“Is this some sort of spiritual journey, Mr Moore?” Vic Vic was one of that generation of college lecturers who were inclined to become formal as an accompaniment to sarcasm.
Epson Moore started to mumble, a little in awe of the suede elbow patches on Vic Vic’s jacket.
“You see,” said Vic Vic, “you have been sitting at this desk for three periods, and two of them have been reiterations of the same class. Revision is a useful study strategy, but more normally after some time for the material to sink in.”
“Well, I’ve lost my…” Epson searched the ceiling for the correct word and found only a spider. “… my itinerary, schedule, week plan…”
“Your timetable?” Vic Vic offered. “Were you expecting it to arrive here?”
“I didn’t want to miss any Anxiety classes. I worry about my attendance.”
Vic Vic wasn’t good at nodding sympathetically, but made a decent attempt. Another student who had been waiting, drew his attention away from Moore, and the room began to fill by ones and twos with the next class. The spider was no longer on the ceiling. Moore checked his hair reflexively.
“Oh hi, I didn’t realise you were in my group now.” A voice to his right.
Moore untangled himself from his barnet. “Bae! I was trying to call you. Two three times.”
“I was at Jameson’s maths class. I thought you would have been there. Sleep in late?”
“No, I lost my…” Moore cast his mind back to Vic Vic’s vocabulary, “my timetable. I had no idea where I was supposed to be. I’ve been here all morning.”
“Well, you wouldn’t want to miss Anxiety classes.”
“No, I wouldn’t want to miss Anxiety classes. Thing is, I was hoping to borrow your fax machine. The office need a fax number for a replacement spider.”
“Spider?” Bae looked around for a clue.
“Timetable. So like I said I was hoping to borrow your…”
“Can we please settle down?” Vic Vic announced in his best teacher voice, “I’d like to make a start. We’ve got a lot of cover in this class.”
“Meet me at Smiths after lunch,” whispered Bae, “I need to get fresh ribbon.”
Moore nodded his thanks and left the Anxiety class as stealthily as possible. It was only when he reached the end of the corridor that he realised that he had no idea when lunchtime was.