What Was She Thinking? [Notes on a Scandal] by Zoe Heller

With the building boom in Las Vegas, there have been many job opportunities for all kinds of people. It's been a new golden age for the city. One portion of the population that has benefited job wise from this boom is the high school kid. Each builder hires several kids to stand on different street corners, holding signs shaped like Muppet-sized arrows displaying the builder's name and nearby community.
Sounds like a boring, mindless, thankless job. I'm sure it was. Until the kids started becoming Cirque du Soleil jugglers with these mammoth signs. I've seen kids twirling them in the air, throwing them like batons, and even twirling them between their legs. And with the crowds of cars driving by, it's like a movable Olympic gymnastic feast -- only everyone forgot their score cards.
Today, as I was driving home from the library, I had the unusual experience of watching someone try to flirt with me from outside my car. One of these sign kids, an older high school boy, was twirling away until he saw me drive up into the turn lane nearest him. While watching for traffic to clear up, I glanced his way, to see a toothy grin on his face as he stared right at me. He extended his arm and pointed at me, winking. Not wishing to be rude, I tentatively waved back, and he nodded, laughing at my hesitation. Then, the traffic cleared up and I drove on, shaking my head, and laughing myself.


I haven't had a young person flirt with me in awhile, but it brought to mind the Zoe Heller book I read recently. In the book, now made into a movie called "Notes on a Scandal" starring Judi Dench (genius casting at work there) and Cate Blanchett, a young, inexperienced teacher starts an affair with one of her students while an older teacher comes to her aid in a self-serving manner. The book does a superb job of starting the affair off with innocent situations and continuing along in a hyper-realistic plot line.
Also, as an educator, it's very interesting to watch the whole situation unfold and listen to the ruminations of the main character on education and its current state in the world. You read at first in empathy as the young teacher just wants to help her students yearn to learn. You read later in uncomfortable twistings as she befriends a student, knowing what is going to befall her. Lastly, you read in horror as she makes elegantly terrible decision after decision, and you wonder, "What was she thinking?"
I did worry as I scanned the bar code at the self check library station -- will I get in trouble for reading this book? Is the government watching my book selections? Will I receive a phone call in a few weeks from Homeland Security, expressing curiosities about my recent readings? So far so good, but I admit I have been checking the Caller ID more carefully than usual.