Page 15 of Voyeur
“Hi. I’m Oaklyn Derringer. I’m here to work as the student aide this semester.”
“Oh, of course.” She got up from behind her desk and walked around to greet me. “I’m Donna,3the secretary for the department. Why don’t you set your stuff right here by my desk and I can show you around and introduce you.”
It was a fairly short tour. Only a small hallway on one side with three rooms, one of which was a conference room, and then another exit. On the other side was the dean of physics office, and in the middle of the two was the secretary’s desk in a small waiting area that held about four chairs and a plant.
“I’m so glad you’re here. We lost one of our older students last semester and weren’t sure if we’d get another. Physics tends to be a smaller community. Are you a physics major?”
“Oh, no. I’m a bio major with hopes of doing physical therapy.”
“Well, goodness. What brings you here?”
I answered with a laugh. “Desperation?”
She made her way back around the desk and sat, chuckling at my response. “Either way, I’m happy to have another lady around here.”
I sat when she gestured to the seats closest to her desk and waited as she pulled up her computer.
“Let’s see. You’ll be assisting Mr. Erikson. He runs the labs, so you’ll help prepare and clean the supplies. And Dr. Pierce.”
My heart both dropped and beat a little harder at hearing his name. But I tried to ignore it, not wanting to embarrass myself by stuttering or blushing or something equally as dumb.
“The other teachers have student workers that they have worked with for a while. Hudson, the student who left, helped Dr. Pierce the most, so you’ll be filling his shoes. But no worries, Dr. Pierce is a very kind man.”
“Did I hear my name?” a male voice called from the short hallway. And then, there he was. Tall and so broad his shoulders almost touched each wall framing him in. He looked at Donna with a charming warm smile. One that you’d give your grandma.
“Sure did,” Donna said. “I was telling our new student aide how nice you are since she’ll be helping you and Mr. Erikson this semester.”
She gestured toward me, and I offered the best smile I could muster, knowing it looked just as forced as it felt.
Deep breaths. Don’t blush. Do not blush!
His eyes swung to mine, and he froze. Only for a moment, almost unnoticeably, before he moved again and greeted me.
“Yes. Ms. Derringer. We met yesterday in class.” His smile was polite and distant, although I was certain he’d had more of a reaction than he was currently showing. “What brings you to work in the physics department?”
A part of me wanted to joke about desperation again, but I answered as truthfully as I could. “Just trying to pick up more hours to help with tuition.”
“Good. A hard worker.” He nodded his head and then turned back to Donna. “I have a meeting in ten minutes, but then I’ll be back. Is there any way you could copy these for me for tomorrow?”
“Of course, Dr. Pierce. I’ll make sure Oaklyn has them to you by this afternoon.”
He didn’t look my way again as he said thank you and disappeared behind the door with his name beside it.
“Well, let me take you down to Mr. Erikson. He’s in the lab equipment room. I’m sure he can get you situated and show you the ropes. When we’re done down there, I’ll show you how to work the copier.”
I followed Donna out of the office and down the hallway three doors before entering the equipment room. It was full of glass beakers and flasks, and machines I’d never seen before, nor had a clue what they did. Mr. Erikson was an easygoing guy, if not a little quiet and nerdy.4He had thick glasses, a soft voice, and stuttered over words sometimes. But I couldn’t complain. I preferred silence to a Chatty Cathy.
Mr. Erikson explained the rules and then left me with a sheet of paper to inventory the materials. Seventies rock music played softly in the background, and my time working flew by. Before I knew it, we’d inventoried the whole room and three hours had passed. Only a couple more, and I’d be able to head out for a night not filled with performances.
Waving goodbye to Mr. Erikson, I collected my backpack and headed down the hallway to make Dr. Pierce’s copies.
With a warm stack of papers in my hand, I knocked on Dr. Pierce’s door.
“Come in,” he said, his deep voice reaching through the door.
“I have those papers you asked for.”
He looked up from his work and stared at me through thick-rimmed glasses.5“Oh. Yes. Thank you. If you just want to set them there, please.”
