Anna, the Professor, and the Confidante

The Coffee Break

Lucy wondered out into the hall In search of Anna. There were people everywhere. Everyone was running around in a hurry to get somewhere or other. Lucy seemed a bit out of place, a bit lost. This was her first day at her new university. It was a day she had waited for since she was a child. Lucy had dreamed of medical school since she was just a little girl. As she stood by the elevator waiting for Anna to make an appearance, her mind drifts back to her childhood. She remembered sitting on her bedroom floor with all her dolls lined up in a row, all leaning against the wall. Lucy was playing doctor even then. She remembered taking the dolls’s temperatures and bandaging their wounds. She remembered sitting there for hours on end tending to her dolls medical needs and chatting with them as she pretended they were her patients. Lucy was in heaven.

From a distance Lucy hears someone calling her name, “ Lucy! Lucy over her!” It’s Anna Luna shouting her name and flagging her down at the end of the busy hallway. “Come on Lucy, let’s take the stairs. We’ll never get there if we wait on the the elevator.” says Anna. “Hey little girl, where have you been? I’ve been waiting for you,” says Lucy. “I’m so sorry sweetheart. I was talking to David,” she says. “Who’s David? Do I know David?” asks Lucy. “Professor Marques,” Anna exclaims. “David, huh?” Says Lucy as she shoots Anna a look that would frighten a much more confident girl. Lucy knew there was something with this David. She could feel it in her bones. She knew this would spell trouble, after all Anna was a married woman.

Anna had met her husband Nick at a party just four years prior. Nick had tried to romance her, to seduce her. Anna enjoyed the attention, but wasn’t interested in Nick in the slightest. Nick was 30 years her senior, which she actually loved. Anna wasn’t the type of girl who liked the company of men her own age. She found them boring with no depth to them, no history, no mystery. Nick persuaded Anna to go out with him. She had no idea why she had bothered, but she thought it would get her out of her house for little while and maybe keep her entertained for a minute. Nick told her his story. He told her how 25 years earlier he had made his way into the United States from Bolivia. Nick was in the US illegally. Nick had built a business here, a life. He had dreams and there was no way he had intentions of going home.

Anna was enthralled by the story he told her. He needed to find a wife. He needed to find someone to help him stay in this country. Anna continue to see Nick. He continued his attempts to seduce her, but Anna just couldn’t. Anna didn’t enjoy being touched by men. They scared her. She was genuinely afraid of them. As time passed, she grew more accustomed to Nick. She felt sorry for him. She couldn’t help but to want to help Nick. She decided that she would be the woman he married who would help him out of this precarious situation he found himself in. Anna kissed him with all the passion she could muster and he held her passionately in his arms. She couldn’t believe she had kissed him. She wasn’t even enjoying it.

Lucy and Anna managed to make their way to the cafe. It was a small coffee house on the West end of the medical campus. There were rows of Latin treats in the exhibition case. Lucy couldn’t believe Anna would take her to this place. She knew Lucy had been on a diet for the better part of her adult life. “Anna, why would you bring me to this place? You know I cannot eat any of this. I just want café con leche. I need caffeine. I’m dying this Professor is boring the hell out of me,” complained Lucy.

Anna swung around with this look of utter amazement on her face and said, “Are you insane? David is delightful. He so pretty. I could die looking at him he is so pretty!” “What? You have got to be kidding me? I don’t find him to be evenly mildly attractive. He’s so boring! You are CRAZY little girl. What is it with you and men? The Professor must be my age. I don’t understand you at all,” responded Lucy. Anna just looked at Lucy with the same little look she had given her in class earlier. For sure Anna was holding something back. She wasn’t giving Lucy the complete story about David. She wasn’t yet, but she would. Anna would eventually come clean and spill it all because that’s just who she was.