The squeal of delight came from a child near by and Elaina felt the soft tail of her golden retriever smack her leg in a happy wag.

“Can I pet the doggie!” Said the little girl as she looked up at Elaina.

“Sure sweetie, and thank you so much for asking.” The young woman responded with a smile. He wasn’t working now or anything as they sat on the sidewalk part of the café, Charlie was just chewing on a rawhide bone as she sipped at her drink leisurely, enjoying the warm night air. The weather now was a lot like Boston’s and it made her a little homesick.

The little girl pet the dog eagerly, and as always Charlie enjoyed every bit of the attention. “Come along Elsie. We’ve got to get home now.”

“Okay! Thank you miss! He’s got really pretty fur!” Elaina smiled at the little girl and waved slightly towards where she heard the parents and the girl. “You’re quite welcome Elsie. He always loves the attention of pretty girls.” She heard the girl giggle in response as they walked off.

She could feel Charlie’s tail still wagging against her and she reached down to pet him affectionately. “Ah, what would I do without you Charlie?” She said with a smile. Surely the kids in her classes would love him and he could even help her teach her lessons, and playtime with him could be like a special reward for things. A lick to her hand made her smile.

Gin Kamijyo was walking down the street after a hard night's teaching. It was hard teaching college kids Japanese, especially since it had so many writing systems and words. The class was slowly but surely getting the hang of it, and he was happy to help. He wore a black polo shirt and a pair of navy blue khakis. A cigar hung loosely from his mouth as he let the smoke enter his lungs and exhale it out slowly. His hair covered the black eye patch over his left eye.

As he got close to the cafe he thought he'd grab a bite to eat Gin put out his cigar as a girl and her mother walked by. Throwing the stub away he saw a golden retriever, and a woman he saw before from the university. As he walked closer he made sure his hair was covering his eye patch and bent down to look at the dog. "Mind if I pet him?" He asked acting as if he didn't hear her talking to her dog.

He heard that she was good with kids, and that she was also doing some tutoring, but he never really had a chance to chat it up with her. He was the kind of guy to want to know everyone he met. "He's got a good shine to his fur." He said while waiting for the girl to respond to his question.

"Hm?" She looked up, her small, stylish sunglasses even just after dark still on her face. "Oh, sure. He's off duty sir. Go right ahead." She nodded with a smile as she looked towards the voice. It was a familliar one, one she had heard in passing but several times... but she couldn't place well.

"Thank you though. I do my best to take care of him. After all he takes good care of me. I'd be lost without him really." She said with a light laugh.

But where had she heard that voice? It was one she knew... She was sure of it. Oh, it was going to bug her until she found out.

"I'm sorry sir, I don't mean to pry, but I'm sure I've heard your voice before, I just can't place it. Have we met? I am sorry, but rembering voices is fairly hard when you can't put a face to them." She said with a soft smile.

Gin looked up as the girl answered him, and noticed the sunglasses. Then he remembered that someone told him that she was blind. The eye dog was a give away, but it was kind of comforting to meet someone like him though he still had use of one eye. He stroked the dog's fur scratched behind the ears. "I don't have any pets, but I know what you mean." He helped his students and they helped him. Some showed him some places that he didn't even know about. "I think I might want to adopt a pet sooner or later." He said patting the dog before stopping to listen to the girl speak.

Gin listened to her as she asked him if they met before. Smiling Gin stood up and nodded. "We haven't met officially. I'm Gin Kamijyo, the Japanese adjunct at Demaitre University." He said remembering that she couldn't see him nod. Gin went to offer his hand, but stopped.

Professor Kamijyo! "Oh! Of course sir! How foolish of me. I haven't taken any of your classes unfortunatly, but I have heard many good things about your teaching skills." She said with a brighter smile. "I've taken a few of the French classes at the University, so I must have heard you when I was in the language department. I'm in the Elementary Education program at the University and I hope to be teaching later of course. I start student teaching soon, and I'm very nervous about it." She said with a shakey smile.

"Oh, I'm Elaina. Elaina Trenton by the way. It's not very often I run in to one of the professors of the university in my outside life." Hesitantly she held out her hand where his voice was coming from, but didn't feel his. Was it out there beyond hers somewhere? Was she just missing it? Or hadn't he offered it.

The few seconds her hand was out there seemed like an eternity as she waited...

Gin laughed as the girl started speaking about him. "Don't worry about it. I usually hang out around the department between classes." That was definitely where he saw her. Her professor simply loved her, only good things to say about her.

"The education program's really hard here. I'm happy to know a future teacher!" He said with a bright smile. "Don't be nervous about student teaching, you'll do fine." Then she introduced herself as Elaina, and offered her hand. Gin took her hand in his and gave it a gentle but firm handshake. "It's very nice to meet you in person Elaina. I've heard a lot about you too, your professor says that you're very good!" You had to be good if you wanted to become a teacher.

He felt foolish for not offering his hand, and sighed softly. "Mind if I join you?" He asked before letting go of her hand. Gin didn't really give a crap about all the political bullshit about professor/student relationships. That was the way he taught, breaking down most of the barriers between professor and student, making it much more of a casual atmosphere, though he did have to keep with some of the rules.

Elaina visibly relaxed as he took her hand. So he simply hadn't offered it. No worries really, many people weren't sure what to do with her. In many cases she wasn't sure what to do with herself.

"I think any Education Progran would be hard Professor Kamijyo, and they should be. After all, teaching is a rather big responsibility." She said with a smile as she set her drink down on the table. "I guess I kind of feel like proving myself... But also, teachers have been a big part of my life. At Perkins, my mother... They're people I've always admired and I guess I just want to be like them."

She gave a light laugh as he told her not to worry. "Oh, I'm sure I can teach, but I just don't know what my students are going to think of me. Usualy I don't really care, but if they think they can goof around and slack around me simply becuase I can't see them... it's going to be rather difficult. I wanted to do elementary because I figured children are more honest than teenagers... High School was a nightmare for me in some ways." She said as she lowered her hand to pet Charlie.

"Oh. Sure, of course Professor. I'd like that really. Maybe I could learn some tips and techniques talking with you." She said with a smile as she waved to the other side of a table where she knew a chair to be.

Gin smiled as Elaina relaxed as he took her hand. It had to be tough being blind, but he didn't say anything. He lost his left eye, and it was hard enough losing his depth perception, but he got used to it. He listened to the girl as she spoke aout how education programs should be hard. "I guess you're right." He said with a slight chuckle. "It was hard enough having to switch from the education program in Japan and the one here." It was pretty tough but if it was too much he wouldn't have been here.

"As long as you're honest with them they'll definitely treat you with respect." He said as he took the seat across from her. "I feel that it's best to teach in kind of a social setting, so it's probably best to get to know your students as well as you can." That was the way he taught, but it might not work for her. "It might not work for you, but that's how I teach the kids in my class."

Then a waiter came over. "What would you like to drink?" Gin looked up for a second and thought for a second. "I'd like a Coke please." He said keeping it simple. He didn't like the complicated stuff like super espresso lattes, chai teas. "Do you want another drink miss?" The waiter asked the girl.

"Oh. Thank you, just a water please." She said with a smile. "More caffiene at this time of night would just be a disaster." Elaina chuckled slightly. Because she hadn't been trained to want it as a kid, it seened to affect her more than normal people, or it could have simply been because she was easily excitable.

"Oh, and could I get a ham and cheese sandwich please? Lettuce and tomato as well."

"Sure thing miss." The waiter nodded as Elaina fished through her wallet, grabing a ten dollar bill from it and handing it to the man. "For his soda as well please." She insisted.

The waiter aknowladged her words and left.

"The good thing about Canada that I heard before I came up to uni here, was that they did a lot more for people like me. All the bills, they have little bumps on them so I know which bill is which. It simply facinated me when I first came here, it's such a womderful help, I don't know why the States aren't doing it back home." Elaina said with a light laugh as she put her wallet back.

"I agree though, that students will be more... Agreeable if they see you as a friend instead of an athority figure, but the thing is... I also fear that it's a delicate balance I might not be able to hold on to. I don't want them to not see me as their teacher, but I don't want them to see me as just their teacher." She sighed and shook her head. "I know I'm talking in circles... I'm sorry." She said with a helpless smile

Gin was fishing in his wallet for the money, but Elaina beat him to the punch. "That's my line Elaina." He said with a laugh. Sometimes it was a good thing that people couldn't see his missing eye. It usually drove people away, but some were attracted by it. It was just weird how it worked, but he was used to it. Martial arts wasn't really a problem, most people who saw his eye patch usually attacked that side, so he was used to it. To be fully blind must've been a problem, though Elaina seemed perfectly adapted to it as well. He could tell that she was a very kind person.

"The U.S. is usually less likely to help people...I found the program for teachers to be better here." He said with a sigh. There was way too much strict teaching in the U.S. for his liking to tell the truth. "The U.S. is probably too busy with its foreign policy to worry about domestic policy for handicapped people."

Then she was speaking about what he said and he playing with his hair a little bit making sure it was covering his eye. It was one of those conscious habits he got in to a while ago. "It's a very hard thing keeping that balance. I had to work a while at it while I was student teaching, hell I'm having trouble now as well. It's harder when I was raised on a much more strict education system than here." Gin only wanted to let the kids here have what he didn't. It was pretty strict where he was, and he just wanted them to enjoy it.

"Times change professor. Besides, your coke costs less than my sandwich." She pointed out with a smile.

"But it's the government themselves that's not doing too much to help people. There are institutions, or private companies and sections that do all they can to help disadvantaged people of all sorts." She said, hoping to convince him that America wasn't all bad. Even if she didn't care for it all too much.

"I went to Perkins school for the blind in Boston. They do all sorts of things there for all sorts of people. Mostly blind or partialy blind, but deaf as well. Teaching life skills that everyone needs to be independant. How to do laundry, how to cook, how to clean, how to adapt to the world around us so we won't be completely helpless.

"That's where I first wanted to be a teacher. The ones there, were fantastic and made me see, figuritivly speaking of course, just how much one person could change someone's life. It's simply inspiering to see something like that. And that is something that I want to do." She sad with an excited smile.

Gin laughed scratching his head. "Please call me Gin." He said knowing full well he'd be less uptight than being called professor all the time. It was kind of embarrassing to tell the truth. He was the same as everyone else in and out of his class. There was no real need for such honors in his mind. "I didn't mean to offend you, I'm just used to paying."

Gin listened intently to Elaina as she spoke about how the government wasn't doing much, but there were others doing a lot. Perkins was a perfect example. Thinking for a second Gin smiled. "It sounds like you're really inspired to become a teacher." He thought the same thing, though more on the aspect of changing the way teaching was done. He hated how professors just lectured, and thought they were better since they had a title and their students didn't.

Then the coke and sandwich came. "Thank you." Gin said taking the coke from the waiter and taking a sip of it. It wasn't as good as some of the Japanese sodas he had, but it was bearable.

"Sure, I could do that I suppose." Elaina said with a smile. "But offend me? No, don't worry about it. I'm a modern girl, I have a decent job and a good scholarship, so I'm a litter better off than your average broke college student." She said with a chuckle.

Turrning her head to the sound of approaching footsteps Elaina nodded and thanked the server as she heard the clink of the plate and the two glasses on the table.

Reaching cautiously for her water, she took a sip as she nodded.

"You could say that. I just want to pass on that spark that I was given, to help people see their potential."

Gin laughed with Elaina and knew that she would be a good teacher. He had a feeling that she'd be one of those great teachers that'd have a great impact on their students. Sipping at his coke Gin listened to the younger woman, and nodded. He was driven to show that teachers didn't have to be uptight old men and women, but also he helped students find their own potential. It was a very difficult job, but he was good at it. "You'll definitely succeed with that attitude." He said smiling. "Most people know their potential, but never reach for it...People like you are a real commodity. At least that's what I think." He chuckled and ran his hand through his hair. The eye patch revealed a little bit, but vanished just as quickly. "Do you ever think of taking self defense courses?" He asked out of pure curiosity. A woman like her was pretty vulnerable, but definitely not to be underestimated. Elaina was a very strong person, but sometimes even strong people need more.

"Thank you." She said ti the complement with a little smile. "At least there's a teacher I can say thinks that I'll also be a good teacher." She gave a little chuckle.

"But I have thought about it... But it's hard to fit it in to my schedule... And well it's rather expensive and I would have to have someone helping me all the time and I wouldn't want to have an instructor trying to deal with the rest of the class while still trying to help me. It wouldn't be fair to the other students." She shook her head.

"Besides, I've been here for four years on my own pretty much. But I've never had a problem really. And he might not look like it, but Charlie can be quite fierce when he's defending me. He was trained for that as well. So far though nothings happened. I keep hearing about how bad this city is, but I've never talked to anyone who's been pick-pocketed, been raped or attacked. I live in a nicer part of the city I guess." She said with a little shrug.