The departmental office was in 3A. The departmental secretary was blond and thin and looked just out of high school. She seemed put-upon when I asked her where Professor Jones's office was, but said, 'Two bildings up, in Three-C.'
Dirt separated the bungalows, cracked and trenched. So hard and dry that not a single footprint showed. A far cry from the Ivy league.
Chip Jones's office was one of six in the small pink stucco building.
His door was locked and the card listing his office hours was marked: ALWAYS FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED.
All the other offices were locked too. I went back to the secretary and asked her if Yrofessor Jones was on campus. She consulted a schedule and said, 'Oh, yeah. He's teaching Soc One-oh-two over in Five-).'
'When's the class over?'
'In an hour-it's a two-hour seminar, twelve to two.'
'Do they take a break in the middle?'
'I don't know.'
She turned her back on me. I said, 'Excuse me,' managed to get her to tell me where he was, and walked there.
The building was a trailer, one of three on the western edge of the campus, overlooking a shallow ravine.
Despite the heat, Chip Jones was conducting class outside, sitting on one of the few patches of grass in sight, in the partial shade of a young oak, facing ten or so students, all but two of them women.
The men sat at the back; the women circled close to his knees.
I stopped a hundred feet away.
His face was half-turned away from me and his arms were moving. He had on a white polo shirt and jeans. Despite his position, he was able to inject a lot of body English into his delivery. As he moved from side to side the students' heads followed and a lot of long female hair swayed.
I realized I had nothing to say to him-had no reason to be there-and turned to leave.
Then I heard a shout, looked over my shoulder and saw him wavIng.
He said something to the class, sprang to his feet, and loped toward me. I waited for him and when he got to me, he looked scared.
'I thought it was you. Is everything okay?'
'Everything's fine,' I said. 'Didn't want to alarm you. Just thought I'd drop by before heading over to your house.'
'Oh-sure.' He blew out breath. 'Well, that's a relief I just wish you'd told me you were coming, so I could've scheduled some time for us to talk. As it stands, I've got a two-hour seminar until two-you're welcome to sit in, but I don't imagine you want to hear about the structure of organizations. And after that there's a faculty meeting till three and another class.'
'Sounds like a busy day.'
He smiled. 'My kind of day.' The smile vanished. Actually, Cindy's the one with the tough job. I can escape.'
He smoothed his beard. Today's earring was a tiny sapphire, inflamed by the sun. His bare arms were tan and hairless and sinewy.
'Is there anything specific you wanted to talk to me about?' he said.
'I can have them break for a few minutes.'
'No, not really.' I looked around at all the empty space.
