Subj: Night School Pt.2
Date: 6/18/00 4:54:49 PM Central Daylight Time
From: Marcos1
The night of my first class, was really a big deal for me. Julia fixed me, two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. My favorite food. Barnabas gave me a lecture. He told me to do my homework, listen in class, raise my hand and ask questions, then I should do fine. It's funny, for the first time in our relationship, I finally understood, who Barnabas and Julia were to me. They were my folks. And I was their twenty-five year old little boy. Yea, right.
Julia dropped me off at the college. I was early. The class didn't start until seven and I got there at six-thirty. There were several other *kids* already waiting in class. One of them looked like he had a small poodle sitting on top of his head. His hair was really weird.
"Good evening," he said, "my name is Count Petofi." He motioned to a much younger man sitting to his right. "This is my servant Aristede."
"How you guys doing?" I said. "Name is Willie Loomis..."
"Excellency," Aristede said, "I need to excuse myself. My stomach is hurting. It must've been the terrible food at the Collinsport Diner."
"Certainly, my boy," Count Petofi said, "just hurry back. You don't want to miss a moment of this class." The old guy stood up and reached out his hand. "It is such a pleasure to meet you, Mr.Loomis. Do you live in Rocksport?"
"No, I live in Collinsport," I answered. I tried not to, but I couldn't help from staring at his hand. The old guy must've caught his hand in a cotton gin or something. It looked deformed and dead.
"Collinsport is such a lovely place," Count Petofi said, sitting down at a desk, next to mine. "I have many pleasant memories of the place. I haven't been there in a long time. Unfortunately, at my last visit, I was caught in a terrible fire...barely escaped with my life."
Aristede came walking back into the room. He was walking fast, almost at a near run. "Excellency, I did a number two." He grinned from ear to ear. "And also a number one," he added.
"Very good, my boy," Count Petofi said.
"Excuse me," a woman said, walking over to us, "do you know when this class will begin?" She was a woman in her forties, a blond.
"How ya doing?" I asked her, gazing down at my watch. "It should begin in about ten minutes. It is six-fifty."
"Thanks," she said. "I don't mean to be impatient...I really don't. But I miss my son. I have great plans for him, and I'm supposed to stop by and visit, after class, if it isn't too late." She was chewing bubble gum, and paused blowing a big bubble. It popped and parts of it stuck on her nose. She gingerly picked the pieces off, putting them into a napkin. Hey, this babe, was a true lady.
"Oh, you have a son," Count Petofi said, "you are just a child yourself, my dear."
"I sure do, " the woman said, "his name is David."
Just then, a man of the cloth entered the room. He was dressed in black and wearing one of those white collar things. "Greetings and salutations," he said, walking by us. He sat at a desk near the window. "I am here to learn everything I can. By the grace of the everything good in the world."
"Hey, that guy looks familiar," Aristede said. "Excellency, do we know him?"
"Perhaps, we have met him before in our travels," Count Petofi replied.
Breaking the sound of students chatting in the room."May we have order in the class," a short man said, walking up to the front. "I'm the Doctor. You don't have to clap or anything...I know that I'm famous."
Aristede started to giggle and tapped the Count on the back. "Forgive me, Excellency, but that man is funny looking."
I had to agree. The man was short. He looked to be under five feet, with long white hair down his back, a young looking face with glasses stuck down low on his nose. He looked more like a cartoon character than a professor, especially with those tiny, purple colored eyes.
"I will now call the role call," the Doctor said, "Count Andreas Petofi, Aristede, Willie Loomis, Laura Stockbridge Collins, Angelique Bouchard Collins, Nicholas Blair, Eve, Jebez Hawkes , Reverend Trask...and the last person is a Mr. Diabolos." Everyone shouted here or present, even the last name he called. That guy was really weird, dressed in a black cape, sitting at the back of the room.
The Doctor walked to the blackboard. He picked up a piece of chalk and wrote the following on the board.
{The future is now and the present is every time.}
"Does anyone know what this sentence means?" the Doctor asked. His tiny purple eyes seemed to gleam with a strange yellow light. He was looking deeply into everyone's eyes.
"Look, man," a blond man said, sitting in front of me, "I didn't come here to listen to riddles. I am too important and have a mission to accomplish. If you are going to teach...then teach. Tell me something, I don't know."
"Young man," the Doctor said. He glanced down at the seating chart, that he'd filled out during role call. "Mr. Hawkes, do you want to go to the Dean's office? It can be arranged, if you don't give me the proper respect. I am your teacher."
The strange figure, who was sitting in the back, stood up and walked over to Jeb Hawkes. He didn't seem to have a face. He looked just like a walking shadow. He put his gloved hand on Jed's shoulder. Jeb jumped like he had just seen a snake. He was very scared. "Okay...okay, I'll listen. I promise." Jeb said as he moved to an empty desk closer to the front.
"Why, thank you so much," the Doctor said, "Mr....er... Diabolos. I appreciate the help."
The shadowy figure merely nodded and walked back to his seat. Man, that guy gave me the creeps!
To be continued