Professor Madison often talked to herself inside her book lined office. Every year I dumb it down and every year it’s not enough is something she often said on a Monday and sometimes on a Tuesday. One Wednesday she said it while slipping a kidney shaped pillow between her back and the insult she referred to as the college’s idea of a proper chair. As she settled into the insult she heard a timid knock on her door, then a timid voice.

         “Can I talk to you about my grade?”

         Professor Madison’s eyes lifted from her desk and landed on a pinkish 19-year boy with a pudding face.

         “Yes Alec, come in, I was just talking about you.”

         Buoyed, Alex approached.