University of Denver
Spring Semester
January, 2006
"Can you repeat the question, sir?" Jayson asked.
"Who was the American military general sent to the Philippines by former President William McKinley on May 29, 1899 to appoint their very first ever chief justice of their Supreme Court?"
"It was General Elwell Otis, sir," Jayson answered with pride.
"Very good, Jayson, but who was also the very first ever chief justice of the Philippines being appointed by the Americans?"
"Chief Justice Cayetano Arellano, sir, described by one of their former president Manuel Roxas as a combination of unimpeachable honesty of mind, unflinching power of intellect, unerring certainty of judgment and unlimited capacity of knowledge, all seasoned with gentle grace and understanding and with a heart warm with love of humanity. Such man was Cayetano Arellano, the just Arellano, the unimpeachable."
"Absolutely correct, Mr. Fisher, you're great. Class, why don't we give him a hand for that cleverness," Prof. Ladd said, blared, and encouraged his students.
The whole class clapped their hands gracefully including Prof. Ladd. All their eyes were with Jayson while he sat on his chair. Jayson smiled back to them. "Thank you," Jayson waved his left hand upwardly and smirked.
"I'm telling you class if you love history no matter how thousands of miles that place away from us, if we dedicate ourselves in history, we can find the most known and unknown persons in the United States of America or even in the whole world, such in the Philippines. But if we don't, the only persons we are familiar with are Adolf Hitler, Albert Einstein, or even Michael Jordan. History is not a boring subject which many thought. "
The whole class laughed. It was quarter to 2 p.m. and the class would end at two. The class composed of twenty one freshmen college students with different courses. Prof. Nicholas Ladd discussed this subject for over twenty years. Although this subject was only a minor subject—for freshman students—Prof. Ladd knew that this would the time for him to determine potential students in the future. He was astonished with the answer of Jayson, since the last time he was on this class, he had only told them the title of the book, its author, but never told them to read any specific chapters. That question he had asked to Jayson could only be read on its sixteenth chapter. He wondered how easily this young man had remembered all those persons in the past in advance. He bluffed when he asked that question, but a correct answer was given. He realized that this man would be on his major subjects in senior year eventually.
"Mr. Jayson Fisher, you've done a great job today. You were such genius to answer those questions," Prof. Ladd grinned to him.
"It happens, sir, that history is my favorite subject in high school. When I got the book you told us to read, I read it immediately. While reading, it catches my interests and never stops reading it, till these days. It is a good book, Professor."
"See, class, history is just like sex. Once you started liking it, you never stop. History never stops. Every day is history. Is sex happens every day?" Professor asked while the students were laughing.
"Not only every day, sir, every second," someone answered from the class.
Again the whole class snickered abruptly.
"Can you do that Mr. Cooper? Having sex every second?"
He chuckled. "Why not, Professor?"
"You are damn lusty creation of God. That's impossible. How about after orgasm, you never stop? I tell you, I have never done it in my thirty years of marriage and unfaithfulness."
The humor of Prof. Ladd ended when the school buzzer rang ending their class.
"Class, indeed I have told you that history is just like sex. It never stops. I'm just kidding when I told you about my unfaithfulness to my wife. I love my wife better to anyone else and we still have sex many many times. But I tell you, if you get exhausted having sex with the same woman or tired of reading history books, soon you will find someone or anything else. If you don't love your girlfriend or your wife they will leave you. If you don't love history, you will fail this subject. I tell you, I'm serious," Prof. Ladd concluded.
Prof. Ladd packed up his things and shut-off the LCD projector. "See you on Thursday," he said while leaving the room.
AFTER PROF. Ladd left, Jayson went to the arts, humanities and social sciences department library. He looked the same book he had read few days ago. It was a book about American intervention in Asia in the late eighteenth century and nineteenth century. Intervention of the United States of America in Asia such were in the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Iran, Iraq and others. He was glad the question asked by his professor was one of his final term papers in high school. He wrote before how war came when the United States demanded revenge for the 1898 sinking of the U.S.S Maine in Havana harbor, an incident blamed on the Spanish, whose culpability was never proved and later disputed. The fruits of U.S victory include Cuba, Guam, The Philippines and Puerto Rico.
He was walking at the lobby of the library when he noticed that some students were staring at him. When he gazed at them, they smiled to him. He recognized them that they were his classmates on Prof. Ladd's class. He approached and be seated with them. He never had known these students before. They just met several times since the beginning of the spring semester, but they never had a closed conversation.
"Good work, dude, you impressed that old freak," one of the guys said.
"Yeah, fortunately I read it last night."
"I'm sure you heard already our names but anyway, I'm Vincent Thomas. This is Kevin Trent and my beautiful girlfriend, Emily Goddard. That's Richard Cooper, the only man in this world who can have sex with her girlfriend every second. Unfortunately, his girlfriend is also here, Melissa Butte."
They held each of their hands and some tapped Jayson's shoulder.
"We're all here from Denver," it was Vincent's girlfriend Emily interrupted.
"That's good to hear, you're all here from Denver."
"We've been classmates since high school."
"But someone very close to us is missing," Melissa added.
"And who is it?" Jayson asked, mumbled to her.
"Nina, the beautiful Nina, a ballerina of this group who loves red roses, a maiden whom almighty Zeus might abduct, bring her in a floating island and bear with her a child," it was Vincent talking.
"Just like Leto," Jayson said.
"You know that?" Vincent asked.
"Greek mythology is part of history as far as I know."
"Can I ask you one more thing about Greek mythology, genius?"
"I try if I know."
"Who's that daughter of Agamemnon he had offered to Artemis, the goddess of wilderness in Greek mythology so to calm the seas on their voyage going to destroy the ancient city of Troy?" Vincent asked again.
"Actually she didn't die. She was snatched back by Artemis herself and replaced it with a deer before she got killed. Artemis brought her in an island lived by the Taurians, and made her a priestess. She was Iphigenia."
"Wow, I can't say any word. You're absolutely smart man."
"Just don't ask me about algebra," Jayson laughed.
All of them laughed. They had talked different more subjects—history, mythologies, early sciences, politics, laws and current social events. What had most interested him was about those stories about their other missing friend, Nina. They told him how beautiful she was and an outstanding ballerina. She had refused to study here in the University of Denver because her parents happened to had high positions as members of two different departments. She did not want to bear any issues between her and the positions of her parents in the university.
Jayson had also shared them where he was and what brought him here in Denver, from a very small suburban from Aspen, Colorado to these busy streets of Denver. After an hour of nice talks and jokes, they separated.
He thought, spring semester on his freshman year in college would be easier than the fall semester. Although the subjects were new, he knew things would all be alright eventually. He received all A's with his entire subjects during the fall and he was hoping the same results this spring. He had a dream and no one could stop him or anything.
He celebrated his nineteenth birthday—December—last year. His green eyes, black faux-hawk hairstyle, with a kissable lip, obviously the reason why every time he walked in the hallways of Sturm Hall, most girls couldn't get rid their stare on him. His body was slightly muscled, and he was lucky for a blessed normal height.
He was a freshman in college, with a course of MA History. He had flown here in Denver from a small town in Aspen, Colorado to study. He enrolled in one of the most credible university in Colorado, University of Denver. Full academic scholarship was granted to him by the university when he had almost topped the scholarship exam.
He should be in second year now in college, but he stopped for a year. It was still fresh on his mind when his father refused to send him in college because of his frustrations to his elder brother.
A month before his graduation in Aspen High School, Aspen, a news about his brother had arrived. A letter from his girlfriend Mary Jane was delivered to Jayson's father. Deeply concerned about Edgar, Jayson's brother, Mary Jane wrote a letter informing everyone that Edgar wasn't attending more his classes in college. It was his fourth year in college, so he supposed to graduate a year with a degree of civil engineering. She was so worried about Edgar for shifting his passion in other thing, music. Jayson's elder brother loved music ever since, but their father compelled him to enroll civil engineering because of his strong connections and knowledge into the field. Edgar did enrolled civil engineering but joined also the university's school of rock band music later on. His time went complicated but he had prioritized his love of music. Later on, he ignored his studies and their father's dream.
Their father did not know anything about this because his brother studied in Arizona and it was very far from them. Upon reading the letter he was much frustrated and hurt. He stopped sending allowances to his brother and never communicated to him anymore.
Resenting deeply, Jayson's father got sick and could not work on their business for their needs. That was a weak after they received the bad news. Jayson would graduate in few weeks and he was worried about his expenses to his final projects, so he even went with his uncle to harvest corn to the fields. It wasn't that much but it was enough to buy his final projects in high school. It was somehow a help to his grieving mother in finding their needs. Jayson believed that his father would get better soon, and things would be in normal ways again. He was showing to his father that he was different to his brother.
Jayson graduated as valedictorian on their batch that year. He was the center of all praises in the local town. His classmates congratulated him gracefully. It was also memorable to him because her first ever girlfriend broke up with him immediately after the ceremony. It wasn't that painful to him because that woman wasn't actually his crush in high school. They became lovers when they had their first sex together after a beer drinking session with their friends.
Scared of young responsibility, Jayson pretended to be his boyfriend, when Jenny, name of that girl, scared him to tell his parents what happened to them night. All their friends knew they were actual lovers but he had never loved that woman. It was only curiosity of sex. Jayson waited Jenny to give up their relationship and it did happened that day, but it wasn't much painful to him
All their families were gathered in their home for a very small celebration that night. Jayson was still shocked on the break up but he was still happy and excited to his life in college. His father sat in a corner and had not spoken much. According to the local doctors it was a mild stroke because of the increased of his blood pressure. Fortunately, he wasn't paralyze as most patients go through after the attack. Jayson thought, what life would they had had if that happened. He thanked God for miracle.
His brother never showed up on his graduation. He heard news from one of his brother's classmate in high school that Edgar was in L.A. He formed his own rock band financed by one of his rich friends. They were in different places n L.A. to perform—gigs, parties, school events, sport events, proms, birthdays and everywhere as long as music called rock was needed. Jayson smiled and thought, it was good for him, he had finally achieved his dreams.
It was summer before Jayson should step in college, when her mother told her another bad news. Their small business went to broke. It wasn't profiting anymore, because his father was only in bed aching his illness. The doctors said he was alright but he was pretending he wasn't. They couldn't even pay their monthly taxes for their business, so her mother decided to close the business temporarily. Jayson was much worried thinking how he could help his family. He had also two sisters in high school and a brother to the primary. Jayson made a very tough decision, don't step yet college. Her mother cried when he told his decision. She was so sorry to him. She hugged him for some comfort.
His father had only finished primary and never stepped in high school. She married her first wife at age of nineteen. They had a son, David. Unfortunately her wife died the day David was born. David lived with the family of his mother as comfort for their lost daughter. Their father always visited him the first year but every time he saw David, it reminded him her lost wife. The next year he visited twice until never.
Then she met her mother in Fort Collins, a simple, kind and humble middle class daughter of his mother's best friend, but most of her relatives were from Aspen. They married in 1975 and decided to live permanently in Aspen. And 1979 they had their first son.
His father had inherited a small business from his war veteran father—a business he established from the small benefits he got from the government after the World War II—which was the source of their income for two decades. It was a small furniture shop. They were making different wood furniture's—cabinets, chairs, beds, tables, doors and all kinds of wood furniture's. The business went to different problems before like—revocation of their business permit, disclosure orders from the environment and national resources department because of their unlawful sources of wood from the illegal loggers, tax delays and others.
That enrollment Jayson never enrolled any application in college or university despites of many encouragements from his friends. There were many neighbors starting to hate Jayson's father for his irresponsibility. There had been many fights between her mother and his father in the middle of the nights. Jayson started to hate his father and even his elder brother for he was the reason for everything happening that time.
The whole year that Jayson had missed his freshman year in college, he'd spent most of his times in Aspen. Though there was disclosure order in their business for not paying monthly taxes, they managed to assemble furniture's in hidden ways. Jayson knew it was unlawful but he needed to help those carpenters her mother had hired to work in their shop.
His father somehow started to work and in three months their business permit was regained. Trust and respect to his father timely healed.
Jayson never stopped learning as he read different books, watched current events from the television, surfed the internet, went to community service, and frequently visited Aspen High School. His teachers in high school were welcoming back him during his visits. They advised him that if he would decide to enter college next year, he could join the students into their entrance examination in different colleges and universities in Denver where mostly students from Aspen went to study.
Jayson listened and realized that they were right. He thought that even he stopped for a year, knowledge's must still continue. He was the brightest student that last school year so it such a shame if he could not enter a good school in college. He remembered one of his teachers from high school that once said, "If you stop it doesn't mean it's the end of everything, but if there's no way to continue there's nothing wrong to goes back and start again and find the right way."
University of Denver was his first choice; Colorado State University was the second one. These universities were known for their credibility in Colorado and even in the whole U.S. Jayson went to University of Denver twice in high school for a field trip in one of his science classes and one in history classes. He only heard and read Colorado State University from the news and pamphlets. Jayson was also considering other schools but he was worried about his expenses. These two universities were offering full academic scholarship programs and Jayson was optimistic to pass all the requirements.
It was 4 p.m. Jayson had finished reading the eleventh chapter of the book. It was almost an hour since his new classmates left him in the library. Numbers of students were starting to leave the library. The university had a small library in each school departments except of course the largest Penrose library. This was the smallest one. It was located adjacent to the room of Prof. Ladd class. Most books were intended only for—history, law, economics, sociology and other social studies.
"Can I borrow back again these books next time?" Jayson asked to the old lady librarian while handling back the book and some other books.
"Any time you want, my dear."
"These books are great and interesting; it satisfies my interests in history."
"I guess you really have that strong passion in history, this really place fits you a lot, my dear."
"How many times I've told you, just call me Jayson."
"Can I ask you something, Jayson?"
"Yeah."
"What makes you love history a lot?"
"My grandfather on my father side was a war veteran during the world war II. He told us so much about his experiences in the past when I was a kid together with my brothers and cousins. When I went to school in primary I started to hear the same stories about the war. Later on, I found myself reading history books to prove if my grandpa wasn't lying about his stories. I found it. He wasn't lying."
"In Germany, against Adolf Hitler?"
"No. In the Philippines against the Japanese."
"He was lucky not in Europe."
"Not at all. He left Aspen completely healthy when got back he had no ears, completely blinded, no legs, and his remaining hand with no nails."
"Oh I'm, sorry, dear, about your grandpa."
"He was indeed lucky, he lived."
"That's nice to hear."
"He died when I was twelve with anemia. Old age probably."
"Sorry."
"It's okay. I know he found peace wherever he is now."
Jayson left the library after talking to Mrs. Haidee McDonough, the old librarian. He had promised to get back again next time. He had no more class to attend that day and decided to go home on his apartment.
He remembered what he told to Mrs. McDonough about his grandfather. Better for his grandfather he died in peace as a hero not only for the U.S but to his family. He forgave all his enemies before he died, even the Japanese for what cruelty he suffered from them. He gave his only wealth to his father as inheritance even with much bitter envy from his brothers and sisters. His father never treasured this wealth.