The Spelling Lesson	The Spelling Lesson  by AC Chapin "What do you
have there Ray?" Ray Vecchio, bent intently over his desk, jumped a little
in his chair. "Nothing." He smiled blandly up at Fraser and quickly stuck
the scrap of paper he'd been scribbling on into the middle of a pile of
files. The pile swayed unsteadily, lurched, and then stabilized. "What's
up?" Fraser shrugged, this sort of thing was so embarrassing. "Ah, well, I
was wondering . . . Diefenbaker seems to have misplaced his rabbit." The
white wolf hurried around from behind Fraser's legs and looked up at Ray
with unabashed pleading in his eyes, fairly groveling on the floor. "And
he believes he may have left it here." Ray grinned down at the wolf.
"Don't worry, big guy; Elaine found it in the broom closet." He dug the
stuffed rabbit out of a desk drawer. Dief jumped up and took the rabbit
delicately in his jaws. With a doggy wink at Ray, he carried his treasure
off behind the file cabinet. "You sure got him spoiled, Fraser." Fraser
sighed again. "As I remember, it was you who bought it for him." "He was
*whining*." "He's becoming a big baby." Fraser sat down in the chair
beside Ray's desk. "It's the effect of the city." He leaned far over, out
of his chair, so that the wolf would be sure to read his lips. "He seems
to go out of his way to put me into embarrassing situations for his own
enjoyment." Ray grinned, practically laughing at him. "Yeah, wonder who
that reminds me of." Fraser straightened and looked over Ray's cluttered
desk. His eyes caught the tail end of the scrap of paper where it stuck
out of the files. "'So if I parish by fire tonight, it will be . . .'"
"Hey! That's none of your business." Ray pulled the stack away from him
and files cascaded over the desk, burying the rest of Ray's work. "I'm
sorry Ray. I thought it was part of a case." "Well -- maybe it is, but
that doesn't mean you need to read it. Sheesh!" "Don't be so touchy, Ray.
It's wrong anyway." Ray's head snapped back, gone suddenly from offense to
defense. "Whaddaya *mean* it's wrong?" "Well, 'perish' with an 'e' means
to die. 'Parish' with an 'a' means a church community. Judging from the
context, I would assume --" "You're criticizing my spelling now?" "It's a
simple matter of meaning, Ray. If you'd 'parished' I suppose you'd end up
'dioceased'." And he couldn't help chuckling about that. Diefenbaker fixed
him with a leery eye and cuddled his rabbit between his paws. Ray just
watched him, nodding slightly as the laughter passed. "You about done
there, Fraser?" "I'm sorry, Ray." Another burst of giggles came and went.
Ray pulled the paper out of the pile, crumpled it in his palm, and tossed
it at the overflowing trashcan. It hit at a fantastic angle and wadded
papers and candy bar wrappers exploded from the top of the can. Ray had
already picked up his coat and walked away. "C'mon, Dief. I'll buy you a
sandwich." Fraser sat there, not sure whether the invitation included him.
He suspected not. The man was so moody sometimes. The mess on the floor
finally drove him to action. He compacted the trash already in the can and
then put the scattered waste back in, in a more stable configuration.
Strangely enough, there was one piece that just wouldn't stay put.
Finally, swallowing, perfectly aware that he was blushing, he smoothed it
out. being where I am, its easy to see the flow of you the yes and no of
you, the times I've said to you stop it, stop it, I only really meant,
stop now or never stop, I don't think I can stand it if this isn't
forever. Theres something more than fear that makes my heart race and my
hands sweat when you ask me to come out into the wild with you. So if I
parish by fire tonight, it will be It ended there, but there were dozens
of crossed-out words around the margins, and where the next line should
have been was evidence of several erasings. "You just about done there,
Benny, or you want to teach me to use semicolons now?" When Fraser looked
up, Ray was standing at the corner of the desk. He nodded that slow,
patient nod again. Fraser stood, a little unsteadily. His face was
burning, and something in his belly twisted, threatened to betray him
completely. "I'm sorry, Ray." Those grey-green eyes looked right through
him. "You want me to drive you guys home?" "Ah -- yes." He reached out and
placed the crumpled paper on Ray's desk. Ray shrugged and turned his back.
"Keep it." Fraser folded the paper carefully into his pocket and followed
Ray out the door. Diefenbaker was refusing to look at him. He couldn't
think of anything reasonable to say. "It's 'it's' actually, not 'its',
with the --" "It's what?" Ray growled, not looking back. "It's wonderful,
Ray." And his stomach twisted once more as he reached forward to put his
palm to Ray's hand. His fingers curved around Ray's and their hands
slipped for a moment into warm and perfect contact, and then back out
again. easy and natural. Like the way the tide rises. "The Spelling
Lesson" copyright 1996 by AC Chapin. For James -- see, I'm working my way
up.