“They say I am nostalgic,” he told his students. “But I criticize the past by refusing to visit it.” This usually got a big laugh but this time a student in the front row fixed him with an icy stare. After class she lingered by the lectern. She was tiny, with large eyes that now darted nervously from side to side. “Can I help you?” he said. The eyes settled on the space between them. “Don’t you think it’s irresponsible to take all the criticism of your work and dismiss it with a joke?” she said. “Especially a bad joke.” He could not answer because he could not say the only thing he was thinking, which was that he was in love.
©2021 Ben Greenman/Stupid Ideas
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