What if I ain't no violinist?

104. Twoset Teachers XII

Brett, a high school English teacher had been focused on marking topic test papers in the teachers' lounge for the last 30 minutes. He was in the zone and was efficiently underlining and ticking the lines in his bundle of essays and tallying up marks when a mug of coffee entered his peripheral vision. He looked up.

"Eddy."

It was Brett's colleague, Eddy, a young new science teacher. Actually, Brett wasn't that much older than Eddy either, in fact, he was only older by 1 year and he'd only been teaching a year longer than Eddy.  Eddy had a mug of coffee in each of his hands.  He tilted his head, smiled and said;

"Break?"

"Yes, love to. Thank you, Eddy."

Brett pushed the two neat piles of papers to the side and Eddy carefully placed the two mugs on the table in front of Brett and sat down across him.

"This is great. Much appreciated, Eddy."

"I got one of these for you too."

Eddy put a Caramello Koala Chocolate in front of Brett. It's a popular Australian chocolate snack in a shape of a koala, with a caramel centre.

Brett smiled.

"Oh great, I love these, thanks!!"

Eddy watched Brett open up his little chocolate snack and take a little bite out of it and take a sip of his coffee. Eddy couldn't help himself and mutter;

"..cannibalism."

Brett almost spat out his coffee. Through a coughing fit and wheezing Brett exclaimed;

"What!?!?"

Eddy wasn't listening. He was in stitches and wasn't in a condition to speak for another minute or so while Brett gave him the death stare.

"...sorry... I'm sorry Brett... you looked like a little kid eating that thing... it was cute... I couldn't help myself..."

Brett pouted.

Eddy burst out laughing again.

"Brett.. please.. stop..."

"OMG Eddy, you stop. I don't even know what you're on about."

"So Brett, what are you marking?"

"Year 7. It's been InTeReStInG...."

Eddy grinned.

"What are your Year 7s studying in English at the moment? ....Shakespeare?"

"Yes."

Eddy raised an eyebrow.

"...You serious !?"

"Deadset Eddy. This is why it's been InTeReStInG. Their interpretation of Shakespeare's text is out of this world. Some of these could be turned into memes."

"You know, I always wondered if Shakespeare spoke like that in real life."

"Geez, can you imagine him in your class?"

"Oh god no, well def not in my science class but I suppose if the time and place were right he could've ended up in your English class."

"IKR and I can't imagine anything worse. How critical do you think he'd be of my marking and how much do you think he would challenge it ?"

Eddy chuckled.

"I think I'd be wondering why he would talk so dramatically...."

"So.. that's what's gonna happen if we were born about 500 years ago."

"... you serious ? Is he that old?"

"Well... he actually died age 52 so he was kinda young.."

"Oh you know what I mean... 500 years ago... so he was from around the 1500's ?"

"Yeah."

"Wow, so he'd be around the same era as Gallileo."

"What, the astronomer?"

"Yeah. And physicist, mathematician and engineer.."

"Ahah, a polymath."

"What the heck is that ?"

"Someone who has knowledge that spans a substantial number of subjects."

"Yes, exactly. When I talk about Galileo in my science lessons, I like joking to my students by telling them what a nice guy he was and that I went to school with him."

Brett burst out laughing.

"Do you get InTeReStInG responses ?"

"I sure do. The girls want to see my school photos for proof. Even the boys wake up and start to pay attention.  ..I then tell them that he's been dead for 400 years and they are stunned again. I guess it's difficult for 13 year olds to grasp the length of a timeline for historical discoveries being made and how long it took for them to be accepted..."

"Hmm, so you recogn Shakespear and Galileo were born around the same time...?"

Brett whipped out his phone and turned on his screen.

"OMG"

"What? What's the matter Brett."

"Eddy you're not gonna believe this. Shakespeare and Galileo are the ...same age..! They were both born in 1564."

"OMG so if the time and place were right, those two could've been in the same class!!"

(Granted, one was in England while the other was in Italy...!)

"Yeah and if we were in their era, just our luck, I'd have William in my class and you'd have Galileo in your science class!!!"

Eddy recoiled in horror.

"OMFG. And I'd have to teach the class that the sun goes around the Earth and Galileo would be this kid telling me that I'm wrong and I'd have to put him on detention...."

Brett smirked.

"Geez I thought I had it bad with William in my class but it would really suck to be you, as in a science teacher in that era, especially with Galileo in your class...!!!"