The Jarvis Hall of 2D studies was an
unassuming brick building. Most students never stepped foot in it unless their
one history requirement was scheduled in one of its lecture halls. Sanders had
already taken the required history class as a freshman but had willingly signed
up for History of The Second Dimension. Taught by Professor Bannister, who had
been lecturing at the university for longer than Sanders had been alive.
Sanders found the lecture hall and took a seat as near to the front as he could
find. He set his bag down and pulled a fresh notebook and a pencil before
kicking his bag under his chair with the heel of his shoe. The rest of the
students were chatting to fill the time before the class started and two
hundred students having personal conversations caused the auditorium to be
quite loud. But not loud enough to drown out the echoing crash of Professor
Banister violent shoving the door open. The entire room went dead silent as He
made his way down to the front of the auditorium. The door closed even louder
in the now silent auditorium.
“Who is here because they heard that
Takahashi is a brutal and unforgiving professor?” He asked setting his shoulder
bag on the lectern. He looked at the frozen silent room of students. “Come on
now, hands up.” Slowly two thirds of the class raised their hands. Banister
turned to the white board and started scribbling on it with a blue dry erase marker.
“Everyone with their hand up please write a one page essay, due next class period.
Your topic is ‘why the history of the second dimension is important to my
chosen major’” he finished the title of the paper on the board and turned to
face the hall again. They were still frozen. “Come on, I should be seeing way
more of you take notes on this.” He motioned for the class to write the title
of the essay down. The room filled with the noise of over a hundred pencils
being put to paper with something less than enthusiasm. “For those of you who
didn’t raise your hands, I expect a one page paper on why you did or did not
research this class.” Sanders stopped writing the title of the first essay in
his note book and watched Banister for a moment. Banister turned back to the
board and uncapped his blue marker again. “Those of you hoping the book would
be option will want to go to the book store after class and pick it up.” He
scribbled ‘History of the Second Dimension” on the white board. Capped his
marker and began to pace slowly. “It’s not expensive, it’s a rather fascinating
topic, and as I do nothing more in this class than answer your questions and
elaborate on the topics you choose, you’re going to need it.” A girl in the
front row raised her hand. Banister looked down at her. “Did you just figure
out the cure for cancer?” He asked. She meekly shook her head in the negative. “Then
put your hand down please I’ll answer questions in a moment.” The girl lowered her
hand quickly. “Your grade in this class is based on the five papers you will
write this semester. As long as you write about something that interests you
and you write a complete paper, I will not impose a minimum page length. “The
class cheered. And he silenced them almost instantly “Please do not make me
impose a page length. I assume we are all adults, do not prove otherwise or
this class will become unpleasant for all of us.” He stated with finality.
Bannister stopped pacing and faced the class. Pointing to the girl. “Your
question?” He asked.
She looked at her friends to her right and left and then found the courage to speak. “Professor, is it true that you were the original Mario?” She asked.
Bannister froze for a second, possibly
attempting to keep his cool but his cheeks began to redden. He reached for his
shoulder bag on the lectern. He throws it over his shoulder and then turns back
to the girl. Clearing his throat as if he had just swallowed something awful. “No,
I was not the original Mario. Your introductory papers are now two pages long.
I suggest you stop putting so much faith in rumors. Facts will serve you far
better in life.” He stated with finality as he stormed out of the auditorium.
Stopping at the door long enough to shove the door open “Class dismissed” His
voice echoed down the hall.
Sanders clicked his pencil top in and forced the
lead back into the body with his thumb, closed his notebook and reached under
his chair for his bag.“It’s gonna being an
interesting semester” He said to himself as he deposited his notebook into his
bag.
