So Max walked up to her and she grabbed his sleeve and belt like his Mom would. “Doesn’t your mother make sure your belt and pants are on right?” She smelled so beautiful. She unbuckled his belt and began straightening his shirt and pants. “You missed a loop, too.” Max started to lose his breath, almost dizzy with good feelings. “First of all, a man doesn’t wear his belt and pants like this.” She unzipped him halfway, and pulled his pants down enough to fix and tuck in the shirt real tight. Max let her do anything while they glanced at each other. She almost looked like his mother as she handled the belt and shirt―but not like her because he started to have more amazing feelings down there!

All he heard was the belt buckle jingle and a snap of his shirt. His legs lost feeling and his heart went crazy. Max could only stare at Miss Murphy’s pretty happy face up so close to him and thought of the Virgin Mary. He just wanted to lean toward her, to hug and kiss her like he kissed his mother and little statues of the Virgin. She found the missing loop and was buckling the belt, and now his shirt was almost fixed. When she grabbed his zipper and yanked it up all the way to tighten it, his face touched hers very softly like he was falling into a warm pillow cloud, and their cheeks rubbed. Max’s little dickie felt funny in that great way again and started sticking up. So he kissed her fast, not like he kissed Mom, but right on her lips. And she didn’t stop him, she didn’t even look surprised, she just smiled.

Then, Max lost his balance, couldn’t feel his legs and almost fell over on top of her he was so dizzy. But he grabbed onto her legs to keep standing. They felt so smooth and warm. She rose off the bench and put an arm around Max to hold him up. “It’s OK, I understand…” she told him, and he really thought she knew about his feelings and liked him too.

Suddenly her bus came, and after touching his face and hair one last time she stepped onto the bus to pay her money. But Max couldn’t let her go, she’d be gone forever. “Don’t go, Miss Murphy! I love you! More than anyone else! I hate my sister and my parents just tell me what to do. Please don’t go!”

For a few seconds she stopped on the bus step above him, her long legs and flat leather shoes showing the teeny cracks between her toes. “How sweet you are, Max.” They stared and stared at each other as little Max’s body kept shaking. Miss Murphy’s beautiful face and fine black hair shined in the sunlight. “Good-bye…” she told him. “Someday you will make a girl very, very happy. Just wait.” She made a funny sound like she couldn’t breathe for a second, and turned away.

 The hurt and sadness were so bad he had to cry. This was so dumb to have run after her. And now she was gone. The doors closed and the bus made a lot of dust and noise as the motor roared and wheels blew up the street dirt. He could still see her inside but she wouldn’t look at him. It was nothing like the Mother Superior when she wouldn’t look at him on the playground, this was the deepest feeling Max ever had.

A month later he found out she moved far away and the school was sold to a developer, that was the end of everything but the sadness was gone. Those thrilling feelings Miss Murphy showed him he had inside he wanted to feel again and again and again and again. All he wanted to do the rest of his life was make a girl like her happy.