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Show 73 Chapter Three. Forging School began, as always, on the day after Labor Day. At a quarter before nine Karl waited, along with nine other fellows and seventeen girls of the sophomore class of Canaan High School, for the arrival of the homeroom teacher, Professor Whiteside. Resigned to the fate of attending school, Karl made the best of things by studying the sophomore girls, one by one, to see whether any of them had improved over the summer. He couldn't notice much difference, except that three of the girls, Tillie Horner, Esther Berkowitz, and Virginia Ward, had swept their hair into topknots and wore ankle-length skirts, like grown women. They were clustered in a corner with a few other girls singing: "Everybody's doin' it, doin' it, doin' it, Everybody's doin' it. Doin' what? Turkey Trot! See that ragtime couple over there, Watch them throw their shoulders in the air, Snap their fingers...." The singing stopped abruptly when a woman appeared in the doorway. The woman walked quickly to the teacher's desk, turned to face them, and smiled. Instantly the room became silent. Not a foot shuffled, not a chair squeaked, and Virginia Ward halted in mid-giggle. The woman facing them was young, and beautiful in an unusual, arresting way. |
