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{miss difalco} puma perl miss difalco almost thirty spinsterish taught English to seventh graders girls in black eye make-up boys who wrote "fuck" in their books miss difalco daughter of the principal a man who scared everyone even the boys drawing cocks in books even the girls in ripped black stockings miss difalco perfume light and flowery the girls smelled of cigarettes tasted musky the boys greased their hair miss difalco in her skirts too long her sensible shoes her crying eyes spoke clearly softly, in a refined brooklyn accent the students liked her despite themselves behind her eyes there was a woman on parent-teacher day six mothers wore pant suits three fathers squeezed their bellies behind student desks their kids played with their erasers tapped their feet everyone pretended interest in verbs nouns sentences after the lesson miss difalco read a poem "the highwayman" by Alfred Noyes she had memorized it "I'll come to thee by moonlight" she recited, eyes burning "look for me by moonlight" she whispered, cheeks red "Tlot-tlot in the frosty silence! Tlot-tlot in the echoing night!" she cried out the fathers leaned forward forgetting the desks cutting into their guts the mothers narrowed their eyes the boys stared at her breasts the girls fixed their stockings finally the highwayman rode up to the old inn door whip in hand, he reached for Bess, the landlord's daughter the one with the long black hair miss difalco hissed those last lines closed her eyes until the shaking stopped the class applauded it was her finest moment |
