Waking Rose: A Fairy Tale Retold by Regina Doman Read Free Book Online Page B

deal with this kind of trauma every night.
    Fortified with these resolutions, he returned to his bedroom and tried once more to sleep.
     
    The nightmare had its effect in a headache that surfaced when Fish woke up later that day. Or perhaps the headache had caused the nightmare. Annoyed, he took three aspirin and went to teach his first class.
    It went surprisingly well, and he was pleased. After class, he studied in the library, then took his work with him to Dr. Anschlung’s office. She had a sheaf of handwritten notes that she wanted transcribed. A short blond woman with a Germanic accent, she was apologetic about her poor handwriting, but Fish didn’t find it difficult to decipher. The next few hours were spent in busy solitude with the computer, until he heard her coming in at the door.
    “Ben?”
    “Yes, Dr. Anschlung?”
    “I heard from some students that your first lecture went off very well. I was just invited to go out to dinner with Jane—Dr. Storck. Why don’t you join us? A bit of a celebration. It would give you a chance to meet some more of our faculty.”
    “Thank you. I would like to.”
    He ran his fingers through his hair and glanced down at his cotton shirt and dark pants. He hoped it was decent enough for dining out with faculty. But then again, he wasn’t sure where they were going.
    Dr. Anschlung drove him to the restaurant, which turned out to be a fairly nice French establishment. There they met up with Dr. Jane Storck of the English faculty. She chatted with him pleasantly about NYU where he had done his undergraduate work.
    “Now, Marie, I have to warn you that Dr. Prosser is supposed to join our party tonight.” Dr. Storck glanced at Fish. “I just hope she doesn’t give any offense to your assistant.”
    “Oh!” Dr. Anschlung seemed surprised. “Was this a woman’s only night? I didn’t know.”
    “Well, Dr. Prosser can get very adamant about not wanting to deal with men on her off time. Very strident feminist. As director of the hospital, you know, she oversees a lot of male doctors…”
    Dr. Anschlung glanced at Fish, and raised her Austrian nose just slightly. “Well, I also consider myself a feminist, but I happen to enjoy the company of men. I would hope Dr. Prosser would be a bit more broad-minded.”
    “One would hope,” Dr. Storck seemed dubious. “I just wanted to give you a heads-up.”
    Two other professors arrived, Drs. Lora Carpenter and Frances Bosworth, Biochemistry and Engineering, respectively. They greeted the other women affably and Fish pleasantly. Then two more women followed.
    One was an imposing woman with a broad chest and curly brown hair cropped short, with a boisterous manner. The other was thin and wiry with rumpled blond hair, clearly subservient to her boss. They both wore lab coats under their overcoats.
    “Hullo girls!” the big woman said loudly as she came in. “The sisterhood all here?”
    “Seems like it,” said Dr. Carpenter cheerfully. “But you can’t be a purist tonight, Pross—we’ve got an enemy spy with us.” She indicated Fish.
    “I invited him to come along with me,” said Dr. Anschlung loyally, putting a hand on his shoulder. “This is Benedict Denniston, my new graduate assistant.”
    “Benedict?” Dr. Prosser towered over Fish. “At least he’s not named Benedict Arnold, hey?” She seemed gregarious enough, but Fish didn’t like her. “Let’s get some food—I’m starving.”
    Fish followed the party to the table, feeling a bit of an outsider, but curious to see what this dinner party would be like.
    Dr. Prosser seemed to be the dominant person at the party, and led the conversation inexorably. She didn’t exactly ignore Fish, but she didn’t seem to go out of her way to include him. Fish wondered if she were deliberately treating him the way she fancied some men treated women—talking over them and around them, never to them.
    By contrast, Dr. Anschlung seemed determined to include him in the