Chapter 3

I woke up at five after six to have a good outlook on what the day should be. I showered, shaved my few whiskers, brushed my teeth, and made sure that my hair was standing up the way it should. Most of the kids had long hair, but that would be a pain to wash and brush all the time. I liked a flat top that my sis was the best at cutting.

I loaded the books for yesterday’s and today’s classes into my backpack, grabbed my coat, and left my room to go to the cafeteria. There were a few guys in gym clothes or what they were referring to as workout clothes. I didn’t understand working out, but I was sure I’d learn all the jargon as time passed.

I finished breakfast and was camped at the first professor’s door by ten to eight. A man walked up to the door and used a key to unlock it and go in. He said, “I’m Jonathan Morgan. Are you waiting to see me?”

“Yes, Sir,” I said as I followed him in. He turned lights on and put his backpack down on his desk and took out what looked like a calendar. “Can I see your student ID card?”

The man looked at it and checked his calendar before handing it back to me. He said as he used his keyboard to make a few key strokes, “Your predicament precedes you, Mr. Beck. You have all the professors’ sympathy for being the butt of Scott McKendry’s prima donna status. You were a discussion topic at last night’s freshman advisory meeting. You’re going to make some of what we want to do more difficult by taking a part time job, but it fits you. Mrs. Harrison, the bookstore manager called us last night and again this morning to let us know that you would be going to work there.”

I was stunned my problems had been discussed on such a wide basis.

Dr. Morgan began, “Here’s what I’m going to do with and for you. This class is supposed to be a way to teach students to study and to make priorities. Your application shows that you had to wait for the right time to apply and what you expect from us. I want you to read the class guide, which is an overpriced very small book about college life. I’ll give you the exam sheets for you to fill out and return to me. You can use my class time to study for other classes. I also have you for a poli-sci class that I really enjoy and will try to make interesting to everyone. You’ll be there with me at one this afternoon. It should be an easy grade if you will read the course material and the book. Now, let’s go see Grunderson. He’s such an old grouch, but he likes industrious students.”

We walked down the hallway and up a double flight of stairs. Dr. Morgan knocked on the door while turning the doorknob at the same time. An older gentleman was sitting at his desk that had small stacks of paper neatly arranged. He looked up and grimaced, “It figures it would be you.”

Jonathan laughed and said, “I’ve brought someone you’ll enjoy helping.”

The man at the desk looked me up and down, and asked, “Is he your new boyfriend or someone you’re trying to seduce.”

“Can it for a minute, you old perv. This is Bernard, Barney, Beck, the student who had the run in with the city police night before last and damaged poor Scott’s facial features. He’s come to apologize for missing your first class that you use to scare the bejesus out of kids. He’s courteous and polite as you can see, and comes to us with great recommendations from his past teachers.”

The man, Dr. Grunderson, gave me a lopsided smile and said, “I should blindly pass you now for giving that kid a broken nose. What do you want of me?”

Jonathan said, “Do what I’m going to suggest for all his Monday classes, and let him work at his own pace and see if you might get him through this semester as well as the second semester. Scale back to just this one if he isn’t up to it. Barney wants to catch up a year and a half so he is at least level with the others who graduated high school with him.”

The man adjusted his glasses so that he could look over the frames at me, and said, “I can do that, but I can’t spend an inordinate amount of time teaching what his high school teachers didn’t.”

The man took a deep breath, and said, “Do this for me, Kid. Use the book and complete the first two chapters, along with the problems they present. Bring that in by Friday and we’ll see what else we can do.”

I had already paged through the first few chapters and the questions, and they were all problems that were given to us during our grade school math classes down in the country. They called a few things by different names, but math is cut and dried. You’re missing part of the puzzle if the problem doesn’t solve.

The professor said, “Now get out of here so that I can gloat over having a student in my classes who whipped up on the horrible Scott McKendry.”

Jonathan Morgan led me back downstairs and out the front, where we walked to the entrance of the next building. He said, “You’re about to meet one of the sweetest professors on campus. Dr. Frieda Campbell, the senior professor and chair of the Department of English. She’s strict and demands a lot from her students, but you’ll learn a lot of interesting information from her. You’ll have at least four semesters of classes in her department.”

Jonathan knocked on a door with one of those glass panels you can’t see through that had the name ‘Frieda Campbell, Ph.D.’ painted on it.

A voice said, “Come.”

“Oh, it’s so nice to see you this morning, Jon. I’m guessing this is the young man we discussed last evening. Bernard Beck, correct?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Jonathan said, “I briefly gave the group what I’d like to do with Barney to see if he can handle the extraordinary heavy load he’s registered for. What can you do with your course requirements to get him through at least the first semester classes?”

Dr. Campbell picked up what looked to be part of the application I had made to the school, and said, “Well, Mr. Beck. You’re way ahead of the curve if you can write more like this in the future. No misspelling, your sentence structure and grammar are all correct, as is your punctuation. A note on the bottom here says that you did this in the Registrar’s office instead of taking it home to do. This is impressive.”

The woman stood, pulled a stack of papers from her credenza, and handed them to me. “Your high school obviously taught you well, so let’s see how well. These are all the class assignments for this semester and the second semester that is being taught to those who began the school year last Labor Day. Please come and speak with me if you don’t understand what I’m asking of you. I’ll introduce you to one of my graduate staff associate professors who can also assist you. I’m interested in seeing how you perform without supervision.”

Just thinking of two semesters of assignments had me sweating, but this would definitely help me achieve my goal of making up the time I lost.

The stately woman asked, “Can you type?”

“Yes, Ma’am, I’ve had experience on manual and electric typewriters, and a computer keyboard most recently. I use the computers at our Library in town.”

“Good, good, get a laptop and printer if you can afford one. I think you can get one for a reasonable price at Walmart. You’ll need some software, but the most important will be a word processor. Put that on your priority list to purchase using the income from your new job at the bookstore. Mrs. Harrison seems excited that you will be coming to work there. Good luck, Barney, and bring me a steady stream of assignments.”

Jonathan and I walked back to his office where he said to me, “Your last class for Monday would be your Intro to Poli-Sci, my other class with you. Read the book cover to cover. Attend class when you can and I will not register a cut if you’re studying or working. I think you can expect that from all your professors. The freshman year is often all the professors seeing what you learned in the twelve years before you came to us. Go to the bookstore to get your work schedule. Come to see me next Monday or Tuesday early like this morning. I’ll register as your academic advisor.”

I walked out with enough work to keep me busy night and day for a couple of months. The weather had been mild so far this winter, but the rest of January and February are always the killer months. Going into the dorm during the late morning is different as it’s very quiet. I arranged my books on the small study table and put my suit in my backpack to take to the cleaners.

The bookstore was just outside the gate where student parking was, so I went there first. Mrs. Harrison was at a front register and smiled at me as I walked in. “Good morning, Mr. Beck. I’ve heard your professors are going to work with you to try to get you caught up for the year. You might be pushing it to try and catch up a year and a half in one semester. Here’s your work schedule, so show up at four this afternoon and you’ll work until nine. You have an admirer who has insisted that I try to schedule you during the same hours she has. I’m speaking of Juliet, as you can guess. I think she’s been impressed that you’re courteous and soft-spoken.”

“I have a question, Mrs. Harrison; I’m a growing boy and need a lot of food. When do your people who work that four to nine shift eat dinner?”

“Good question. The bookstore provides some hoagies that should satisfy your hunger. I always have more than enough, so you can eat two or three of them. I’ll let two at a time go to the cafeteria if we’re real slow.”

“Thank you, Ma’am, I was going to see if the cafeteria could make something up that I would bring. This is better because I won’t take long to eat and be back working.”

With my schedule in hand, I told the manager, “I need to run a couple of errands real quick before lunch and attend my Poli-Sci lecture. Dr. Morgan said I didn’t have to attend, but I want to experience one of his lectures. I’ll see you before four.”

That meeting made me smile as I headed to the dry cleaners next door. I asked the clerk if they did alterations and she pointed to an Oriental woman sitting at a sewing machine. “I need the pants on this suit shortened about an inch to an inch and a half.”

The woman said, “If you can step over to the curtained dressing room and put the pants with your shoes on, the seamstress will mark your pants for you.”

I put the pants on and the Oriental lady came over to slide the pants up and down on my waist. She said, “We take up some here. You new student, so will probably gain weight. You still grow so you need have material at bottom to let out later. I mark for you to look good.”

The lady did her thing, and I changed back into my jeans that I had obviously pressed the night before. The lady who had measured me passed her hand over the crease and said, “You good man to press pants to look good. You will have lots of ladies who like man to look neat.”

The clerk made a comment as I was putting my coat on, “I have a coat that was brought in last year and has never been picked up. I’ll bet the coat would fit you perfectly. Do you want to try it on?”

I smiled and said, “Yes, if it’s in better shape than what I have. I need a new coat but haven’t found one that I like yet.”

The lady brought the coat out and I tried the very nice leather coat with a heavy zip out lining on. This thing would have cost a fortune at the fancy department store it came from. The clerk said, “Fits perfectly, pay for the cleaning and it’s yours.”

How do you thank someone who doesn’t know you but makes your life better? I profusely thanked her and told the clerk that I would do a chore for them when I came to pick up the suit. She said, “You can do a favor for me right now. Use this pole and release those dresses stuck at the roller stop. Someone put the price tag too high and it caught on the stop.”

I lifted the dresses down where she could relocate the price tags and then put them back. She used her conveyor buttons to move the dresses forward and backward. She was so happy that she hugged me.

My goodness, I received a hug from a woman, and I didn’t even know her name. That’s pretty heady stuff. I left the cleaners walking on air, proud of myself for having helped someone. The woman came running out the door with the leather coat, hollering that I had forgotten it. She knew that she had flustered me and kissed my cheek while showing me the ring finger on her left hand to tell me that she was taken.

I drove to the mall that wasn’t that far and parked near the Sears entrance. They usually have their shoe department just on the other side of outdoor equipment and tools. It was where it should be and I went through the shoes and found a pair that looked nice, while not flashy. I also bought a pair of loafers that I would wear with jeans. I bought a can of black shoe polish and a brush set when I was paying for the two pair of shoes so that I would be ahead of the game shining the shoes.

I had to fill up with gas and waited until I got to the Walmart store. Their gas prices are always a few cents less than other stations. I was able to park fairly close to the door because it was still early in the day. I locked the truck and went in to look for a laptop.

I really searched through the laptops they had, and finally decided on one that made me feel like it might last a while. They had a deal on the laptop, an inkjet printer with a scanner/copier/fax, and Microsoft Home and Student Office, for just under a thousand dollars. This thing will hopefully last more than a year. I bought two PCMCIA memory cards to go with it so that I could back up what was on the hard drive. They had another type of memory they called a ‘memory stick’ but they didn’t have any of them. I bought a small pack of CDs that you could only write on once. There was a new style coming that you could rewrite on the CD, but the CD inventory hadn’t caught up with the equipment.

There were too many temptations in that department, so I pushed my cart to the front to pay and go back to the dorm with my purchases. I mentally calculated that I was now down to a little over twenty-five hundred of the thirty-eight hundred dollars that I had been given by Scott McKendry Sr.

I didn’t succumb to the temptation to play with the new purchase, so I arranged things on the desk and took the boxes out to the dumpster. My study table and computer desk looked like I was ready. I hoped that I was.

Lunch was good with some beef hash that had carrots and potatoes in it. I had that and some green beans, along with an apple before going to my political science introduction lecture. The lecture hall was like a movie theater, with the speaker lower than the audience. I was sitting low in the middle, and Jonathan Morgan smiled and nodded at me as I sat with my notebook ready to take notes. The textbook was open to the area he should be covering, but he said that he used the textbook for a guide and enjoyed giving us the side notes of the history of political science. He said everything he would lecture on would be in the text, but he hoped that he could enthuse us more by giving us some insights rather than just dull facts.

The hour rocketed by and you knew that the professor enjoyed the subject. My two o’clock class was a requirement. ‘Student Financial Management’ was taught by a stiff, shriveled-up looking woman who must be drowning in people who can’t count or manage a checkbook. There’s no way I should be forced to take a class like this. I waited for the class to clear and went to stand in line to speak to her.

“I’ve been handling my family’s finances since I was twelve, Ms. Chickering,” when it was my turn to be in front of her. “I’m not saying that your class has no value, but do you really have to teach eighteen, nineteen, and twenty year olds how to balance a checkbook? All these people are in college, upper education. They need to know how to negotiate and how to look for ways to save money.”

The lady’s left eyebrow rose into a distinct arch as she looked at her student roster. “You might be bored with this class, Mr. Beck, but it’s very important to most of the students. I have a packet of tests for you to complete for me. I’ve heard other professors are doing this for you as well. Please attend lectures if you have a question, and you can ask me then.”

Ms. Chickering handed me a dozen sheets of paper, smiled, and closed her briefcase in preparation for leaving. She said, “Come, I’m on my way to the bookstore. I spend a few hours there daily as a part time job. You can get an early start on learning what to do.”

She mentioned Jonathan Morgan several times on the way to the book store. She finally admitted that she was excited that he had asked her out for dinner this evening. She sounded like a high school girl. I told her that I really enjoyed his class, as well as his assistance getting my classes in line.

Mrs. Harrison had Ms. Chickering take over the front and led me to the back. She handed me a smock, showed me a locker to put my backpack in, and took me to a bench where signs were made. She showed me how to make a name tag, and said I would be doing a lot of them because students didn’t stick to a job very long most of the time.

I made the name tag, pinned it on the smock, and then was shown how to make the signs. You put spelled words and the price on the layout, put ink on the roller, imprinted the piece of cardboard, and hung the completed sign up on a clothesline to dry.

She kept checking her watch, and finally said, “Okay, let’s get you punched in to start your day. You were early and able to donate some time to the bookstore, but you’ll now be earning that whopping hourly wage. There are other benefits. I’m sure they will be appreciated.”

I was sent back to finish the long list of signs. This was obviously a planned activity as I finished just about the time a bunch of hoagies were ready to consume. Juliet came up to me, far too close to me, and said, “Come eat with me. There are sodas and iced tea.”

Juliet and I talked about our classes, our day, and told me that we both had Friday evening off. She said, “You know, we could do something together Friday night if you want. The student union always has something going on, or we can drive somewhere and have dinner together. I really want to spend some time with you.”

Juliet could tell that she made me nervous, so I said, “I’ve never been on a date. There was always something to do on the farm. I would go with a bunch of friends to the county fair for rides on the midway and eating all the crazy food there, but there were a lot of us all together. Most of those girls are already married now. I just never did pick one.”

Juliet was laughing, “That’s funny. The way you say pick one is as if the men were always in charge and you selected a mate and they came running.”

“I know that’s not politically correct, but that’s the way it is down in the country. Male/female chemistry is helped along by tradition and custom. Most of the kids in high school had already made that selection by the time we graduated. A few were going off to college, but most of them had already selected a life mate. I didn’t because I’ve always felt there were more to choose from that I hadn’t met, and I wanted to meet as many people as I could before I said I wouldn’t look at another female and get excited.”

Juliet smiled so sweetly, and asked, “Do you get excited looking at me?”

I laughed and said, “Now that’s being forward, Juliet. Of course, I get excited seeing you and will think of you later. How could I resist your piercing eyes and very voluptuous body? Yep, you do a number on me, Juliet. We better go back to work or I’ll be on a knee proposing.” We were both laughing as Juliet is not voluptuous at all but very slim.

She had the decency to continue laughing, and said, “That could be interesting.”