Day Seven

Today's wordcount: 11,676. Tomorrow's goal: 13,336. Needless to say, I made it over the five-digit mark.

The only good thing I ever had to say about Professor Gray is that technically he knew his subject, which was Abnormal Psychology. Aside from that, he was nothing more than everything that his last name implied. Everything from his eyes to his tweed suit to his personality was gray. He probably had unsweetened oatmeal for breakfast and showered in dishwater. Even his voice matched his personal pallet.

“Good morning, class. Please settle down while I take attendance.” He required us all to sit in alphabetical order by last name; he was the only college professor I ever knew of who did so. We all sat in relative quiet while he went through his seating chart and checked us off row by row, starting in one corner and working his way to the opposing one. Those who were unfortunate enough to have quiet voices or to not pay attention the first time were marked absent.

“Here,” I said loudly the second he called my name. I wasn’t about to take an X on his sheet when I was sitting right in front of him.

When he was finished with his roster, he filed it in a manila folder, which went into a stack of other similar folders, and then pulled a sheaf of meticulous notes out of his textbook.

“Today,” he announced in a voice completely devoid of inflection or emotion, “We are going to do a comparison exercise. You will work in partners.” There was a general shifting noise throughout the classroom as people made to sit with their friends, but it was silenced when Professor Gray cleared his throat. “I have paired you up by name so that you won’t be working with people who will distract you.” Though no one actually said anything, there was a distinct feel of disappoint that wafted through the air at his statement. We should have known better than to think he would let us get away with enjoying his class.

“Abramson, Finlay,” he said. “Allen, Delano.” Having been the first name on the list, I immediately tuned out the rest and starting looking around for someone by the last name of Finlay. The last name might have been useful had we all been wearing nametags. It didn’t seem to occur to the man that most people referred to each other by their first names and not their last ones. For someone who also taught social psychology, he was distincly lacking in a functional understanding of people being social.