Episode Report Card Niki: A+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Disoriented
By Niki | Season 3 | Episode 14 | Aired on 03.10.2002
Out in the parking lot, Grace rushes toward Creepitri, who's loading up his little Honda hybrid. "Mr. Dimitri, I was wondering..." Grace pants, trying to catch her breath. She asks if this is his car. He confirms it. She loves him even more for being sensitive enough to recognize that a car is simply a pollution-making form of transport, and not an extension of his penis. He prods her to ask whatever she'd been rushing over to ask. She shakily says that she was thinking it might be hard to get kids out to the Gay/Straight meetings because they're worried about what other kids will think of them: "So, I was thinking we should try to think of ways to make them..." She tries so hard to remember the word, but Creepitri has to help her out, offering, "Comfortable?" She breathes a laugh and is distracted by his sensible car again, asking if it's one of those "high-breds." You know, the kind that's born when two really choice cars get together for a bumper-rubbing, tailpipe-stroking good time? He gently corrects her. She stammers that it's "very enviro...It's the kind of car [she'd] want." They must be soulmates. The conversation segues into Grace having to drive Jessie around. She mentions that Jessie's mom is in the hospital, and concern flashes across Creepitri's face. He says he didn't know. Grace doesn't linger on it, saying that it's making people worry even more about Jessie than they usually do. Creepitri shoots her a questioning look. Grace looks down and says, "I mean, I think it can be even harder when your mom's not in the hospital." Creepitri busts out a chuckle, which surprises her. She looks pleased and laughs along with him. After a second, she explains, "You know, [Jessie's] just the kind of person that everybody worries whether she has a ride home. And, I guess, I'm just the sort of person people assume can walk." Creepitri studies her, amused, and then offers her a ride home. For some reason, "Don't Stand So Close to Me" starts running through my head.
Fade to Creepitri's reduced-emissions egg cruising along Grace's street. It glides to a stop in front of Manning Manor, but Grace is so busy jabbering about global warming that she doesn't notice for a second. She turns to face Creepitri and eagerly says that what she was getting at earlier, in the parking lot, was the idea that having a safe place for the meetings would make it easier for kids than having them at school. She oh-so-casually suggests his house. "At my house?" Creepitri repeats with a hint of trepidation. Grace assures him that teachers do it all the time. "Well, not all the time," she quickly concedes. She does mention one precedent set by a teacher the previous year, before trying to take her leave. She wrestles with the egg's door doohickies, not sure which one actually opens it. Creepitri reaches across to do it for her, and Grace nearly swallows her tongue. She exhales when he straightens up again, and bumbles out of the car, goofily gushing her thanks for the ride. I'm disappointed there wasn't a futuristic whoosh, like with an airlock, when the egg opened. Honda should really look into that.