Chapter Three: School Begins
A reminder that our department meeting is this afternoon, and that we will be welcoming our two new faculty members, Dr. Darcy Bozeman and Dr. Bomomsay Clestenrogo ..
-Email from Dr. Ellison
A follow-up reminder that we will not test our new colleagues, either by forcing them to demonstrate patterns or by demonstrating patterns on them. This tradition will no longer be tolerated.
-Email from Dr. Ellison
(Startup funds remaining: $4,000)
It's the first day of fall semester and, while you may be a professor now, you're as excited as when you entered Winfield Phillips as a first-year.
Your class isn't until 10:00 a.m. You could have slept in. Instead, it's 7:30 a.m. and you're downtown because you wanted an early jump on the day.
While downtown Billington sports closed stores with papered-over windows, it still has enough coffee shops, small restaurants, and craft beer bars to tempt some students away from campus. Just like when you attended Winfield Phillips, you can grab a to-go breakfast on your way to campus.
This Compleat Breakfast boasts a wide selection of pastries and bagels. The server behind the counter hands you a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel nestled in butcher paper.
"What'll you have to drink?" he asks.
You look at the drinks on offer—not that it matters, as you always order your usual:
The server nods and prepares your order.
Outside, you juggle your cappuccino and bagel so you can take a bite. It's delicious, possibly because it's well-made, possibly because you're really hungry. You pass a coffee shop on your way to campus. You remember studying in one just like it with Manish. The late-night sessions didn't thrill him, but you were determined to pull all A's.
You can tell that every visit to downtown is going to stir up memories of when you were in college—nostalgia, not magic, thankfully.
Chanting breaks your reverie. A knot of people walks back and forth in front of a two-story brick building. They jab posterboard signs into the air as they chant.
The Protesters Are New, At Least