Mountains Wanted Read Online Free PDF Page A

after a year of post-doc work in New Mexico,” Sarah said. “I think I may
actually get the hang of things this year!”  
    James laughed.
 “Well, just based on what I heard on Friday, I’m sure you’re a great
teacher,” he said confidently as he paid for their drinks and led her back to
the table. When they were seated he continued, “How did you decide to become a
professor?”
    Sarah gathered her
thoughts, wondering how she could make this piece of her life story succinct
when there was so much to it. “I have always been teaching, since I was a
little girl,” she recollected, smiling. “I thought I wanted to teach high
school but after my first sociology class in college, I was hooked. What about
you? Are you new to teaching?”
    James cleared his
throat, which she noticed now after a bit of conversation he tended to do when
he was trying to appear more serious or professional. It might have
annoyed some people, but Sarah found it endearing. She was still
struggling to determine if he was in his mid to late 20’s and trying to appear
older or early 30’s and just had a youthful look. “I’m brand spanking
new,” he admitted. “I haven’t the slightest clue what I’m doing, but I’ve had some
good teachers to emulate. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?”
    Sarah laughed and began
leaning toward the early 30’s hypothesis. He didn’t speak like someone in
his mid-20’s. “I definitely had some extraordinary mentors,” she agreed. “So
where are you from?”
    James smiled and looked
down for a second as if he had to access the answer from some deep cavern in
his mind. “I’m an army brat,” he stated, “I’ve lived all over. But I guess
you could say I spent my formative years in the Midwest. And that’s where my
parents settled down after my dad retired.”
    Ah. The Midwest. This
is all seeming cliché. The all American good looks, the Midwestern
sensibilities, the military service. He really is GI Joe...or...uh...GI James.  Sarah lauded her powers of observation,
this ability to peg where someone was coming from within mere minutes of
meeting them. Must be a gift, she chuckled to herself. She usually
didn’t find herself attracted to wholesome, farm-raised, military types. Her
gaze swept from his eyes to his feet and back up again.  He’s quite the
specimen. Maybe this is just a physical attraction?  She had recently
dated a long string of academic and artistic types. And she’d completely given
up on corporate types following her failed marriage to Mr. Daniel Taylor, the
man who still made her shudder when she so much as thought his name or
envisioned his face.  
    Wait, is this a date? she suddenly inquired, the question bouncing
around her mind like a rubber ball. Or is this a professional thing? Her
excitement when she received the phone call and anxiousness to see him
certainly projected a date-like aura, but his serious demeanor and the
small-talky tone that had been established seemed to indicate otherwise. She
suddenly felt disappointed.  Maybe I should have gone to the house
party?
    Sarah realized she had
let the conversation lapse while she was in soliloquy mode, which was the last
thing she had wanted. “I’m from Colorado originally,” Sarah offered. “It’s
been an adjustment getting used to the East Coast. I never thought I’d be
particularly well-suited to this region, but I seem to be managing.”
    James nodded. “I
have found I can thrive pretty much anywhere. Even in the desert.”
    “Oh, do you mean Iraq?” This
conversation might finally be going somewhere.
    “Affirmative,” he
smiled. “Although I’ve been back home for two years now from my last
deployment. I sometimes consider accepting another assignment but wonder
if it would be a lot harder now that my body is older and my brain is wiser.”
    “Voluntarily?” Sarah
asked, incredulously. She instantaneously regretted her tone. Way too
judgmental.
    James didn’t