A girl, a book a man and a desk come together in a university setting about an affair that never happened. He is tall, dark and handsome, charming and attentive. He becomes an admirer when he realizes she is his best student. She is shy, sheltered, naive, her life circumscribed by tradition, convention, and her parent's wishes. They come together discussing "Montaillou," by Emmanuel le Roy Ladurie, a sociological study of French village life in 1294. Meanwhile, his huge desk glowers silently, situated oddly in an academic office so that it forms a barricade to anyone daring to step within. Feelings ebb and surge across that desk...
