MANIC MAY... and it was (Part 44c)

Elle was finished on the last day of classes at her college which was the same as for me. She and Barbara Ann didn’t have to take final exams but had to return to campus to meet with their faculty advisor to review the reports from their mentor teachers and the principals of each school. I’d told them both that I’d drive them back that Saturday. But, that Friday, my last day of classes, I went to the room where Professor W’s class was held only to find that the door was locked. What I (and all the others taking the class) found was a sheet of paper taped to the door. There were a few of the guys trying to read it so I waited. When I finally got close enough to see it I couldn’t believe my eyes. What the goofy old codger had done was to put all of our grades on it. He had four columns with ”points“ in each. The first was the grade from the mid term exam, doubled. Next was the sum of the points we’d garnered on the daily quizzes. The third was the grade for our term project, again, doubled. The fourth was blank, awaiting our grade for the final exam. First of all, I was incensed that my grades were out there for everyone else to see. It took a few seconds to realize that he’d given me a grade of zero for my term project in spite of the fact that my advisor had told me that he ”would take care of it“.

Based upon the formula that he had posted at the top of that grade sheet there was no way for me to pass the course, even if I got a perfect score on the final. I took off on a dead run, headed for my advisor’s office. It was locked. I knew where he lived so I headed there only to be met by his wife at the door. I was told that he wasn’t there and that he wouldn’t be back until Monday. I was like a wild man. I said some things I know I shouldn’t have said but I was in a panic. If there had been one thing that I’d put an honest effort into during the whole semester it was on that project. I was really proud of it and seeing that I’d been given no credit for it made no sense at all.

I hadn’t done any drinking, to speak of, the whole semester. I made up for it that night. I have no idea how I got back to the fraternity but it was close to noon when I woke up. I felt like hell. There were any number of messages from Elle waiting for me when I made it downstairs. I called her and told her I wasn’t feeling well (the truth!) but that I’d get there around 2pm. My head hurt so bad that I didn’t give any thought to Professor W (at least that I can remember) which helped my demeanor when I arrived at Miss Bea’s. I wasn’t prepared for what was awaiting me.

Normally, there weren’t any cars at Miss Bea’s. As I drove up there were three. Miss Bea decided to throw a going away luncheon for Elle and Barbara Ann and had invited both of their proctor teachers as well as Brad, Barbara Ann’s fiance. Miss Bea knew I was to take the girls back to their campus around mid day so never bothered top tell me about the party. So, I was late. But, feeling the way I did, the party was a bit of an annoyance. Brad had a major paper due that Monday so he wasn’t taking Barbara Ann. When the party was breaking up I loaded the girls belongings into the car. After some tears and promises to ”keep in touch“ we were on our way.

Thankfully, the girls talked mostly to each other. Since I had to use back roads it took well over an hour to reach their campus. I dropped Barbara Ann off at her sorority first. After I’d carried the last of her stuff into the house she surprised me with a big kiss (on the mouth) and hug. Surprisingly, it was the first time I’d touched her other than a handshake when we met.

Elle and I had worked it out that I would drive her home after my Thursday exam so Elle had packed her things into two groups... one were the things she would be leaving at the sorority for the Summer and the other the things that would be going home with us. When we arrived we found that mealtime had started. I told Elle to go ahead and eat and I’d unload the car. What I really wanted was to get back to the fraternity so I could go back to sleep. The girls in the sorority were really excited to see Elle and kind of overwhelmed her. That worked to my advantage so my leaving wasn’t all that difficult.

My head had pretty much cleared by the time I left. That meant my thoughts turned to Professor W and my term project... not pleasant thoughts. I tried to think of what I could do to turn the situation around. At least I wasn’t in a panic mode like I was on Friday. I remember that I was on the outskirts of town when a wild thought grabbed my attention. If I wasn’t going to get any credit for my project there was no way I could pass the course. If that was so then there was no need to take the exam on Thursday. If I didn’t take the exam on Thursday then I could take Elle home after my Tuesday exam. If I did that then I’d have at least three, maybe four days with Elle. Since I wouldn’t be seeing her during the Summer, it seemed like a perfect plan.

To be continued...