Quin returns to Appendix

Quin returns to Appendix

Quin had landed a job at St. Christopher Community College teaching English Literature.  His class load was three freshmen level introduction to literature classes.  The work suited him.  He wanted low-key, low-stress work.  He could teach those classes with minimum preparation. He figured most of his students would be mediocre at best, and they would be simply taking a few classes to avoid the reality of work and life after high school.  He also guessed that they would be somewhat lazy, and it would be difficult to get them too fired up about Literature.  That was fine with him.  He was not that fired up about literature, himself, and he had no illusions about his ability to excite students.

His dreams of being Robin Williams’ Character in Dead Poets Society had vanished within the first three weeks of his first teaching assignment.  In his thinking he was little more than a teacher at a high school with ashtrays, as the students of St. Christopher’s were fond of saying.

Of course he said none of this when he applied for the work.  He had been sophisticated, witty and very convincing, as he said that he knew teaching was his life's work.  He almost convinced himself, but he knew that he really had no idea what his life's work was other than trying to avoid pain, disappointment and failure.
Arriving during the week of the carnival gave him three weeks before the start of classes. He had more than enough time to find an apartment, spend some time avoiding seeing people and prep for his classes.  He stayed away from his office on campus until the five days before classes began. He mainly holed up in his apartment, drank gallons of decaf coffee and stared out the window, and occasionally he would take a deep breath and sigh.