Pug Hill - Alison Pace [38]
Jessica walks up to the desk and as she does so I’m sure she’ll be the best speaker, the best at introducing herself, as she’s not here because of any deep-seated distress, but more in a friendship/ moral support type of way.
Jessica turns bright red and runs from the room.
“Uh, I should go see,” Lindsay says softly, a few moments later, and walks out the door with her head down.
“I’m Diana, I work in insurance,” the wrap-dress woman says quickly, not nearly as serenely as she seemed initially. I wonder if it’s cheating that she got up there so quickly, before everyone’s attention was back from the door.
Lawrence, the guy who said his name first in the last round, gets up and all but skips to the front of the room.
He stands upright, his lips in a tight, prim smile, his eyes traveling slowly around the room. With each person he sees, he stops and gives a small nod. He spreads his hands wide out to the side, such an open and welcoming gesture, for anyone, let alone the public speaking impaired.
“Hello, everyone. I’m in real estate by day, but my true calling is poetry. I’m a poet, yes,” he says and smiles widely, more like grinning, and nods his head. “I’m so looking forward to getting to know everyone, and working together, and sharing my poetry with you. I thought, if you’d like, I could read one right now.” He looks to Beth Anne who is still darting concerned glances in the direction of the door.
“Yes, Lawrence, that sounds like a lovely idea,” she tells him, “but we’ve got some more to cover tonight, so let’s look forward to your poem at presentation time.” Lawrence’s proud posture changes, becomes deflated as he returns to his desk very slowly, as if at any moment Beth Anne’s mind will be changed, and she will call on him to read.
“Thank you, Lawrence,” she says in the direction of his head, which is now laid down upon his desk. “And thank you, class. I’m sure we are all looking forward to working together and getting to know each other, and helping each other in the weeks to come.” Everyone present, except of course for Lawrence whose face is still hidden from view, darts their eyes around.
“Okay then, so before we continue, I’m wondering if we should wait for Lindsay and Jessica.” Beth Anne’s voice sounds the slightest bit flustered; for several reasons, I don’t think it should. First of all, the public speaking class teacher’s voice shouldn’t waiver, it’s more than a little unsettling. And also, you’d think Beth Anne, being a public speaking teacher, among other things, would be used to things like people running red-faced from rooms. You’d think it might be a little bit par for the course.
“Would anyone like to go look for them?” she asks. I, for one, wouldn’t know where to look, though in my experience the bathroom would be a good start. I stare at the floor, and no one else ventures a response.
“Okay then,” she continues, smoothing down her skirt in front of her, “it’s interesting that Lawrence has brought up his poetry. One of our assignments will be to select, and then read a favorite poem to the class.” Two roads, I think, diverged in a yellow wood.
Beth Anne continues speaking, “Public speaking can be very, very difficult. It is something many people fear. The human body’s response to fear is often an adrenaline rush, in preparation of flight. Since often the option of flight is not the best one,” she says as her eyes dart once again to the door, “the result is that we get sweaty, nauseated, our hearts and pulses race, among other symptoms.” I hear someone exhaling, and look up to see Amy rolling her eyes as she lets out an exasperated breath.
“Most people would rather be in a casket than delivering the eulogy,” Beth Anne says and smiles. I guess that’s pretty true, but I doubt this can be news to anyone here, even if it is a pretty good one-liner. And who doesn’t like a good one-liner? Well, me, for starters.
“In the weeks to come, we’ll learn many techniques for being an effective public