Patti

“Did you finish yours, Kota?"
"Working on it now, Actually."
"How's it going?"

He sat up, turning in his chair and holding up his notebook. "I don't know. What rhymes with formaldehyde?"

My eyes widened. Gabriel laughed, rubbing his fingers against his forehead. "Dude, what kind of poem are you writing?"

Kota blinked at us. "It's about a doctor."

"Does the doctor fall in love?" Gabriel asked.
"No."
"Does someone die?"
"Not in the story, technically."
"What does he do?"
"He performs an autopsy.”
― C.L. Stone, First Days

“Good afternoon, class," he said.

I said a soft good afternoon, but no one else in the class joined me.

Dr. Green laughed. "I think my class is missing. Did no one show up today? I'll have to mark everyone as absent. I believe I said good afternoon."

The room chorused a low murmuring of 'good afternoon' in reply.

"This won't do," Dr. Green said. "I'm here to teach you Japanese. I can't very well teach you English, too.”
― C.L. Stone, First Days

“If it took me showing some warmth to get warmth in return, I'd do it.”
― C.L. Stone, Drop of Doubt

“I hate running."
He laughed. "You know what's the best part about running?"
"What?"
"The stopping.”
― C.L. Stone, First Days