I was in a school room, alone with a professor, studying Latin. The professor (probably in his late 50s) had a gray beard. He was seated behind a desk in front of the room and I was seated in a chair in front of him. Although I was part of a class which studied Latin, since I had previously studied much Latin, I had special sessions to go over the lessons. In my hands I had the book which we were studying.
The professor told me that we were skipping from the front of the book to a lesson about three fourths of the way back in the book. I flipped back to the lesson to which he was referring. I knew the Latin text which we had been reading dealt with a war – I was familiar with the text. Therefore I shouldn't have much trouble going to the lesson in the back. The other students however weren't familiar with the story, nor had they learned all the material in the intervening lessons. I didn't see how they would be able make such a leap.
I looked at the page containing the lesson to which the professor had referred me. On it was a picture of an ancient writing carved in stone. As I read the writing on the stone, I came to an almost completely obliterated word. Also on the page was a transcription of the writing in regular print. However, the transcription also showed the word to be obliterated. I tried to decide what the word meant. Finally I concluded that it meant "ansia." The word immediately following it was "pie." I thought the two words went together as "ansia pie" or "anxious foot." It meant that the hero of the story was frightened and trying to flee from a predicament in which he found himself.
***
I was sitting in the classroom now filled with students. As we all awaited the arrival of the professor, a student asked me about a passage of the Latin text which we were supposed to have prepared for today. I replied that I remembered the text he was talking about, and I added, self-importantly, that the professor himself had even asked my advice on the text. I quickly began searching for the text in my book, so I could explain it. As I looked for it, however, I began to have doubts about whether I really knew the text as well as I was claiming.
As I looked for the text, I realized I was actually looking through a small notebook. I also finally realized this notebook had belonged to Peggy when she had been in high school. The first page had a hand-written copy of the Latin text we were studying; but leafing through the other pages, I saw a variety of writings on other subjects. It looked as if Peggy had written notes to herself (like a diary) and poems. I wondered if Peggy had written anything in the notebook about liking me. I stopped and read one passage. It said, "I believe in divination."
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