A Return to Normalcy
On Monday morning, Mick woke up just a few minutes before his alarm was set to rouse him. When it finally did sound, he immediately silenced the noise while jumping up and out of bed. Mick donned his bath robe and slipped his feet into his shower sandals before grabbing his shower caddy and a towel and heading for his lavatory. Not surprisingly, he could not get the thought of Athena out of his head as he stood there stark-naked in his bathroom, carefully removing the gauze bandage swaddling the burn on his thigh. After not having gotten laid once over the holiday break, Mick had been with four different women on three separate occasions over the previous three days. He was looking forward to starting the Spring semester and felt he was already beginning to get back into the swing of things. Bradley Hall was once again teeming with coeds and that thrilled Mick.
Leading off each week during the semester would be Intro to Chemistry, which according to Mick's thoughts on the matter began at a respectful 9:00 a.m. As he strode into the classroom that first Monday morning his attention was immediately captured by a young man who Mick surmised to be another student. He was standing behind the desk at the front of the room motioning Mick to come forward. "Here is your course syllabus, lab schedule, safety rules and requirements," said the young man as he handed Mick several sheets of paper.
Mick thought the distribution of hard copies to be rather odd as he sat down at an empty double-seat desk in the classroom, especially when all the information was posted online. "12-point Arial font only," Mick whispered to himself as he read through the guidelines for submitting weekly lab reports. "Sentences are to be double spaced... single sided pages only... to be stapled three times down left edge, no other clips or fasteners," he read further. It appeared that the teacher required the weekly reports to be printed out instead of submitted electronically. Mick wondered just how much of a stickler the instructor was as he continued reading through the information.
"Good morning everyone," greeted the instructor as he ambled into the room. Mick looked up from his reading material and found that the classroom had mostly filled. As he looked around, Mick found that he distantly recognized only a few of the faces which he surveyed. He watched as the instructor plopped his leather satchel briefcase on the desk which seemed to be stuffed to brim and looking like it had gone through a war. The instructor appeared rather elderly as well. He was bald, dressed in a brown heather woolen three-piece suit with a dark bowtie, and looked as if he should have retired five years ago. The gentleman slid the white marker board over to the side and wrote his name and office room number on the blackboard in chalk.
"I am Professor Arthur Dannenberg," he advised, "and I will be your instructor for the semester... or at least part of it anyway." The professor went on to explain to the students that he was currently working on completing a chapter for a textbook and would be noticeable absent at times due to the deadline. "During any absence I will be entrusting my teaching assistant to carry out my duties," he stated. Professor Dannenberg introduced the student who had handed out the syllabus as Perry Bertrand, one of his PhD candidates. "Mr. Bertrand is putting the finishing touches on his dissertation," stated the professor before further adding, "He is quite capable so seek his assistance if I am not available." Mick studied Perry for a few seconds before turning his attention back to the professor. He could not put his finger on it but there was something about Perry that immediately rubbed Mick the wrong way.
As the professor continued, he discussed his office hours and dislike of email. "If you have difficulty catching me in the office I'd prefer if you leave me a note," he informed the class. "Another pet peeve of mine is knowing your names," said Professor Dannenberg, "so for today only I will take attendance and ask that you correct me if I pronounce your name incorrectly." Not surprisingly he stumbled over a few of the Asian student's names and when he got to Rodgers Michel the request was made to, "Just call me Mick, please." Mick realized that his chemistry teacher was not a hard ass as he had originally considered, he was just a dinosaur. Professor Dannenberg was literally the embodiment of old school.
At five after nine on Tuesday morning, Mick heard a gentle knock on his door. He opened it to find Abby standing there as expected. "Ready to go?" she asked him. Mick answered, "I am," as he took one final sip from his coffee mug before grabbing his backpack.
The only course Abigail and Mick would have together this semester was Calculus II. "Are you ready for this?" Mick asked his friend. "As long as you are willing to tutor me like before," she replied. Mick was more than happy to help Abby and even happier that he would not be needing her help to get through another English Literature class.
The two friends continued to discuss their respective course loads while walking to the lecture hall for calculus. "I don't have any classes with Zoey," stated Abby. "What does she have this semester?" inquired Mick.
Abby ran down her roommate's subjects which included among others, sociology, humanities and interpretive dance.
"Run that last one by me again," Mick requested.
Abby reiterated that Zoe was taking interpretive dance which included two recitals open to the public. Mick asked, "Does your shadow understand that she will be dancing in front of other people?" Abigail's answer came in that tone Mick was familiar with when she was perturbed at him.
"It's taking a lot of courage on her part," shot Abby, "and she'll hear no snarky comments from you about it." To help drive her point home, Abby drove the tip of her index finger into Mick's chest.
"Ouch, okay," he yelped, "I got it."
Wednesday's chemistry lecture was scheduled to start thirty minutes later than Monday's class did. Mick sat down at his desk and unpacked his belongings as his fellow students also trickled into the classroom. As he read through the next chapter in his textbook he heard a voice from over his shoulder ask softly, "Is this seat open?"
Mick turned to find a striking young woman standing there. She had wispy, naturally light blonde hair pulled up into double buns on the top of her head with tassels cascading down the sides of her face. Her left nostril was adorned with a small stud and her eyes were blue like glacial ice. Mick wondered if she was wearing colored contacts as he became transfixed by her eyes.
"Is anyone sitting here?" she again asked, snapping Mick out of his stupor.
"Yes, all yours," he quickly answered.
As the young woman began to set her books down she spotted the highlighter in his right hand. She said to Mick, "Can I ask a huge favor of you?" to which he happily replied, "Sure." The girl asked for them both to switch seats as he appeared to be right-handed and she was a lefty.
"We'll be banging elbows all semester," she told him.
Mick thought to himself, "Well that would be a good start."
After they had both settled into their new seats, Mick turned to the beauty and made sure to introduce himself. "My name is Mick."