times before they exchange a word.

At the critical, politcal moment in the movie when Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth are about to meet for the first time, the man taps the teacher a little too hard on the upper arm. He wants her to shut out the sunlight coming through the window but she can't. The shade is stuck up. The teacher, believing herself attuned to manly facial expressions, catches a frustrated ripple in his brow aimed briefly at her. While she analyzes her escape routes, he waves over the flight attendant. The man delights openly in getting miles for the entire row as compensation for the inconvenience. The teacher delights silently.

Because the teacher must announce her profession indiscriminately to every new acquaintance, this is the next thing she gives him to fill the silence after they exchange a sloppy high five. She learns that the man attended a fancy private school at which she briefly taught a few years back. The teacher quickly appraises his age and relaxes - she wouldn’t have taught him. Two minutes into the conversation the man laughs and says, I had a 2.7 GPA but I'm the first of my class to be named in the Forbes thirty under thirty. She’s past being impressed but still becomes alert, scanning her facial muscles to make sure they don't give him anything in return.

Her mouth betrays her though because she says wow and adds a smile.

He takes the opportunity. I bet you're the cool teacher and all the boys like you. I should give you my card in case you apply for a real job there again. He looks off into the middle distance, adding, the school really cares about that kind of thing. Where do you live? After giving him the neighborhood, the teacher excuses herself to the lavatory.

When she returns, having formulated what she wishes to say if and when he gives her his card, he again asks her where she lives. The teacher laughs and says, the same place I did the last time you asked.

She is proud to have responded lightly but only goes on to ask, where do you live?

The man lives in a neighborhood known to the teacher as having excellent Persian food and subsequently learns that he is Persian and French, mixed. She is usually excited to connect with another mixed American but instead feels a pang of longing for her Persian American friend who she's just seen a glamarous photo of in a group chat. In the picture her friend is wearing an emerald gown, hair swept up in a wedding updo, and a smile that doesn't betray her history.

The teacher is suddenly aware she no longer envies her girlfriends when they look beautiful but instead falls in love with them over and over again. She reflects on how her Persian American friend deftly navigates the men around her, including the boy who ripped the hijab off her head when they were in fifth grade. The teacher resolves to channel the diplomacy of this friend and Queen Elizabeth.

I’m mixed, too she says, but I got the immigrant name.

What? The man replies.

When he doesn’t say more, the teacher is disappointed. That had been her last hope for connection with him. She will not give him another chance for the remainder of the flight.

As they are exiting the plane, the man extends his business card toward her but she’s ready. The teacher raises her best teacher eyebrows and asks, have you washed your hands with soap and water since the last time you put them in your pants?

As he turns away, business card still in hand, the flight attendant appears, smiles, and asks, would you like a squirt of hand sanitizer?