Topical Guide 689
Mark Dorset
Life Lessons: The Student-Teacher Relationship
What a Piece of Work I Am, Chapter 19:
“Are you really interested in this stuff?” he asked. “Or are you just making conversation?”
She felt found out, seen through. This was no time for the truth.
She gave him a look that said, “What do you think? Do you suppose I really care how much oil we burn in this place? I’m interested in turning your burner on.”
But what came out of her mouth was, “You know, just because I’m gorgeous doesn’t mean that I haven’t got brains and ambition, too. I think I could go places in the motel business.” […]
“If you really mean that, I’ll tell you what I’ll do—”
“What’ll you do, you big lug?”
“No kidding. I’ll teach you the business. Teach you everything I know.”
“Really?” said Ariane, raising an eyebrow, coy to the limit.
“Sure. It’ll be better than going through the training course.”
“Oh?” She toyed with a button on his shirt. “How so?”
“You’ll get a lot more useful information,” he said, with the clear-eyed earnestness that sometimes made him seem awfully thick. […]
He gripped her hand and moved it away from his chest. “Don’t forget that we’re at work,” he said.
“The lessons have begun,” said Ariane.
Gene DePaul and Sammy Cahn, “Teach Me Tonight”:
Did you say I’ve got a lot to learn?
Well, don’t think I’m tryin’ not to learn
Since this is the perfect spot to learn
Oh, teach me tonightLet’s start with the A B C of it
Roll right down to the X Y Z of it
Help me solve the mystery of it
Teach me tonightThe sky’s a black board
High above you
If a shooting star goes by
I’ll use that star to write I love you
A thousand times across the skyOne thing isn’t very clear, my love
Should the teacher stand so near, my love?
Graduation’s almost here, my love
Come on and teach me tonightI’ll use that star to write I love you
A thousand times across the skyOne thing isn’t very clear, my love
Should the teacher stand so near, my love?
Graduation’s almost here, my love
Teach me, please, teach me tonight
See also:
Life Lessons: Disillusionment, or the Ripping of Scales from One’s Eyes, Steps along the way to the Loss of Innocence, the School of Hard Knocks TG 553
Have you missed an episode or two or several?
You can begin reading at the beginning or you can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide. The Substack serialization of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here.
You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here.
You can listen to “My Mother Takes a Tumble” and “Do Clams Bite?” complete and uninterrupted as audiobooks through YouTube.
You can ensure that you never miss a future issue by getting a free subscription. (You can help support the work by choosing a paid subscription instead.)
At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of Little Follies, Herb ’n’ Lorna, Reservations Recommended, and Where Do You Stop?
You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.