"Miss, if you don't mind; and even though I am a disciple of Freud, as much as
I can be a disciple of anything, the pronounciation is "fraw" and not "Freud."
"Sorry."
"It's okay. I've been called worse things."
"Would you care to come into my office?"
"Sure," said Gabriele with a smile. She walked into Spiderman's web with great insouciance and sat down. "Hmm…I haven't been in one of these rooms since I was a little girl and got paddlings."
"Were you a rather naughty child," he asked facetiously.
Gabriele smiled at his boldness. She again thought it had a familiar warmth to it. "Not so bad. Actually, I was diligent enough. I just stayed to myself a bit much — a very German characteristic but kids hate that sort of thing—maybe not in Germany. Who knows? Hating my stand-offishness they blamed me for what they did. Well," she interjected with a laugh, "I was a bit of a rascal too. I didn't squeal on them but got even — putting bubble gum in girl's braids and things like that. I got the paddle on many occasions. I never cried though…but you don't want to hear about me way back then."
"No, it's okay. You don't have to stop so quickly for me. Learning about children's behavior is part of my job besides reinforcing student codes and the curriculum—understanding them—even kids as big as you with kids of her own— and making policies suited to them…being flexible. Paddling too if needed."
"So, I guess it was you who asked me to come here."
"Yes, right."