Hire Lernin' (A Novel)

Chapter 5: Meeting the Faculty

Walking back to the reception area and passing the still smiling receptionist busy on the phone, Marvin led Dan to the double swinging doors marked "To Classrooms" directly ahead of them. He opened the door to the right as a few students still poured through the one on the left, and held it open for Dan to follow. He then moved to his left down a corridor to what appeared to be a corner office to the left of the hallway and opened the door to a conference room. It was not what he had expected. In addition to needing of a new coat of paint, the room, while large, was quite unattractive and sported a collection of folding chairs around a long, worn wooden table. Sitting around the table were a dozen people chatting, scribbling on papers or reading paperback books while eating their lunch mostly out of brown paper bags or plastic containers.

"Good afternoon, everyone," Marvin intone cheerfully. "I wanted to take a moment to introduce you to your new Academic Dean, Dr. Dan Amor. He is starting with us today and will be back next Tuesday or Wednesday after visiting our flagship school for an orientation."

"Hello everyone," Dan said, looking around the room and smiling. Most of the faculty members smiled or nodded back at him, with a tentative "hi", "hello" or "good afternoon." Some simply looked at him blankly, neither smiling nor scowling—seemingly wary, weary or just uninterested.

Marvin then told the group a bit about Dan's background and how pleased he was to have him on board, and proceeded to go around the room introducing each teacher by name and telling Dan in general the subject areas they taught.

When Marvin had introduced everyone, including Jaime, the lab tech who Marvin said would be able to assist Dan with anything he needed, Dan very briefly addressed the group.

"First, I apologize for interrupting your lunch break, but I am very pleased for the opportunity to meet with all of you. I want to get to know you and learn how I can best help you to help our students. When I'm settled in next week, I will do my best to meet with each of you as your schedules allow. Meantime, enjoy your lunch and have a good weekend."

Marvin then said "Yes, have a good weekend. You'll have plenty of opportunity to get to know one another in the coming weeks." He then escorted Dan out of the room as the hum of conversation once again began to rise in the room behind them.

"Now let's go look at your office and then we'll get you over to Bob to fill out the paperwork" Marvin said, walking Dan through the now nearly empty corridor. They passed through closed and locked labs as well as a few classrooms that remained open, some of which had students at their desks eating lunch or writing in their notebooks during the lunch break.

"Mr. Chang, our janitor, complains that students sometimes don't clean up after themselves when they eat lunch at their desks, but we need to have some flexibility as there is no other place for students who don't want to go out for lunch to eat. There's a small café downstairs you may have noticed, but they have no seating available so many students bring their own lunch or run down and grab a sandwich or a snack and come to the empty classrooms on both floors." Marvin noted as they passed some students eating at their desks and chatting.

"It sounds fine as long as they make a reasonable effort to tidy up. I'll look into the issue." Dan offered. One of the young women sitting at her desk and nibbling at a sandwich looked at him intently as they passed by. She was a remarkably beautiful, petite blonde with shoulder length hair and eyes the color of the sky at midday. She wore a dark blue dress with a design of tiny pink flowers and high heels looking more like a model than a student. She followed Dan with her eyes, regaling him with a broad smile as he passed by the classroom with the usual fishbowl window all along its wall. For some reason, he blushed and looked ahead, but kept her in his peripheral vision. She was simply stunning—almost painfully beautiful--and seemed completely out of place. Next to her sat another young woman, also in her early twenties, with black wavy hair below her shoulders wearing a black and white business suit with a skirt above her knees, a white silk shirt, and a jacket that flared out slightly at her hips accentuating her figure. The second woman was also petite, but shorter than the first, and wearing three-inch high heel shoes. She also momentarily glanced at Dan as he walked by, stopping her conversation with her blonde companion to see what had caught her attention. If Marvin noticed, he said nothing and shepherded Dan to his office one door away from that classroom, fishing in his pocket for a key to open it.