Tyche
Copyright© 2020 by Old Man with a Pen
Chapter 76
Gossip ... rumor ... innuendo.
Until they got to me.
It’s three weeks into the semester and some of the women are FINALLY talking to me ... the oddity in the class. For the first week they were waiting to see who I left with. They were expecting a big brother or sister ... they got Alice.
Sixteen and seventeen. NOT college age. And we don’t look alike.
Two weeks in and someone saw us at the Union and said the magic word, “Coffee?”
For most of the next week, we were accosted by the women in my 10 o’clock and plied with coffee and sometimes a cheese Danish.
The Union is huge ... pool hall, auditorium, little nooks and crannies, and the biggest outdoor eatery and study area I’ve ever seen. It is the first week in September and the place is packed.
“Sure,” we said like twins. “Gimmie a minute ... refill.”
At the big table the word came down, “Junior and Freshman.”
“Who is the freshman?”
And they all looked at me.
“Me,” spoke Alice. “I’m still marveling at the fact that I’m not a Junior in high school.”
The switch was on, the focus turned to me.
I said, “I graduated ... took all of four years ... mostly I taught.”
“So ... you’re what eighteen?”
“Sixteen and two weeks.”
“You were 12 in high school?”
“Special Ed.” I grinned, “My Auntie Mom wouldn’t let them graduate me at 14 years old. I had to wait until I was 15.”
“Special Ed ... isn’t that for...”
I gave her the look that says, ‘be careful what you say ... this isn’t high school.’
“Special Education started out as something for both sides of the bell curve ... right and left.” There ... I said it. “The educators left the middle of the bell alone.”
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