As she zones back in, Emily can tell she is about to endure a lecture, not a reprimand, but a very long, unwanted speech, at best.
“This is fun; you make an argument go for one page. You can write it or type it,” said the teacher.
“I don’t think we have the same definitions of fun,” Emily said with an unenthusiastic eye roll.
“Look, I’ll show you an excellent example that a student ended up using… Ok let’s see if this is the right one, yayhhh,” said Ms. Champine, with a tinge too much excitement.
“Hey, it’s whats his face-” exclaimed Navarr, the usually disengaged student who distracts Emily from her school work, often.
“It’s Oliver! “Superman’s trip to the supermarket” came out of this..” mused Ms. Champine, obviously reminiscing over the good times with her past students.
“Well who’s Oliver?” Emily asked quizzically.
“Oliver Pomes,”
“He used to go here-” chimed in Navarr.
“Is there an actual picture of him?” inquired Emily, “Ohh I remember that kid!” she said, now in an all-knowing tone, as she re-digested his look.
“Okay, well his is really clever and it’s a really good example, but do remember this has been edited and his first draft didn’t look like this,” said Ms. Champine as she walked away.
“Is that the town Superman is based in? Met, Metrop, Metropolis?” asked Emily, pointing so Navarr could see where she was looking.
“Uhhhh, I guess.” With a mutual lack of understanding, Emily assured Navarr “I haven’t seen it enough to know either.”
“It’s supposed to be in New York. Like, it’s nothing special; pretty sure it’s supposed to be in New York, like Manhattan or something.” Said Navarr, now seemingly in deep thought.
“Is it? because what’s his face is from, like a little town in the middle of nowhere; from Smallville?” Quipped Emily, and then with a slight desperation she begged “What is his name?, please?”
“Clark Kent”
“Yesss, thank you, Kent, Clark Kent!”
All of a sudden Emily’s mood switched, with an angry tort she appealed to her teacher, “Ms. Champine! You know I’m a cat person, right?”
Taken aback by her student’s sharp tone, Ms. Champine timidly agreed, “Uh, I vaguely noticed, yeah…”
“Yeah?, you should have known I was a cat person. Then you should not have shown me this story. You know Superman kills a cat?”
“What?!” blurted out Navarr, showing his new found disgust for Superman.
“Yeah, with his eyes!” Emily said mater-of-factly.
“So what?, he like melts it?, with like… fire?, or lasers?”
“It’s just an exercise that a student did,” piped Ms. Champine, quickly trying to put out the unexpected fire ignited by the kitty killing ‘hero’.
However, this is to no avail, and with an unfaltering opinion, Navarr declared “That’s totally messed up on Superman’s part.”
“I mean I didn’t think it was that great, anyway, but now I’m upset,” sniffed Emily with a quavering voice and a tear in her eye.
“Well give superman a little sympathy, he’s having a bad day,” stated Ms. Champine, in one last effort to help maintain Superman’s usually undeniable charm.
Obviously unimpressed, Emily moaned “Ummm I don’t care; you do not kill a cat, Superman. That’s all that it comes down to.”
Finally, giving up on their difference of opinions, Ms. Champine said “It’s a piece of fiction, so it’s just an example of the kind of thing you’ll be writing.”
With this, their teacher walked away, leaving Emily and Navarr to dwell in the fictional, yet depressive world of Off Duty Superman.