My Teacher.

In retrospect I can see why my father choked on his dinner-time pie when I told him I was in Miss Tillman's class. At the time I knew it wasn't solely due to her being my new teacher that caused him to snort and splutter shards of mince beef and pastry across the dining-table. In my house mince-beef pie meant it was a Thursday; a Thursday in the Autumn or winter: my first day in Miss Tillman's class narrowed the time to early September - but no-one's interested in dates. Anyone acquainted with my father knew it wasn't easy to knock him off guard but I'd managed it with an innocent observation; "You'd like her Dad. She's young and really pretty."

Even at the age of eight I could recognise feminine beauty. Miss Tillman had become, at precisely 9:03 that very morning, my Venus; I was her devoted acolyte. I could pinpoint the time she captured my heart to the nearest second because I was looking at my Disney-watch when she called my name for the first time. Four letters; two syllables; one word: Gary. How could she make my name sound so sweet? Did she gargle with honey?

Have I mentioned her lips? I just need to close my eyes and, all these years later, I can see those thin lips; lips that gently curled up at each end in a perpetual smile of approval. I knew I was in love when she bent down and I looked into her eyes. They were the same colour as both the school football shirt and the shallow end of the school swimming pool: Football, swimming and Miss Tillman's eyes....and the little interesting lines at the edge that grew larger when she laughed. How I wanted lines just like the lines that lit up Miss Tillman's face.

The first day she taught me she wore her hair in a bun; every day she taught me she wore it the same way: I was enchanted by the way it stayed in place and the way the florescent schoolroom lights shimmered and turned the colour to pure silver.

Cruelly Miss Tillman was taken from me at the end of the first term by something an eight year old had no way of comprehending; retirement. My Father knew it was due: Miss Tillman had also taught him when he was eight.