“HI MARCILENA. ON your way to our favorite class?”
“Hey Shawn, how’dja guess? It’s the one class I really look forward to—you never know what will happen! Professor Fawkes always causes so much excitement and controversy!”
“Controversy?”
“Haven’t you heard? The buzz is Chancellor Manning has been receiving complaints about him, I’m guessing from parents, and admin is trying to figure out how to handle it.”
“Where did you hear that?”
“From Celeste Haggard, she always has all the gossip. You know how quickly word gets around in a small college town.”
“Celeste? She’s as reliable as a broken record! Hasn’t she made it with the whole football team?”
“Oh Shawn, you’re out of control again!”
“But what about Fawkes?”
“Oh you know, because of how frank he is. His course started out as an experiment but word spread and now Practical Philosophy has the largest attendance of any course on campus. Supposedly some of the faculty is jealous.”
“Samantha Carlson told me many who try to sign up for it become disappointed when they’re put on a waiting list for next semester.”
“That’s because Professor Fawkes deals with subjects other professors don’t, and won’t. And his course is a general survey elective open to all levels. He’s teaching us everything our parents should have but didn’t, or were afraid to.”
“So what’s wrong with AI, politics, hygiene, sex, and contraception?”
“You just hit all the nails on the head—all the forbidden hot buttons!”
“Hey, someone should tell admin to get real. We’re living in the twenty-first century now! Fawkes is the only prof who’s really tuned in. He was the first to tell us how dangerous fentanyl is and to be careful because it’s much cheaper, undetectable, and almost all street drugs are being spiked with it. And besides, his course doesn’t require any tests, all you have to do is show up to class, and if you miss one there’s a podcast.”
“Someone told me it was the podcast about contraception that alerted Chancellor Manning.”
“I know that as Director of the Faculty he probably means well, but isn’t he an antsy nitpicking fussbudget? My parents sent me to Colter because it’s the only college in the country that offers both academic and vocational training, a double program to prepare us for the real world.”
“Same here and mine were especially sold because there were no sororities or frats. All the sensational news about hazing and student murders freaked them out. You can’t believe how many times they warned me about booze and drugs.”
“Hey, here’s Bruce Littman. Hi dude, where are you headed?”
“Hi Shawn and Marci! I’m off to Professor Connelly’s class. I’m really digging Lit 101, it’s my favorite.”
“Sounds like you have a crush on her!”
“Come on, Shawn, you know she’s married to Professor MacLaine.”
“Hey, I saw Professors Fawkes, Connelly, and MacLaine walking across campus yesterday. They’ve been hanging out a lot together recently, wonder what’s up? Looked like they were having a pretty intense conversation.”
“Bet you wish you could have been a fly on the wall!”
“You’ve got to admit she’s very sexy—that blond curly mop and slim shapely figure.”
“Professor Connelly’s great! I’ve never been able to get into novels, much less Dickens before. She sure has the magic key.”
“Well, I’m taking Professor MacLaine’s Psych 101 and it’s also a real eye-opener. I never realized dreams contained a secret language! Actually they make a great couple. They’re always together and often you see them holding hands. With a wife like that most guys wouldn’t be tempted to cheat. Word is they met in grad school and have hit it off ever since.”
“I took their Psychology of the Novel seminar last semester—I never imagined a novel could have a subconscious without the author being aware of it!”
“Just goes to show you some writers don’t know everything’s that’s in their work.”
“That’s because language is so complex something’s always hidden.”
“I think some of the girls are in love with Professor Fawkes but Jake thinks he might be bi or gay.”
“Oh fuck Jake Norton, he thinks that about everyone—ever since he took Psych 101 last semester he’s always projecting. By the way, I heard Fawkes is divorced. Word is he got married while in he was grad school but it didn’t work out. I think students and faculty are jealous because he’s so sexy and charismatic—and popular.”
“Most of all he’s not afraid to go out on a limb. But he does seem to be something of a loner. He’s in the library almost every night until closing. They practically have to throw him out.”
“How old do you think he is?”
“Probably a decade older than his buds, who’re thirtyish. Maybe early forties since he’s graying a little at the temples.”
“Marlene told me she heard Professor Fawkes is writing a big book.”
“Well, I found out he leads a kind of secretive life. I mean, supposedly he leaves campus almost every weekend and no one knows where he goes.”
“So what’s wrong with having a private life? The prof probably knows nosy kooks like you are always trying to spy on him. In a college town you have practically no privacy.”
“Professor Fawkes is definitely cool. He’s always looking out for us. Sometimes he wears a suit and tie to class to remind us how to dress for interviews, other times he’s casual with just a sweater and jacket and occasionally you see him in the caf in just a sweatshirt and jeans.”
