Cain and Sooraya, after history class (noonish, Tuesday)

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Oh yeah, put the tiny Muslim girl who's just learning English in the American History class with the huge cranky giant. Someone is having fun with the scheduling. But surprisingly, Cain and Sooraya get along.




~Just be calm. There is no need to be afraid. He is a teacher, he is here to help.~ There was absolutely no reason for Sooraya to be quite so afraid of her history teacher - no reason except for the fact that he towered over everyone else in the mansion and had a voice like a deep, booming shout, even when he wasn't trying to be loud. This unnecessary intimidation made it that much harder for her to shuffle up to the front of the room after class was done to ask for help, but she did it anyway, because she was trying her best to be a good student. Even if the very sight of him behind the large oak desk was enough to make her nervous.

Cain looked up from his lesson plan, noticing the silent girl in the chador standing in front of his desk. She's probably going to be shy, Nate had said, but she'll be a good student and she wants to learn.

"Miss... Qadir?" Cain ventured, attempting to pronounce the foreign name and not missing by much. "Don't you have a class to... I mean, was there something you needed help with?"

The question got a nod in response, and nothing else as Sooraya stared at Cain with wide eyes. She shuffled the papers in her hands nervously, having completely forgotten everything she was going to say. It wasn't that he was mean, just that he was a man, and a very intimidating one at that. All her English seemed to hide, and she began to form an apology in Dari, resigned to asking Nathan later for help.

Cain twitched an eyebrow, hearing Sooraya begin to speak in ... whatever that was. Something he didn't speak. Nate had said she was learning English, but she'd barely said word one in the two weeks of class. Wrote well enough, for the limited assignments he gave, but she just didn't seem to be the talking type.

With a sigh, he closed his lesson planner and swiveled his oversized chair to face the tiny girl, elbows resting on his knees. "Relax," he said quietly. "Ain't going to bite your head off or nothing. Now, is there something you need help with? I ain't going to be mad if you ask. S'what I'm here for."

Oh, he was being patient. Sooraya gathered her courage about her and nodded again, tongue darting out to wet her lips before she spoke. "Yes, please, there is a question..." She fumbled with the papers, finally drawing out one with a photocopied map of the United States printed across it. "I-I know America," she said hesitantly, putting the paper flat on his desk. "But the marks..." She gestured to the lines delineating one state from another. "I do not understand."

"Oh," Cain murmured. Thankfully it was a class-related question, and the students weren't coming to him for anything like the facts of life discussions or anything. He might have taken this job on a dare, but he was liking it. Didn't need anything of THAT nature to throw a wrench in it.

"Those are the states. Smaller parts of the country that run themselves, but are part of the whole big thing. Understand?"

"Yes..." Sooraya said, nodding. "But. I do not understand the parts that run." She looked up at him, her expression a mixture of curiosity and confusion. Maybe her grasp on the language was a bit shaky, but she didn't see how pieces of land could move, let alone run... and run themselves? What sort of action was that?

"Ah," Cain said, understanding. "Run in this case means, uh, to govern. States can govern themselves, and the entire thing together, all the states, is a federation. But we won't study that until next year."

"Oh." Comprehension dawned on Sooraya's face and she nodded again. "Thank you." It seemed a rather redundant way to run a country, but she didn't want to tell him that. For all she knew, he thought it was a good idea.

"We're going to be learning about the original colonies this week," Cain offered, trying to speak as clearly as he could. "The first thirteen states. America kind of..." he motioned with his finger across the photocopied map, "grew west as more people moved here. But
we'll get to that later."

Leaning back on his desk, Cain looked at the quiet girl. "So," he asked cautiously, "Nathan tells me you like to learn new things. Any of your other classes giving you any trouble?"

Listening carefully, Sooraya got most of what Cain was saying. In her classes she wore a look of perpetual concentration, fine lines creased across her forehead as she struggled to get every word the teacher said. She wasn't at 100% yet, but found that it was actually getting easier the more she practiced.

"Not trouble," she replied, shaking her head. "I like maths... math-e-ma-tics." The smile that lit up her face at remembering the difficult word was instantaneous. "And science is good. And history," she hastened to add.

"Good to hear," Cain said with a wide smile. "Everything else going fine, then? Your roommates, getting along with folks?" He'd seen Sooraya at the movie night, and while she'd definitely looked confused by Julio's choice of film - everyone including him had been just as befuddled.

"Oh, yes," the Afghan girl said solemnly. Angel was a wonderful roommate, and all the other students she had met had been very nice and accomodating to her. Even Crystal. "They are very... they are... I do not know the word. They give things to me. And they do not ask for things from me."

"Nice," Cain said softly, barely nodding. "They're being nice. They're like that here. Most of the time. They want you to feel at home, like part of a big family."

He turned his head, looking out the window to the south lawn. This classroom used to be one of his father's many studies, he remembered. Same bookshelves, same old varnished dark wood bordering the windows and the moulding. "But it's up to you to figure out if you belong," he said in a more cheerful voice, looking back at Sooraya. "That's one thing you'll learn here. Everyone gets their own choice."

For a moment Sooraya considered telling the teacher that if the choice was between this wonderful place and the life of servitude she had lived before, it really wasn't much of a toss-up. But that would've been too forward, and besides, there was no way she knew the English word for 'mind-numbingly simple decision'. "Yes," she said simply, nodding and holding her papers against her chest. "I see that. Like the vampires."

That got a bark of surprised laughter out of Cain, and he leaned back in his chair, chuckling at the ceiling. "Yeah, kid. Like the vampires. You're gonna fit in quick here, I can tell."

Sooraya smiled shyly, feeling a bit more comfortable around the man now that she had seen him smile and laugh. "I want to," she told him. "They are not my family. But they are friends."

"And you know something?" Cain said, rapping his knuckles on the desk. "Took me about... well, too long to figure that out. But you're right. And that's enough. So," he said as he rose from behind the desk, "how about heading down by the kitchen with me? Class always makes me hungry and I know Lorna got some more cold cuts this week. I'm thinking sub sandwich, how about you?"

Cold cuts? Sub sandwich? Sooraya was just flattered that he would invite her, despite her poor showing at speaking English that afternoon. "Yes, please," she said politely, vowing to learn more about states on her own. Just because they would be learning it in class next year didn't mean she couldn't start early. "A sub is what?"

Cain clapped his hands and smiled, gesturing towards the door. "Better to show you than tell you. American history can be taught, but American food's gotta be experienced."

Comments

[x-legion.livejournal.com]

Thankfully it was a class-related question, and the students weren't coming to him for anything like the facts of life discussions or anything.

I would have loved to see Cain's response to "Please Mr. Marko, why are the bisexuals?"