Lily put her textbooks and three ring binder on the dark green carpeted floor in front of the stereo and turned on the radio. The room of the house that had been built at the turn of the twentieth century had been redecorated and felt cozy. As usual in 1978, a song from Saturday Night Fever was playing, this time, “How Deep Is Your Love.” Instead of doing her schoolwork, Lily heaved a deep sigh and lay across her bed, turning her head toward a window that had recently been replaced, eliminating drafts. Her eyes were unfocused and she started to daydream about slow dancing with an attractive guy. While she was in a daze, she heard a hardback textbook open. She turned and saw her algebra book up in the air, open, with pages slowly turning.
Lily gasped and blinked a few times, and said to herself aloud, “What the…? I’m seeing things. Why is that book flying?… without going anywhere?”
A female voice from the direction of the levitated book said, “My name is June. I’m here, holding the book, but I can’t be seen except in the dark. I remember learning Algebra. I had to borrow my brother’s book because I wasn’t supposed to study that kind of thing. You have a full schedule of classes, but you don’t know how lucky you are.”
“Lucky? It’s the bane of my existence. There’s a test coming up, but I can’t focus on it.”
“Why don’t we go through it together? You want to qualify for college later. Anyway, I wanted to go to college, but that was not what young ladies did then, according to my father.”
The book slowly, gently, came toward Lily and turned around so that she could read it.
Lily sat up and faced the open book. “You’re going to tutor me?”
“Yes. We’ll go through it together. What chapter are you on?”
Lily found the place in the book with that day’s homework assignment. “That’s what I’m supposed to do for tomorrow, but I haven’t been keeping up, so I don’t understand it at all.”
It was getting dark. Lily could see the outline of who she had been talking to. June looked like a woman out of the history books.
“Did you fight for women’s rights? You’re dressed like a suffragette.”
“The suffragettes dressed like other well to do women. I only struggled for my own rights. I was not permitted to go to college, or to continue receiving the calls of a young man who appealed to my intellect and heart. Instead, my father said he would throw me out of the house if I rejected the marriage proposal of a dullard who spoke to me in the most patronizing way.”
“That sounds terrible, but don’t you think having to study is terrible, too?”
“That would be a privilege. What is the last thing you understood in this book?”
“I’ll need to turn on the light, but then I won’t see you.”
“That is fine with me. In my life, I was only my appearance and ability to have babies.”
They went through the algebra lessons until Lily’s father called her down for dinner.
Lily asked June, “Would you like anything to eat? You can come down with me or I can bring something up.”
“No. I’ll never leave this room, and I no longer eat.”
“You’ll never leave this room? When did you decide that?”
“When my family decided on a life for me that I couldn’t abide by.”
“You mean you’ve always been here, even before we moved in?”
“Yes, and I know you have the chance to go to a university. I don’t want you to miss that chance. I know your father’s condemnation for not studying has made you anxious, but I can show you that learning is a delight. You’ll see that if you let me tutor you.”
Lily’s father called for her again.
June said, “Go on and have your meal. Don’t tell anyone about me. They’ll question your sanity, and anyway, it would be good to surprise them with excellence in your schoolwork.”
Lily was quiet during that meal, but she was struggling hard not to giggle. She did want to do well in school, and having a spirit in her room was fantastic and exciting. Her mother noticed Lily’s smile and blush and asked what it was about.
“A guy I have a crush on talked to me today,” she lied.
“I didn’t know you had a crush on anyone,” said her mother.
“Doesn’t everyone my age have a crush on someone?” she asked. “I don’t think it will lead to anything, though. He’s already going out with a much prettier, smarter, more popular girl. But still, it was nice to be acknowledged.”
Her mother frowned and shook her head. “You shouldn’t put yourself down, Lily. You are pretty and smart yourself. You just need to discipline yourself in your studies, and be more friendly to people.”
“You know I’m an introvert. That’s just me. I will try to do better in my studies, though.”
“I hope so.”
In the following weeks, June read through Lily’s textbooks with her. She had Lily go through them a little at a time, chatting in between chapters, and none of the material was as intimidating as Lily had thought. June expressed surprise that Lily had so much time on her hands even though her family had no servants. June described the things that had to be done in a household in her time. Churning butter, for one thing. Washing heavy clothes by hand was another. The lights were electric in June’s time, but electric appliances now meant that everything was easier and faster around the house.
June’s enthusiasm about learning spread to Lily, and June also drilled Lily before quizzes and tests. They often stayed up late at night studying and chatting. June was the best friend Lily ever had. Lily’s family moved every few years, making Lily feel like an outsider wherever she was, and having this kind of close friendship was new to her.
A few times Lily’s mother or father peeked into her room at night and said, “I thought I heard voices in here. Did you sneak a friend here overnight without telling us? And why is your light still on? You should be in bed.”
“I’m just reading my lessons out loud. I remember better if I read it out loud to myself. I’ll go to bed when I’m finished studying”
Her parents searched the room a few times in the first weeks after June had appeared to Lily. Lily and June struggled hard to stifle their laughter, but her parents could never find any sign of someone else in the room.
Suddenly, Lily started to get all A’s in her classes, which she explained to June meant she scored 90 to 100 percent, the highest grade. When Lily was given research assignments, she photocopied the things she couldn’t bring home from the library and talked over the materials with June. The two of them would debate about the subjects (in soft voices) and Lily came up with original and provoking theses for her papers. Her teachers were impressed, and at first were suspicious that Lily didn’t do them herself, but when they talked to her about the papers, Lily not only understood what she had written, but she brought up facts and ideas that weren’t included in her papers.
When her report cards filled up with A’s, Lily’s parents were astonished. “If you keep up the good work, you could get a scholarship to a distinguished college. We should start looking into the opportunities you will have.”
Lily said, “I haven’t even started high school, and I don’t know what I will want to major in. I’ll need to decide that before I know where I want to go.”
In Lily’s junior year of high school, she had to decide what colleges to apply to. Because she now loved learning for learning’s sake, she planned to go into a liberal arts program. If she went to the state university, she could commute.
June asked Lily, “Why do you want to commute? A reputable private college secluded in the woods would be a better learning atmosphere for you.”
Lily said, “I do all my studying with you, and you won’t leave this room.”
June said, “No. Don’t limit your education on my account. You can study without me. I appeared to you because I wanted to taste my dreams through you and through your studies. If you go to your ideal college or university, I will finally rest in peace.”
LZ Short Stories 