Read Online Tenure Track by Victoria Bradley - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Victoria Bradley
Ads: Link
hafta download those off the ‘Net,” she chastised, handing the phone back to him.
“ Oh,” he replied. “Uhm, do you think you could show me how to do that later? It’ll count towards your work time.” Since she would be getting paid for the favor, she agreed, but said it would have to wait until later as they had a class to get to right then.
As the two women walked towards Payne Hall for their English Lit survey class, Blanca glanced behind her to survey Dr. Burns, who was now walking in the opposite direction. “Cute ass!” she whispered.
“ Oh please. He is an ass,” her friend replied.
Later that day Mandy showed up during Lewis’s office hours to help him program the phone. He admitted that he generally did not use his cell phone very much, but he had begun to use it more now that his wife was living in another state. Mandy noticed how he always referred to the woman in the photograph on his desk as “my wife”—never “Laura” or “Dr. Hennig”—as if to remind her that he was married. Mandy thought that he was really trying to remind himself, perhaps to make sure he resisted the inevitable temptations that must come from living across the country from his spouse. Or maybe he was such an egomaniac that he thought Mandy wanted his body and was trying to remind her that he was taken. Dream on, Dude.
Mandy could not believe how ignorant the over-educated professor was about technology. She started with his initial problem, getting the ringtone he wanted, trying to be helpful without talking down to her clueless boss. She pulled up a chair next to him so that they could both examine his laptop screen together, since he was far from ready to access the Web from his phone. It was a tight squeeze behind his desk, causing their knees to keep bumping each other. After Lewis nervously apologized three times, they gave up and just tried to ignore it. She took him to a site that carried popular songs in ringtones and carefully explained how he could set one tone for all calls or set calls from certain people with specific tones. “So, like, if you want all the calls from your wife to have one certain ring, you can program it that way.”
“ Oh,” he replied. “Kind of like caller I.D.?”
“ Yeah.” She guessed that he probably did not use that function either. After looking at several possible songs, he chose Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On.” Noticing the bewildered look his assistant gave him, he explained that he always associated that song with his wife because Titanic was the first movie they ever saw together in a theater. Corny, but kind of sweet, Mandy thought.
She looked up at the photo on his desk. “Ya miss her a lot?’
He smiled goofily and sighed as he picked up the photo. “Yeah.”
“ It must be weird livin’ so far apart. I don’t think I could do that,” Mandy expressed with the bluntness of youth.
“ Well,” he said, putting down the frame to return to a more professorial mode, “you’ll learn as you get older that sometimes sacrifices have to be made in relationships. It’s only temporary. And thanks to technology, we can call or e-mail each other anytime.”
“ What about textin’?” she asked. “It’s instant and you can do it anywhere.” The look on his face told her he had no clue how to text.
She spent the next 30 minutes teaching him how to text, including the most common shorthand. “You can text anyone across a room,” she explained. They practiced by sending messages between their two phones. He found it strange for her to be sitting across the desk from him, only three feet away, texting instead of talking.
“ Wouldn’t you prefer to just speak to the person?” he asked, further exposing his generational ignorance.
“ Well, sometimes there’s times when you might wanna send a private message, like if you’re in class—.” She stopped in mid-sentence, realizing how that might sound to a professor.
“ Mhmm.” He gave her a
“ Oh,” he replied. “Uhm, do you think you could show me how to do that later? It’ll count towards your work time.” Since she would be getting paid for the favor, she agreed, but said it would have to wait until later as they had a class to get to right then.
As the two women walked towards Payne Hall for their English Lit survey class, Blanca glanced behind her to survey Dr. Burns, who was now walking in the opposite direction. “Cute ass!” she whispered.
“ Oh please. He is an ass,” her friend replied.
Later that day Mandy showed up during Lewis’s office hours to help him program the phone. He admitted that he generally did not use his cell phone very much, but he had begun to use it more now that his wife was living in another state. Mandy noticed how he always referred to the woman in the photograph on his desk as “my wife”—never “Laura” or “Dr. Hennig”—as if to remind her that he was married. Mandy thought that he was really trying to remind himself, perhaps to make sure he resisted the inevitable temptations that must come from living across the country from his spouse. Or maybe he was such an egomaniac that he thought Mandy wanted his body and was trying to remind her that he was taken. Dream on, Dude.
Mandy could not believe how ignorant the over-educated professor was about technology. She started with his initial problem, getting the ringtone he wanted, trying to be helpful without talking down to her clueless boss. She pulled up a chair next to him so that they could both examine his laptop screen together, since he was far from ready to access the Web from his phone. It was a tight squeeze behind his desk, causing their knees to keep bumping each other. After Lewis nervously apologized three times, they gave up and just tried to ignore it. She took him to a site that carried popular songs in ringtones and carefully explained how he could set one tone for all calls or set calls from certain people with specific tones. “So, like, if you want all the calls from your wife to have one certain ring, you can program it that way.”
“ Oh,” he replied. “Kind of like caller I.D.?”
“ Yeah.” She guessed that he probably did not use that function either. After looking at several possible songs, he chose Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On.” Noticing the bewildered look his assistant gave him, he explained that he always associated that song with his wife because Titanic was the first movie they ever saw together in a theater. Corny, but kind of sweet, Mandy thought.
She looked up at the photo on his desk. “Ya miss her a lot?’
He smiled goofily and sighed as he picked up the photo. “Yeah.”
“ It must be weird livin’ so far apart. I don’t think I could do that,” Mandy expressed with the bluntness of youth.
“ Well,” he said, putting down the frame to return to a more professorial mode, “you’ll learn as you get older that sometimes sacrifices have to be made in relationships. It’s only temporary. And thanks to technology, we can call or e-mail each other anytime.”
“ What about textin’?” she asked. “It’s instant and you can do it anywhere.” The look on his face told her he had no clue how to text.
She spent the next 30 minutes teaching him how to text, including the most common shorthand. “You can text anyone across a room,” she explained. They practiced by sending messages between their two phones. He found it strange for her to be sitting across the desk from him, only three feet away, texting instead of talking.
“ Wouldn’t you prefer to just speak to the person?” he asked, further exposing his generational ignorance.
“ Well, sometimes there’s times when you might wanna send a private message, like if you’re in class—.” She stopped in mid-sentence, realizing how that might sound to a professor.
“ Mhmm.” He gave her a
Similar Books
