Chapter 7

Professor Ernest Smith entered the class five minutes late and greeted the assembly. He was interrupted in the middle of setting up his table by a voice from the back of the class.

“Uh, excuse me Professor, I’m going to need you to sign this sheet here saying you were late to class”

Ernest laughed along with the class as he raised his head to look at who spoke. Prince Asare, the class clown, full of wit as he had come to know too well.

“Such a pity your grade in the last test wasn’t as good as your jokes," Ernest replied heartily.

A collective oooooooh! came from the class. Ernest, guessing correctly he’d won the trade mimicked a bow. The class loved it and applauded loudly.

Fifteen minutes later, Ernest, deep into the introduction of the day’s topic, was interrupted by the arrival of a student late to class. The running footsteps preceded the person and everyone was looking to see who it was when Christina showed up at the door.

“Ah Miss Brown, unusually late today, are we?” the Professor looked at her.

Christina’s faced flushed with embarrassment as she started to explain how sorry she was.

“No, no it’s alright. I was a student once too.” The Professor waved off her explanation. “These things tend to happen, I understand. Take a seat and join us, will you?” he gestured towards an empty seat.

“I didn’t know universities existed in the 1500’s professor," Prince chipped up again, unwilling to accept defeat from their previous exchange.

“It’s no surprise. I doubt your family had heard of universities until you came along," the professor shot back in a heartbeat.

The resounding noise was louder now and Prince had his head down in defeat. Christina spotted Emma waving to her from the middle of the class amidst the uproar and quickly went to sit beside her. Professor Ernest smiled and bowed again to much louder cheers. His students loved him. To be honest he loved them too. He looked around the class as it settled down and made out the usual suspects. There was Kingsley in the front row, always attentive and silent, Caroline beside him, very chatty but sharp nevertheless… his eyes turned to the middle of the class where Christina had just taken a seat beside her best friend Emma. Both girls were arguing in undertones about something and immediately stopped when they caught their professor looking at them. Ernest moved his gaze to the back of the class and paused. He frowned slightly when he noticed an absence, an unusual one at that. The silent one, he who had no friends, he was aware of all the nicknames the kid was referred to behind his back. No doubt if he were in class he would have only just smiled while the rest of the class went berserk over the banter that had just occurred.

The professor recalled an encounter from a few years ago. It was a sunny afternoon. He strolled over to his car after a lecture and had been upset to have his engine refuse to start. The driver of a sleek sports car parked a couple of cars away disembarked and offered to help him. In five minutes, his engine was purring sweetly again. The stranger introduced himself as the older brother of a new student, then he asked the professor to share a drink with him. Naturally, Ernest agreed, his own way of showing gratitude for the help received. The conversation they had and the request that accompanied startled him. Some time had passed since then, but he remembered it almost perfectly. Ernest focused his attention back to the present and found the class had settled down. He continued his lecture.