At rise, the night school poetry class set up is three tables with seven chairs. Two longer tables for the students are set at angle toward the smaller table for the teacher upstage centre, like and upside down V. All the students in this play are adults.

Sabrina is alone in class, rifling through drawers and obviously looking for something. Lindsay enters and Sabrina acts guilty.

Lindsay

You’re here early, Sabrina.

Sabrina

I forgot my pen and I thought maybe the teacher might have an extra in her desk.

Lindsay

It’s not really Leslie’s desk, Sabrina. They use that for all the classes, not just poetry.

Sabrina

So she keeps her tests and everything in the satchel she brings to class?

Lindsay

That’s right, Sabrina. No way you can cheat in this class.

Sabrina

I don’t cheat!

Lindsay

Whatever you say, Sabrina. Did you finish your assignment?

Sabrina

I think so, but I had a hard time figuring out how to put a smile in my poem.

Lindsay

That’s not smile, Sabrina. It’s pronounced simile.

Sabrina

Could I look at what you wrote? I’m just curious.

Lindsay

Wouldn’t that be cheating, Sabrina?

Sabrina

Stop saying that!

Lindsay

Stop asking to look at my work every week!

Sabrina

If you want to accuse someone, you might point the finger at that Crawford woman!

Lindsay

The Crawford woman? You mean Marilyn Crawford?

Sabrina

That’s right.

Lindsay

You sure can pick them, Sabrina!

Sabrina

What do you mean?

Lindsay

Marilyn is an ex-nun.

Sabrina

Ex-nuns can cheat!

Lindsay

Not as well as you can, Sabrina. Not as well as you can. You even managed to cheat in that pottery class we took together last year.

Sabrina

I did not!

Lindsay

Then how did you get that A?

Sabrina

I earned it.

Lindsay

You stole the plate I made and turned it in as your own!

Sabrina

Prove it!

Lindsay

What was really strange was that the teacher only gave out A’s. You didn’t even need to cheat.

Sabrina

I never stole your plate! You’re a liar!

Lindsay

Erica said she saw it in your house. You didn’t even bother to scratch out my initials on the bottom!

Sabrina pauses, looking guilty.

Sabrina

Do you want it back?

Lindsay

No, you keep it, Sabrina. You need it more than I do.

Sabrina gives Lindsay an ugly face as Renee enters.

Renee

Hi, Sabrina. Hi, Lindsay.

Lindsay

Hi, Renee.

Renee

What’s up with Sabrina?

Lindsay

Not much. She’s just sulking again.

Sabrina

I am not! Hello, Renee.

Renee

Did you finish the assignment from last week?

Lindsay

I memorized the poem I was assigned all right, but I don’t think Leslie will like the quatrain I wrote.

Renee

That’s what bothered me, too. It was supposed to be a four line poem, right?

Lindsay

Right. A quatrain. A four line poem.

Renee

And it was supposed to have a smile in it?

Sabrina

A smile?

Renee

I have it right here in my notes. It says to write a four line poem about someone you love, like your boyfriend or your husband. And it was supposed to have a smile in it.

Sabrina

Renee, you are so stupid! It isn’t a smile. It’s a simile.

Renee

A simile?

Lindsay

It’s a comparison using "like" or "as."

Sabrina

Here’s one for you: "Renee is as dumb as an ox!"

Lindsay

Or, "Sabrina is sneaky like a snake!"

The teacher, Leslie Long, enters, pulling a notebook out of her satchel.

Leslie

Just three poetry students tonight? Where are the others?

Marilyn Crawford and Erica Robinson enter.

Marilyn

Erica and I were just taking our last puffs.

Sabrina

I can’t get over anyone still smoking, Marilyn, especially a nun!

Marilyn

Ex-nun, Sabrina, ex-nun.

Sabrina

It’s still a scandal!

Lindsay

Get off your high horse, Sabrina!

Erica

Right! At least we can keep our eyes on our own paper!

Vanessa Phillips enters.

Vanessa

Hello, everyone! Sorry I’m tardy. Had a bit of a time getting my kids settled down.

Leslie

That’s all right, Vanessa. We haven’t really started yet. Now, what was the assignment?

Everyone is now seated, facing downstage.

Vanessa

(pulling out papers from her notebook) I have mine finished. May I read it aloud?

Leslie

I’m not in that big of a hurry, Vanessa. I just wanted a bit of a reminder.

Vanessa

You had us all memorize a short poem and write our own quatrain with a smile in it.

Sabrina

That’s simile, Vanessa!

Vanessa

No, I have it right here in my notes. It says smile.

Lindsay

Sabrina and Vanessa made the same mistake, Vanessa. It’s simile.

Sabrina

You didn’t have to tell her that.

Leslie

It’s a fairly common mistake and it’s not that important. It’s a word you won’t hear much outside of this class.

Vanessa

Simile. I’ll remember that, Mrs. Long.

Leslie

Just call me Leslie, Vanessa. We are all on a first name basis here, remember?

Vanessa

Yes, Mrs. Long! Oh, I’m sorry. Yes, Leslie.

Leslie

You don’t have to be sorry, Vanessa. Sometimes it takes awhile to break old habits.

Vanessa

But may I go first when we start?

Leslie

Certainly, Vanessa. What do you want to do first, the memorized poem or your own poem?

Vanessa

(standing to recite, as all the students will do later) The memorized poem first.

Leslie

Which one did I assign you?

Vanessa

The one by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Leslie

(checking her notes) Oh, yes.

Vanessa

I shall but love thee better after death.

Leslie

That was very good, Vanessa.

Renee

That was the prettiest poem I ever heard!

Lindsay

A bit excessive, if you ask me.

Leslie

How do you mean, Lindsay?

Lindsay

The part about loving the guy more after she dies. I mean, after you’re dead, you’re dead. You don’t walk around in Heaven looking for your old boyfriend.

Renee

When I die I only hope I see my Charlie up there.

Lindsay

But aren’t you supposed to chuck off all the things of this world when you get to the next?

Erica

Besides, if you saw Charlie after you died, it might mean you went to Hell!

Renee

That’s sweet to say! That’s very sweet!

Leslie

What about your quatrain with the simile, Vanessa? Are you ready to give it to us?

Lindsay

Give it to us, Vanessa! Give it to us!

Vanessa

All right. Here it is. But don’t be expecting anything as good as the Browning poem.

Marilyn

None of us are poets, Vanessa. Just do your best.

Vanessa

My husband’s like a frosty glass,
All filled with beer and foam.
At least that what he smells like,
Whenever he comes home.

Leslie

That’s good enough, Vanessa. You did what I asked. Four lines with a simile.

Vanessa

Yes, but it isn’t pretty like the one I memorized.