Look who’s back from the dead!! (I have got to stop saying that everytime I come back from a hiatus)
It was 5pm. I was having a Day at college. There were no classes and most people had left. A few friend groups were loitering about. I was in one of them. I was thinking about this evening in the metro, and here are my raw, unedited thoughts.
You know those times when things are just so beautiful that you can’t bear it. You just have to do something about it. Write about it, click a pic, something. But you cannot. You know that whatever you do will never be as good as that moment. It isn’t someplace very pretty, not a peaceful moment, not a chaotic conversation, not something you’ll remember tomorrow. It’s a mixture of some of the best parts of life and the knowledge of time as it is fleeting by. You can’t capture that picture in your camera, you can’t express it in a poem, you can’t describe it in a letter. It isn’t something you experience very often. You only remember it the next time you have such an experience. These are the moments you’re left speechless. These are the moments you know why life exists.
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Professor Grant
Summary: You heard there was a new teacher for Egyptology and can’t wait to see what this class is about. Especially with all the hype coming from those that have already taken it.
Does this count as reader insert? It’s second person point of view. I don’t know what I’m doing...
Warning: none. unless you count bad indulgent writing.
Word Count: 1069
You’re so excited to start your new class on ancient Egyptology. There’s a professor there that everyone raves about.
Despite him not taking the usual approach to becoming a professor, (rumor has it he showed up one day and no one could get him to leave, which is only partly true), his class is quickly becoming known as THE class to take on the subject.
He has written papers, articles, books, and debated all the old famous people that were once considered top tier. This man came out of nowhere and pointed to a blip on a map and said “Alexander The Great is here”.
It also helps a bit that there are a whole bunch of wild rumors about him. Some believe he is a time traveler from Ancient Egypt. Others speculate that he’s some sort of unknown superhero. Some think he’s an alien or one of the Asgardians displaced on earth. It’s hard to see him as any of those things when you pull up his profile picture on the school website.
Curls, glasses, a goofy smile, a tie with hieroglyphs all over it, and his background is a fish tank.
First day of class he walks in with his coffee cup, his briefcase (which seems to only contain his lunch), and points to his name on the board. “Hello!” he waves. “My name is Steven, with a V. Steven Grant. I’m here to teach you about Egyptology!”
There is the briefest of pauses while he sets his things down and collects himself. You have just enough time to wonder ‘who is this man?’ and then he goes off.
The way he talks, his hands gesturing, his body moving, his pauses, his stares, his smiles… It’s mesmerizing. You can’t help but love the topic as much as he does. You can feel his passion and he makes it all so amazingly reachable for you. For anyone. He could be speaking in ancient Egyptian and you’d still hang on and understand every word.
Now and then he seems to remember himself and will slow as if unsure if he should still be talking. A sign of someone used to being told to shut up or of an audience that doesn’t care. Once he checks in with the group and is sure everyone is following, he will give the biggest smile and fly off again, pointing to maps and drawing fun scribbles on the board.
Someone that has seen his class before leans over and whispers to you, “He’s having a good day. Totally with it today.”
You wonder what that means.
He holds class twice a week and only a few hours each day. You overheard one student going on about a taxi cab she took home from a party a few nights ago and she swears up and down that it was Professor Grant in a disguise that drove. He acted like he didn’t recognize her.
Every now and then Professor Grant comes to class and gives a different sort of lecture. His normally cheerful and wide gaze is drawn down into a cranky and unsure glare. He pulls lesson plans from the desk drawer like a substitute teacher and flips through them halfheartedly. “Yeah yeah. I’ve got this terrible headache or whatever. Today we’re supposed to talk about uh… Yeah I don’t know what that is. Read chapter twenty. I’m sure that’s a good one.”
The next day when Professor Grant comes in, he stares at the notes on his desk. “We just started chapter twelve. Why would we jump to twenty? I wrote it clearly in my instructions what chapter we were on!”
The girl next to you leans over. “He does this now and then. He once gave a lecture on why the old Egyptian gods were all assholes then dismissed class early. I honestly think those lessons are amazing.”
“Nah, those are boring.” Someone else leaned in. “I’m here for the other types.”
“Other types?” You wonder aloud.
“Yeah. It’s hard to describe but sometimes he comes in and just exudes this whole…mysterious sexy aura.” They sighed and smiled wistfully.
You wondered what the heck that could mean. You only have to wait a week to find out. He came in one day dressed in form fitting clothes, a popped collar, a tie, and a flat cap. He rushed in ten minutes late and sat down at his desk in a hurry. Looking around, he leaned back in his chair and glanced at his watch.
“Lo siento. I lost track of time while taking care of some things.” He tapped a finger on the desk as if expecting something to happen. When nothing did, he sighed heavily. “Alright.” He pulled out some notes from the desk and glanced through them. “Okay, we’re on chapter fifteen. I hate this chapter. I always get stuck with this chapter. I think he does this on purpose. Today we are going to review the revival of the gods and reconstruction of the pantheon powers in the new kingdom.” He paused to mutter something under his breath in what sounded a bit like Spanish. “We’re going to start with the moon god Khonshu and how his cult was overturned in favor of Ra.”
It was a lecture unlike any other. Filled with curses, graphic descriptions of violence, and a bizarre story about Ammit and Khonshu having a nasty break up. At the end of the lesson, he got up and looked like a man in need of a cigarette. “Alright, tomorrow is back to normal. Tonight…. I don’t know, write a page about what your favorite animal is.”
When Professor Grant had collected the papers and stared at the first paper on his desk, he had put his face in his hands and muttered to himself about how he promised not to force chapter fifteen on to someone next semester.
Even with those odd days, Professor Grant was amazing. You have never been more interested in a subject and never done so well. After all, it was hard not to catch his passion. Even on days where he mumbled as if caught in a haze only to change tactics and deliver some off the wall content, you looked forward to each class.
You hear he’ll be starting a third day soon where he is going to start teaching hieroglyphic translations. You can’t wait to take that class too.
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