The school has been in mourning for Professor Wife, and Professor Husband�s occasional presence here has intensified these feelings of loss and sadness as the law school community recognizes the despair on Professor Husband�s face. Two weeks ago, or so, the school held a memorial service for the law school community in honor of Professor Wife. The event was very well attended and was from all reports very moving.
The law library owns a laptop which we use for various projects around the library and which faculty may check out if they need to be mobile and do not have a laptop of their very own. This week is National Library Week and we are acknowledging as much by offering coupons, discounts, candy, coffee mugs, and the like to patrons who ask reference questions or who take an online survey about the library�s services. For the week, the laptop has been set up at the reference desk facing the patrons so that they may use it to take the survey and earn chocolate.
Additionally, many of our librarians are giving workshops on various legal research methods and strategies. Today�s workshop required a PowerPoint presentation and so the laptop was borrowed. When it was returned to the reference desk, we were having difficulty reconnecting to the wireless network. My boss and I tried everything we could think of, including randomly pressing keys. We looked like those monkeys at the beginning of 2001.
Anyway, our hammering had the largely unexpected effect of releasing the cd-rom drive and exposing a mix cd that had �Professor Wife � Music� scrawled across it in Sharpee.
My boss audibly gasped. �Oh my God,� she whispered solemnly.
�I certainly didn�t expect that,� I agreed.
My boss put her hand to her mouth and tears welled up in her eyes. The sudden appearance of such a deeply personal possession was clearly affecting her. �Oh my God, oh my God.� She sniffled a little bit. �Oh my God.�
I never knew Professor Wife and I still have not met Professor Husband due to his extended leave. I, therefore, can recognize that these people were clearly important to many of my colleagues, but it is not possible for me to grieve in the same way. In fact, I�m really not grieving at all.
I tried to match her emotional level. �Oh my gracious,� I whispered breathlessly. I let my head drop a little and I averted my gaze. �Oh, heavens.�
My boss took a moment to compose herself. �You know, Brian,� she said, � I really miss her. Professor Wife was one of the most wonderful people I�ve ever known. She always had a kind word for the people she came in contact with and funny! Man, was she funny.�
�I never met her,� I confessed. �It sounds like that was my loss.�
�Oh, Brian, you would have liked her. You really would have. And now she�s dead and for all I know this might have been the very last music she ever heard. You know? Brian, what if this was the last music she ever heard?�
And it was at that very instant that I became absolutely obsessed with finding out exactly what music was on Professor Wife�s mix cd.
It�s an interesting question really. If you could only listen to one cd�s worth of music one time through for the rest of your life, what would you like to hear? What would you put on your very last mix ever? The questions boggles my mind a little. On mine there would be Duncan Sheik. Rest assured about that. I�m a little obsessed with him lately. Maybe a little Moxy Fruvous, a little Billie Holiday. Jupiter from Holst�s The Planets, without question. An Abba hit, some Quincy Jones, something upbeat and clever by Steven Sondheim.
Were any of these things on Professor Wife�s last mix? I had to know.
I reached for the cd and removed it from the drive. I closed the drive and set the cd aside, as far away from my boss as I could without drawing attention to it. I attempted to distract her. �We�ve tried everything but rebooting. Maybe we should reboot.�
My boss was still composing herself. �Alright,� she said. �Let�s reboot.�
We silently closed down the laptop and then fired it up again. While the operating system was reinitializing, she walked around me, and picked up the disc. �I�ll take this to the dean after lunch. I think it should be returned to Professor Husband.�
�Good idea,� I said. I started plotting instantly. �Hey, listen. Before you return it, let�s see what�s on it.�
My boss stopped in her tracks. She pivoted slowly and turned to face me. �What?�
�Let�s see what�s on the disc. What music is on the disc.� I was much less confident.
�Brian!� She was horrified by the notion. �This music belongs to Professor Husband!�
�Oh, I know. I just want to know what music belongs to Professor Husband. I�m just curious like that.�
My boss took off toward her office shaking her head. She took the cd with her. I thought briefly about some kind of Mission: Impossible stunt to break into my boss� office, copy the cd and escape without anyone ever being the wiser, but I don�t think I�m equipped to pull that off. No Sydney Bristow I.
Anyway, what do you think Professor Wife had on her final mix?
Posted at 6:20 p.m.
previously on Sooner � next on Sooner
last five entries