The Future Awaits
The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's
consent. Comments are appreciated at...
Chapter 27
The next weekend, Mike comes home. He's here for a week of orientation, before the work on the boat begins in earnest spring semester.
"Did Luc and Stephan come down last weekend?" He asks me.
"Yes. Why?"
"They said they might, and they looked worried as hell before they left. Stephan was arguing a lot with Luc, but when they got back they were real love birds."
"Good. They had some problems Tor and I helped them work through."
"Like what?"
"That's none of your business, Michael. It was personal, and I'm glad they had enough confidence in Tor and me to come talk things over with us."
Mike suddenly claps his forehead with his hand. "Oh, shit! Luc's not out, is he?"
"No. And you're keeping your mouth shut. Be good to them, babe; they've got a hard way to go."
"Damn! I wish it weren't all so complicated, specially for a cool guy like Luc."
"They'll make it if they really love each other, and I believe they do. You planing to stay here this week, or are you finding a place with the other guys?"
"You kidding? I've got your class beside Tor's, so I'm staying here where I've got labs to work in."
"Hmmm. Guess I did promise you we would work together. Okay, get your butt upstairs and put your stuff away, then come help me with dinner."
Being in a field with little demand, other than the minimum required for one of the degrees in marine science, my classes are always small, especially the one undergraduate class I teach. I do expect Joynes to send me six grad students before long, but for now I have only Mike and one other student to work with, so I can have some fun with them. But my standards will be even tighter.
Saturday night and much of Sunday evening I work with Mike in my lab to determine how much he's forgotten, but he does everything I ask with his usual competence. "Well, babe, looks as if you can spend your time concentrating on what Tor throws at you. When you come back for serious stuff, I'll have to teach you some specialized approaches to photomicrography, mostly how to set up the equipment and lighting techniques, but you're okay with the general stuff."
"Thanks, dad. Makes me glad I watched you so many times, cause I'm expecting Tor to really kick ass."
"If you get stuck, remember I'm not too bad in his area."
He gives me the familiar crooked grin. "Great. Now's when being the prof's kid begins to pay off."
"Down, boy! I said I'd help if you got stuck, not that I'd do the work for you." I swat him on the behind. "Get out of here. And yeah, you can skip my class tomorrow and sit in Tor's if you want."
When I walk in my classroom Monday morning, the student who is waiting for me is none other than the big good-natured kid who helped me when my foot broke in the lab on main campus last year. I glance at the class roster to recall his name. "I was hoping you was teaching this, Doctor Torrence."
"Nice to have you again, Bryson, but why are you taking this? You had it with me on main campus."
"I was supposed to take the other Doctor Torrence's class, but my advisor said I had to have this one first. The course number's different. See?"
I look at the class schedule he hands me. The course number of the class I'm teaching here is incorrect. Obviously some student assistant made an incorrect keystroke entering Bryson's classes. "Leave your stuff here, Bry. We're going to the office and get this straightened out. What did you make under me last time?"
"A B, sir."
"Are you happy with that?"
His smile is broad. "Yes, sir."
Normally, I'd let a student fight it out with student services, but Bry's here instead of on campus, and I haven't forgotten the kind way he helped me. It takes me fifteen minutes on the phone to cut through the usual red tape in the registrar's office, but after some swearing and rank pulling, I finally get through to the assistant registrar. It takes another twenty minutes or so to get things straightened out and Bry officially enrolled in Tor's class. He's effusive in his thanks, but kind enough to say he was looking forward to taking another class under me.
Knowing how Tor is, I go with Bry to his classroom. As I expected, Tor looks irritated at the interruption. "New one for you, Tor. Central records screwed up again. He belongs in here instead of in my class." I hand him Bry's revised schedule.
"Okay. Take a seat, Bryson. I'll catch you up after class."
When I turn to leave, I see Mike grinning at me. I know immediately what's going through his mind. Now that he knows he's my only student, he figures we'll work in my lab at home instead of here, which is perfectly correct, except when I need to teach him to use the big computer controlled film processor. But if he's thinking I'll let him get by with anything, he's crazy.
"Wow, dad, this is great! Just you and me," he says when he gets home.
"Yeah, and I'm gonna work your butt off."
"If it's a nice day can I hit the beach and work with you at night?"
"I suppose. But there won't be a damn thing for you to do on the beach. Most everything's closed now and the kids are back in school."
"Aw, I forgot. May as well stick to the schedule. I'll use the time to study for Tor's class. I'm glad I sat in today."
"Since it's just us, babe, there won't be a lot for you to do this time around. It's when you come back for spring semester I'll have some real work for you. Watching you work in lab with the others will give me some ideas for my new text."
"Great. Gonna give me credit for helping like you did before?"
"If you don't screw up too bad."
He grins, because he knows I'm teasing. Actually, I’d rather have had Bry to observe because he's an average student and observing him would clue me in to those areas where more explanation on technique might possibly be needed. Mike's swift mind and familiarity with photography techniques don't lend themselves to what I need to see.
I spend the next two days on the research boat showing the students how to setup and work in the small lab there before we get a day at sea. Gary takes us out. The sound is calm, but when we get into the ocean, the ship begins a gentle roll. I've got on jeans as has everyone else, and I'm using my peg-leg. I find it far more stable on a rolling ship than my leg. I ignore the Captain Ahab comment I happen to overhear one of the students making. Ignore, hell! I'm delighted one of them is literate, but I see Mike snickering.
We're hardly through the inlet when poor Bry is hanging on the rail tossing his cookies. "Bry," I ask when he's finally sitting on the deck, his face a pale green, "do you always get seasick when you're on a boat?"
He gives me a pitiful look. "I don't know, sir. This is my first time."
I get him some water and a couple of dramamine, and watch him until he looks better. "Thanks, sir," he finally says.
"If you're prone to motion sickness, get yourself a supply of dramamine and take them an hour before you go out on any boat."
"Yes, sir."
He recovers enough to join Tor and the rest of the students who have to identify what comes up in the bottom net. I have Mike toss out and pull in a plankton net, then take him down to the lab and set him to identifying with the microscope what we've gotten. With the Gulf stream so close to shore here, there are usually a few unusual finds. He'll write them up and give them to me later, so I go up to the bridge and chat with Gary.
"How are you liking your new job, Captain?"
He smiles. "Fine. Get to handle a nice boat and not do no real work. Hell, this ain't no work at all, but the pay's good." He pours me a mug of coffee. "One of the capt'n's perks. Doctor Curtis said it was okay. He even give me this little coffee machine."
Tor yells something then Gary sets his coffee down and pushes the throttles forward. "Goin' back in, Drew. You're welcome up here any time."
"Thanks, Captain."
"You don' have to call me cap'n, Drew."
"Then I won't when it's just us, but if anyone else is around I'll observe proper nautical courtesy."
"Thank you, Doctor Torrence," he fires back with a grin.
To be continued...
Feedback always
welcome:
Posted: