Joe by H.D. Gordon Read Free Book Online Page A

students and coworkers alike,
which was admittedly better than a career spent with all stupid people. But
amazingly, stupid people managed to infiltrate the sanctity of a university, as
well. Not just stupid, lazy too.
    Her plan for retirement was simple: sell
her house, buy a smaller one out in the country, and travel the world. The more
she thought about this plan, the more anxious she became. It may not have all been
bad, but somehow, when you’re six weeks short retirement, it all becomes
intolerable.
    She knew what it was, the monotony of
it all, that same-shit-different-day kind of thing. It made her feel now like
she wanted to run, to fly away, to be gone and never look back but for
memories. As she sat at the carved oak desk in her office, she thought about
getting up and leaving. She had always chosen the wise path, never acted on
impulse. She didn’t want to be here anymore, so she could just get up and leave.
Take her retirement early, be on a plane to Hawaii…
    A knock sounded on her office door.
Merion looked up, startled. After a moment, she said, “Yes, come in.”
    The door opened and a male student
stepped in the room. Merion recognized him from one of her Monday/Wednesday
classes. His name was Eric, and he was a decent student. Not particularly
bright, but a hard worker.
    “Professor Gellar,” Eric said.
    Merion gestured to the seat opposite her
desk. “What can I do for you, Eric?”
    Eric sat down on the edge of the chair,
his hands wringing together. “Professor Gellar, I was wondering if I could
reschedule Monday’s exam…I have a really important appointment I have to make
that afternoon. Would that be possible?”
    Merion was silent for a moment. Oddly,
she had to stop herself from bursting out into laughter. Same shit, different
day.
    Instead, she said, “I don’t usually
allow make-up exams…This appointment, you can’t reschedule it?”
    Eric shook his head, serious brown eyes
never leaving hers. “No, ma’am, afraid I can’t. I can’t miss it, either.”
    Merion stared at Eric for a moment. It
was obvious by his eyes that he was going to keep his other “appointment”
Monday afternoon whether or not she agreed to reschedule the test. Well, she
was a tired, old professor, but that didn’t make her an asshole.
    She stifled what would have been a heavy
sigh. “All right, I’ll set up something with the Testing Center on Tuesday.
Will you be able to take it then?”
    Eric’s face lit up. Merion smiled back
unconsciously. Whatever he had going on Monday was important to him, and he
hadn’t missed a class or turned in a late assignment all semester. She’d done
the right thing. Six weeks left.
    “I can’t thank you enough, Professor,”
Eric said.
    Merion waved her hand in dismissal. “No
problem,” she replied.
    Eric left the office, shutting the door
behind him. Merion sat back in her chair and released the formally seized sigh.
Maybe she should just leave now and start retirement early. Jeepers, wouldn’t
that be great?
    However, with six weeks left, she could
stick it out. Maybe she would take off tomorrow, which was Friday, and have an
early weekend. But come Monday, she would be right back on campus, finishing up
her job, and dreaming about her future.

Chapter
Nine
    Eric
    It
was a good day. For the first time in what seemed like forever, things were
looking up for Eric. Professor Gellar had been surprisingly understanding about
his needing off Monday afternoon. Now all he had to do was get the final
approval from his parole officer, and he was good to go.
    Eric wrung his hands together tightly,
rubbed his palms on the thighs of his jeans, and went back to wringing. His
P.O., Ryan Jackson, always kept him waiting. Eric failed to believe that
Jackson’s day was so hectic that he couldn’t be punctual to their scheduled
meetings, mainly because Mr. Jackson was too fat to be a truly busy man.
    And Eric couldn’t show up late. Oh no,
Eric had better be early. By now he